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Malpractice: Medical or Legal?

On Behalf of | Oct 5, 2018 | Medical Malpractice

Both and more! Everyone knows the phrase “medical malpractice”. It is pretty common to hear about cases and most assume that you sue the hospital or the doctor. But what if you could also sue the nurses or healthcare workers? What if malpractice was expanded to the professionals you interact with on a daily basis? What if it includes breaches of contracts or other injuries from your accountant or your engineer? Let’s explain.

Kinds of Malpractice

Our California medical malpractice lawyers at Licata & Yeremenko, A Professional Law Corporation are experts in multiple fields. We know that not only do you depend on medical experts, but other experts to help you throughout your life. Professional Malpractice includes, but not limited to:

  • Attorneys
  • Accountants
  • Tax preparers
  • Engineers
  • Architects

We depend on professionals all the time. This doesn’t mean that we are dumb, it just means that we value the expertise of others to help us organize our lives so that we can better use our time for things that we love. These professional services have an inherent trust from us, but sometimes that trust is broken via a breach in contract, negligence, or misrepresentation.

Accountant Malpractice

For example, accountants are held to a high standard because they control our money. They know what we buy, they know our interests, and they should be honest and transparent with how they are organizing our money. Accountants must comply with Generally Accepted Auditing Standards (GAAS) and Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). Any kind of divergence from these standards can be identified as a breach of contract or negligence.

An example of when an accountant breaches a contract is when they fail to meet a standard of professional care or their failure results indirectly harming their client. Accountants can also misrepresent who they are, what they are practicing, and what they are going to do with your money. Here are some stories of fraudulent accounting that you may or may not heard of:

  • Charles Ponzi: created a fraudulent “large-scale international trading scheme”. We equate his name to the “pyramid scheme”
  • Bernie Madoff was operating a “Ponzi” scheme and is now spending 150 years in federal prison for securities fraud
  • Enron committed fraud by overstating their profits, as well as executives, were found guilty for money laundering and other such criminal activities
  • Barry Minkow started a business in which he was guilty of 57 counts of fraud and racketeering. After he spent time in jail, upon release he became a preacher who then was arrested for fraudulent behavior of stealing from his church members

You may not have millions of dollars and you may not have many assets, but that doesn’t mean that your finances should not be treated with the utmost care. Our malpractice attorneys at Licata & Yeremenko, A Professional Law Corporation in California understand that when it comes to professional malpractice cases, it is not just you at stake; it is also your family and anyone else who depends on you. Give us a call at 818-783-5757 or click here to start a conversation. Don’t let the professionals fool you. We can help.

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