Practice Areas
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We only agree to represent or advise clients in situations or cases where we feel that our experience and skills are the right fit. That is why our attorneys always meet with prospective clients up front, rather than delegating it to a non-attorney staff member.
The practice areas for our attorneys include the following: Medical Malpractice According to a 2000 study by the National Institute of Medicine, as many as 98,000 Americans die and another million people are injured each year by preventable medical errors. When you or a family member go to a hospital or doctor for treatment, you are placing your life in their hands and trust them to know what they are doing. The law requires hospitals, doctors, and nurses to be competent and responsible for following national standards of care—and when they do not follow those rules, and a patient is injured or killed because of it, there has been medical malpractice. A medical malpractice claim can be brought by an injured patient, or the surviving family members of a person who was killed as a result of medical malpractice, against any healthcare provider, including hospitals, doctors, nurses, psychologists and psychotherapists. We have represented clients in litigation involving pretty much all areas of medical negligence, including babies who suffer permanent brain damage from birth-related negligence, surgical malpractice, improper dialysis care, anesthesiological malpractice, mismanagement of hyponatremia (low sodium), among many others. Personal Injury and Wrongful Death If you or a family member has been injured by another party’s negligence or wrongful act, then you may have a personal injury claim. When another party’s negligence takes someone’s life, then there may be a wrongful death claim. Individuals or businesses may be the cause of a personal injury or wrongful death, and the law allows them to be held accountable at court. Personal injury and wrongful death claims may arise from medical malpractice, work injuries, explosions, serious car wrecks and dangerous or defective projects, just to name a few. We have represented personal injury and wrongful death clients in numerous types of cases, including pipeline explosions, defective products, pharmaceutical/drug defects, bad surgical devices, and many others. Business Litigation Business lawsuits come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Sometimes a consumer is forced to sue a business, and other suits involve disputes between two businesses. We have represented business clients in a variety of business lawsuit, including builder-home buyer disputes, commercial lease disputes, breach of contract matters, breach of corporate sales agreement actions, fraudulent inducement cases, declaratory judgment actions, deceptive trade practice suits, and even suing a water board to enforce the terms of a park bond issue to fund acquisition of real estate. Estate Planning Estate planning involves taking care of your own medical needs, taking care of your dependents, and also passing along ownership of your belongings. There are so many considerations in this process, that you could not possibly think through all of the “what ifs” by yourself. Getting counsel is always a good idea. While you should not feel like it is too late to take care of these important issues, planning early is the best plan. By paying a little up front, you can help your family avoid expensive and time-consuming court proceedings later on. In the event you need someone to make decisions for you or you become incapacitated, you will want to ensure that health care decisions are made in advance. We can draft a few simple documents for you, like a “Living Will” and a “Medical Power of Attorney” that make your wishes about life support know to your doctors and that allow your family to talk to doctors and help make important decisions about your health care. Without these simple documents, your family would have to go through a lengthy and costly court process called “Guardianship” just to access your medical records or to make medical decisions. And even after they go through that process, the court may not appoint the person that you would have preferred. While it can be uncomfortable to address these important health care decisions in advance of a crisis, it is important to protect you and your family. You also should have a general power of attorney, which enables a trusted loved one to oversee your finances, manage your bank accounts, process any income or insurance proceeds, and pay your bills. As with the medical power of attorney, if you neglect to plan in advance, a court could appoint somebody to represent your interests and could allow that person to collect hourly fees from your estate. Estate Planning Takes Care of Your Dependents: If you have minor children, you should ensure that you have assigned guardianship of them and set up a Trust to provide for their care. Otherwise, your children could become wards of the state. Estate Planning Takes Care of Your Property: If you do not write a Will before you die, the state decides who receives your property. Writing a Will allows you to make these decisions. Also, it may be possible for you avoid the probate process for your family by writing a Trust. We have helped clients use this Trust option so their family will not even need to probate a Will when they die. Business Planning & Transactions It is always good to hire an attorney when setting up a new business, growing an existing one, or dissolving a business. We work with a lot of small and medium-sized businesses as well as multi-national corporations. With legal and business experience from working in-house at the headquarters of the world’s largest company, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., our business planning attorney is equipped to give you representation that smaller companies feel they often cannot obtain. When setting up a new entity, there are a lot of considerations, including limiting various liabilities as well as ensuring you have the authority to do everything you want to do with your business. Also, you must not stop at entity formation. We can assist you you’re your operating arrangements and corporate formalities. Some of your options are:
In addition to entity formation, we help your company with business planning, transactions, contracts. We help you with limiting your liability but also help you get the best out of your negotiations and vendor and service relationships. Also, we can advise on your own operating procedures and employee relationships. Finally, our firm has had a lot of experience in working with businesses on negotiating supplier and vendor relationships. Clarity and predictability are what every business wants in their supply chain. We understand that your sales and often your livelihood often depend on it. Our business attorney puts her background and skills to work for you. Read More from Painter Law Firm
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Robert Painter
Jennifer Chiang
Stephen Novotny
Taunya Painter
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