Experienced Mississippi Worker’s Compensation Attorney Explains the Dangers Posed by Worksite Cranes

Cranes are a valuable workplace tool, but they have also proven themselves to be capable of tremendous injury and death. If your worksite involves a crane, there are a number of safety steps that your employer must take to protect employees. These safety considerations apply to both the crane operator and the crew working near the crane as it operates.Both the operator and crew must be adequately trained and clear worksite communication must be maintained so that the crane’s movements can be avoided by those working in its vicinity.

Risks Posed by Cranes in the Workplace:

Travel Accidents: Many cranes are now mobile, meaning they move from site to site under their own power and are not assembled on site. These mobile cranes are massive vehicles and can have many moving parts and poor sight lines. As a result, crushing and pinching injuries can occur as work crews move around the cranes and their articulated parts.

Falling Crane Loads: Cranes are useful because they are able to lift heavy loads vertically. But with insufficient training, insufficient slings or wires to secure the load or cranes used in high winds, the load can break free, falling and endangering workers in the vicinity.

Crane Boom Collisions: Poorly trained crane operators, operating in high winds, or operating in tight conditions can result in collisions between the crane’s boom and nearby buildings. Collisions can also occur if the crane operator lacks adequate visibility or does not have a signal person to direct the crane’s movements. In any of these situations, falling debris from the struck building can pose a potentially fatal risk to those working in the vicinity, as can a collapsed boom itself.

Overhead Powerlines and Electrocution: Power lines pose a tremendous danger to crane operators and workers on the ground. Those supervising crane should ensure that any live wires are de-energized prior to crane work occurring. When working near live power lines is unavoidable, extra precautions may be required. Employers should provide proximity alarms or a spotter to alert the operator to nearby overhead lines.

Tip-overs: An unstable crane is a dangerous crane. If the crew in charge of setting up the crane lacks the training or experience to set it up in a safe manner, a deadly tip-over may occur. Employers sometimes try to cut corners by not hiring experienced riggers who know how to position the crane’s pad and outriggers so that it can stand under the torsion and stress caused by lifting heavy loads at difficult angles. Similarly, inexperienced riggers may not realize that even if a crane appears to be set up correctly, soil stability and compactness can have a significant effect on the crane’s ability to bear weight. Unfortunately, these are technical, specialized skills that not all crews have. Failing to understand these intricacies can lead to dangerous tip-overs that endangers both the crane operator and workers on site.

What Should You Do If You Are Injured in a Crane Accident?

If you are injured on the job by a crane in Mississippi, you need to contact an experienced worker’s compensation attorney immediately. Having counsel by your side to guide you through the worker’s compensation process can mean the difference between a lifetime struggle and receiving the compensation you need to get back on your feet and make your family whole.

Call Barrett Law now, an experienced Mississippi worker’s compensation law firm, to represent you if you are injured in a crane accident.

Barrett Law has the experience to take on employers, insurance companies, and defense counsel that are focussed on denying your compensation for the harm you experienced.  Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

 

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Experienced Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney Explains Liability in Trucking Accidents

If you are injured in a commercial trucking accident, one of the first questions that will have to be answered is who is legally responsible for your injuries? While a trucker may be driving the truck with a major corporation’s logo on the side, he may be a sub-contractor of a trucking company that is itself just a contractor to the corporation. In fact, even that is a simplistic scenario, as there are often many corporate layers between the owner of the goods being hauled and the person behind the wheel who just injured you and your family. So if you have been injured, who pays?

Contractors versus Employees

The issue of who is legally responsible, or liable, for your injuries is a tricky one, but it could have a dramatic impact on your ability to be made whole. For example, if the truck was owned by the corporation and the driver worked directly for the corporation, the legal theory of “respondeat superior” would likely dictate that the corporation itself was responsible for its employee’s actions, so long as those actions occurred within the scope and duty of employment. That said, large corporations insulate themselves from that sort of liability and risk by contracting out services such as distribution, so their subcontractor may assume all of the liability for your injuries. If that was the case, while the major corporation may not be liable, the corporate trucking subcontractor would be liable for the driver’s actions, also due to the theory of respondeat superior.  Even that scenario might not apply, however, as the trucking company also likely contracts its truck distribution routes to individual contractors.

Each of these contracts insulates the contracting party from the actual driving activity occurring and the risk it incurs. In the end, you may only have a claim against the individual truck driver; however, it is unlikely that he or she has the insurance or resources of the corporation whose product is in his or her truck, therefore, your claim and the likelihood of being made whole is significantly diminished if the “buck” stops with the individual driver if he or she is an “independent contractor.”  This could be the end of your story, leaving you with serious injuries, an inability to work, and little or no hope of receiving from an individual who may have limited resources.

Unraveling Corporate Structures

With the help of an experienced trucking personal injury attorney, you can pierce those contractual layers insulating each level of the contract. This is not something you can do on your own or with inexperienced counsel; you will need an attorney with a long track record of taking on the complex corporate hierarchy created to prevent liability from flowing up to the corporate entity.

What factors would have to be present for the law to allow a trucking accident victim to sue the larger corporate entity instead of only the independent contractor driver? The courts will require that you prove that the “independent contractor” was not really independent or that the contract trucking company worked entirely at the direction of the contracting corporation or was under their exclusive control. This shifts the nature of the contractee/contractor relationship to one of employer/employee. Factors considered include: The amount of control the business held over the driver and his actions; Whether this is the driver’s main occupation; Whether the type of work typically requires supervision; The level of skill required; Who owns the truck; The length of the relationship between the parties; How the company pays the truck driver.

If it can be shown that the driver or trucking company was not truly an independent contractor of the corporation, but was, in fact, working as its employee, then the corporation itself may be able to be sued. Being able to sue the corporation itself is an important first step towards receiving the compensation you are due.

What Should You Do If You Are Injured in a Trucking Accident?

Determining whether the truck driver who caused your injuries was an independent contractor or an employee of the contractor can mean the difference between being fully compensated for your injuries and receiving nothing. The determination of who may be liable is only one determination that your counsel will have to make. If you are injured, do not hesitate, call experienced counsel immediately.

Call Barrett Law now, an experienced Mississippi personal injury law firm, to represent you if you are injured in a trucking accident.

Barrett Law has the experience to take on insurance companies and defense counsel that are focused on denying your compensation for the harm you experienced.  Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

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Experienced Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney Provides Overview of Claims Against Nursing Homes

As baby boomers age, they have faced the difficult task of placing their parents in an assisted living or nursing home. We trust these companies to care for our loved ones when we cannot. As a result, having a loved one injured or killed as a result of their nursing home failure is an extreme breach of trust. If that occurs, you need immediate, expert legal advice to negotiate the complex decisions that lay before you. If you find yourself in that situation, call Barrett Law immediately at (601) 790-1505.

Claims Against Nursing Homes

Negligence

Most claims against nursing homes revolve around negligence. In laymen’s terms, negligence is the failure to act reasonably when you know or should know what “reasonable” behavior requires. For a profession such as nursing or an industry such as the nursing home industry, it means failing to follow accepted industry standards resulting in a failure to provide reasonable care to residents. An example of simple negligence would be erroneously distributing medications due to a failure to have a medication distribution protocol in place. If that mis-distribution results in harm, there may be a viable negligence claim.

Negligent Hiring

Another form of negligence is negligent hiring. “Negligent hire” means that a nursing home had a duty to meet some industry standard in the hiring process and failed to do so. Most commonly, it results from a nursing home failing to adequately perform background checks, performing background checks but failing to screen out unqualified or unsuitable applicants, or keeping an employee on staff that has shown themselves to be unsuitable or unsafe. Frequently, even employees that pass background checks and are subsequently hired demonstrate illegal drug dependence or violent behavior. If their drug use was known or reasonably foreseeable, the nursing home may be liable if they fail to take appropriate remedial action. In any of these incidences, the nursing home’s decision to retain the employee may be the grounds for a negligent hire claim if injuries or a death arises from that employee’s conduct.

Negligent Supervision

Negligent hire means employing inappropriate staff. But even appropriate staff must have adequate supervision to ensure that their care remains adequate. With the opioid crisis in our nation, many people have become addicted to pain pills and come to work under their influence. If a nursing home operator fails to discipline an employee who comes to work under the influence of these drugs or alcohol, they are liable for “negligent supervision” for any subsequent mistakes that employee makes. Like in negligent hire scenarios, this liability exists even if the employer reasonably should have known that the employee was coming to work under the influence, they do not have to have been put on notice.

Don’t Assume That All Bad Medical Outcomes are Negligence

A patient’s failure to respond to medical care is not necessarily negligence or malpractice. When someone is injured or killed, there is often a strong impulse to assign blame. But not every injury or death results in a successful personal injury case, as sometimes there are bad outcomes even when medical professionals meet their professional obligations. Speaking to an attorney about the facts of your case is vital to attaining an understanding of whether the tragic event a loved one suffered is provable malpractice or simply an unfortunate result of legitimate medical care.

A nursing home injury or death claim calls for an experienced personal injury attorney.

Call Barrett Law now, an experienced Mississippi personal injury law firm, to represent you if a loved one has been injured or killed as a result of their nursing home care.

Barrett Law has the experience to take on insurance companies and defense counsel that are focused on denying your compensation for the harm your loved one experienced.  Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

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Experienced Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney Explains How Traumatic Brain Injuries Can Result from “Slip and Fall” Accidents

Clients often call us about “slip and fall” accidents, where they lose their balance and injure themselves as a result. Unfortunately, there is often no basis for a legal claim against the landowner where the client fell, as the client simply lost their balance. The reported injuries are often fairly minor. But sometimes a landowner knowingly maintained truly dangerous premises and the injuries are extreme. These latter cases make up the most serious slip and fall claims, especially when a traumatic brain injury or TBI results. A TBI can require a lifetime of care to deal with and can cost a person their savings, marriage, livelihood, and freedom.

Traumatic Brain Injuries

Our brain floats inside our liquid-filled skull. The liquid serves as a shock absorber so that our brain does not slam against the inside of our skull every time our brain moves. While concussions are caused by the slight to moderate impact of the brain hitting the inside of the skull, a TBI is caused by the brain either severely impacting the skull or being injured by a foreign object penetrating the skull.

Symptoms of a TBI include loss of consciousness, convulsions, seizures, vomiting, headaches, slurred speech, confusion, difficulty waking up from sleep, difficulty focusing, and others. Anyone who experiences a fall that results in these symptoms becoming present within a few days should contact medical help immediately.

But can a simple slip and fall result in those serious symptoms? Yes. Believe it or not, your head weighs about the same amount as a bowling ball. It’s suspended five to six feet above the ground by your body.  Tremendous force can be generated by your body whipping that weight to the ground. Your head moves at a high speed when you trip over a crack in the sidewalk and hit your head on a curb or slip on a soapy grocery store floor and hit it on a produce bin. Significant force is exerted on your skull when it impacts a foreign object. A TBI results from an extreme force being exerted on your brain by the skull wall or a foreign object penetrating the skull.

Do You Have a Viable Slip and Fall TBI Claim?

Slipping and falling does not create a negligence claim. Negligence is based upon an owner of the premises failing to meet a standard of reasonable care towards visitors on their property.  The premises must be reasonably safe, but they do not need to be absolutely safe.  So if a grocery store leaves soapy water on the freshly mopped floor and fails to notify shoppers of the soapy spot, it may be negligence. But just because you slip in a grocery store may not be negligence if the store would not have reasonably known that the slick spot existed. The key is that the owner of the premises where you fell must have known of a hazard or should have known of it; they cannot ignore hazards if they know of them or know they regularly occur.

Once negligence is established, compensation for a successful TBI claim can be significant. In part, that is because of the tremendous losses resulting from a TBI. Your damages will likely include medical expenses, pain and suffering, loss of future earning capacity, loss of companionship, rehabilitation costs, and future medical expenses. Obviously, the amount you receive will depend on the severity of your injury, the degree of the other party’s negligence, and whether or not they are covered by insurance. If you are injured as a result of an uninsured, poor person’s negligence, you may be due compensation but sadly may get none.

A slip and fall injury or TBI claim requires an experienced personal injury attorney. Do not make any decisions or sign any documents until you speak with an attorney.

Call Barrett Law now, an experienced Mississippi personal injury law firm, to represent you if a loved one has experienced a slip and fall injury.

Barrett Law has the experience to take on insurance companies and defense counsel that are focused on denying your compensation for the harm you experienced.  Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.

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Experienced Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney Explains: Whiplash Is Real

We have a long history of representing the people of Mississippi who have been injured in car accidents. The most common injury they experience is whiplash, an injury often caused by the neck extending violently, often as the result of a rear-end collision. There is no one tell-tale whiplash symptom, but our clients routinely complain of the sudden onset of neck stiffness, dizziness, neck pain, headaches, decreased range of motion in the neck, numbness, blurred vision, disrupted sleep, and memory problems to name just a few.

Whiplash’s Causes

You have ligament the runs down the surface of your spine that gives your neck stability. Your head weighs about the same amount as a bowling ball. When you are in a car accident, your head violently extends forward or backward, causing that weight’s momentum to stretch or tear that ligament. That stretching or tearing is whiplash. The damage can be compounded if the head’s momentum also pulls against other muscles in the back and neck, spraining or tearing them as well. In extremely serious cases, the whipping of the spine can also result in damage or cracking of vertebrae in the neck and back.

Whiplash Treatment

Most forms of whiplash are treatable. If you follow your doctor’s directions, you should be able to recover from whiplash received in a car accident. Most treatments involve icing, heat, over the counter and prescription pain killers, and exercises aimed at restoring flexibility to your neck ligaments. While a popular prop in television shows, doctors usually urge patients to avoid immobilizing the neck with devices like a foam neck ring are to be avoided. When you completely immobilized the neck, the ligaments can tighten, and flexibility may not be restored.

Usually, by carefully following the advice of a medical professional, your whiplash injury should resolve within a few months. Unfortunately, this is not always the case, however, and other accident victims are forced to live with pain for longer, sometimes even permanently.

Financial Compensation for Whiplash Injuries

Whiplash is a serious injury that, while usually only temporary, can cause pain, discomfort, and work absences. To have a valid claim, you will need to seek medical attention immediately after your car accident. Waiting too long may result in an insurance company denying your claim, alleging that your injuries were caused by some subsequent event.  You can receive compensation for loss of work, out of pocket medical expenses, and any sick time you used as a result of your injury. You may also receive some compensation for your pain and suffering, although that is usually quite limited in a whiplash case. Regardless of how serious your injury and how significant your financial losses, your best bet is to contact an experience Mississippi personal injury lawyer to review your case.

What Should You Do if You or a Loved One is Injured In a Car Accident?

If you or a loved one has been injured in a car accident, either an insurance claim or lawsuit may be your best tool for receiving the compensation you deserve. Receiving that compensation will require consultation with an experienced personal injury attorney.  Getting your whiplash injury assessed competently and quickly is vital, and hiring counsel lacking specific experience with Mississippi‘s laws will lead to frustration and a settlement that is a fraction of what you deserve—if you receive anything at all.

Call Barrett Law now, an experienced Mississippi personal injury law firm, to represent you if you or a loved one has been injured.

Contact us now at (601) 790-1505, to get experienced counsel on your side.

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Experienced Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney Explains: “Negligent Hire” Claims Against Trucking Companies When an Accident Occurs

We represent parties injured in trucking accidents. Commercial trucking is a highly regulated industry, but, like in any industry, accidents are more likely when companies cut corners. Because there are so many truckers logging so many miles, accidents caused by those regulatory shortcuts become a statistical certainty. If you or a loved one has been injured as a result of trucking accident call Barrett Law now, an experienced Mississippi personal injury law firm, to represent you at (601) 790-1505.

This blog post provides a useful overview of the possible claims to be made in the event of a trucking accident.

Negligent Hiring

Not everyone can be a commercial truck driver. Federal regulations aim at allowing only those qualified and safe behind the wheel. To satisfy these federal regulations, a driver must be physically fit and must have passed a DOT physical at hiring and every two years thereafter. A commercial driver also must have a commercial driver’s license, or CDL, which requires that the driver must have passed a specialized test. A driver must also pass drug and alcohol tests. Finally, the company should perform a thorough background check to assure that the driver has a record of safe driving.

There is a commercial driver shortage in the United States and companies are having an increasingly difficult time finding qualified drivers. As a result, some cut corners and put drivers behind the wheel that do not meet the above qualifications. Those regulations exist for a reason, however, and sometimes these unsafe drivers cause accidents.  When they do, a claim of “negligent hire” arises.

Many trucking accidents are caused by drivers who are distracted, fall asleep or are under the influence of drugs. These are conditions that may have been detected in a physical, a drug test, or through a review of their driving record. If a company has put this driver on the road either because they failed to perform these necessary reviews or performed and then ignored them, then a claim of negligent hire is appropriate.

Obviously, neither the truck driver nor the trucking company is going to admit that they cut a corner after an accident resulting in injury. That is why contacting an experienced trucking accident attorney is vital. Once your attorney files a claim, he or she can either request “production” of the documents that should certify whether the federal requirements regarding trucker licensure have been met upon hire and renewed as required. He or she can also “subpoena” records, which is another word for using the power of the court to demand production. Either way, a legitimate trucking company should have a full complement of certification documents for every driver. Those records, if they exist, will be vital to a successful negligent hire claim.

What Should You Do if You or a Loved One is Injured In a Trucking Accident?

If you or a loved one has been injured or killed as a result of a trucking accident, a negligent hire claim may be your tool for receiving the care and compensation you deserve. Receiving that compensation will require consultation with an experienced trucking accident attorney. Hiring counsel lacking specific experience with Mississippi‘s laws will lead to frustration and a settlement that is a fraction of what you deserve—if you receive anything at all.

Call Barrett Law now, an experienced Mississippi personal injury law firm, to represent you if you or a loved one has been injured.  Let our seasoned Mississippi Personal Injury Attorney make a difference for you!  Contact us now at (601) 790-1505 to get experienced counsel on your family’s side.

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Mississippi Personal Injury Lawyer Advises Persons Injured in the BP Oil Spill Cleanup to Contact Him Now

The 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill was a devastating event for the Gulf Coast economy, culture, and environment. While BP has come to a settlement with many plaintiffs and the government regarding their negligence, you may still have a claim based on injuries incurred during subsequent the cleanup of the spill.

However blameworthy BP is for the acts that led to this disaster, that is no excuse for the despicable individuals who attempted to falsely benefit from the $20.8 billion dollar settlement by filing false claims. Recent articles in the Financial Times and Petronews highlight that the government has successfully prosecuted over 300 people for defrauding the BP Gulf Coast Claims Facility, with over 100 of those convicted receiving sentences involving incarceration. Not only are these individuals criminally blameworthy for their attempts at fraud, they also reduced the amount due to legitimate claimants and injected the claim process with an unnecessary and unhelpful degree of distrust.

Four cases, in particular, were highlighted by the Financial Times:

Thi Houng Le, 34 from Pascagoula, was sentenced to seven years in federal prison to be followed by three years of supervised release.

Gregory P. Warren, 52, was sentenced to 17 years in federal prison to be followed by three years of supervised release.

Caridad Rioseco Alejandrez, was ordered to pay over $600,000 for her role in filing false Deepwater Horizon claims. Alejandrez, 51, previously pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud in connection to the case and was sentenced to four years in prison and three years of supervised release

Some of the fraud convictions have even involved people who worked to administering the claims funds. In June 2015, a claims adjuster for the Gulf Coast Claims Facility in Louisiana pleaded guilty to a wire fraud charge in connection with an attempt to defraud the fund. Charlie English III pleaded guilty to a wire fraud charge tied to false documentation he submitted to support a claim that his income was impacted by the spill. The fraudulent claim allowed English to obtain $257,400 from the fund.

If you have had an experienced legitimate physical or economic injury as a result of the Gulf oil spill or its cleanup, you may be a legitimate plaintiff in this case. BP placed Gulf residents in physical danger and made promises that they did not keep—there may be claims for negligence or violations of a contract. If you have suffered these injuries, whether physical, mental, emotional, or financial, you may be entitled to be made whole.  However, recent convictions of hundreds of residents caught seeking to reap an illegitimate financial windfall show that the government is taking false claims seriously.

If you were harmed by the BP Gulf Oil Spill, important deadlines, statutes of limitations, and filing requirements make consulting with an experienced plaintiffs’ attorney with BP oil spill experience a vital step to protecting yourself, your livelihood, and your rights. While this article discusses the ramifications of filing a false claim, many legitimate claims are still unaddressed.

Contact Mississippi personal injury attorney Jonathan Barrett at Barrett Law immediately to protect your rights at (601)-790-1505.

Call attorney Barrett to set up a free initial consultation. The claims you may have based on your participation in the BP oil spill response or cleanup are not simple, and you should not trust them to an attorney lacking the plaintiffs’ law and BP oil spill experience attorney Barrett possess. Call now to protect your livelihood and life.

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Mississippi Whistleblower Lawyer Alert: SEC Awards Whistleblower $4.1 Million

A December 5, 2017, award by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) totaling $4.1 million dollars to a single whistleblower highlights the importance of whistleblowers to uncovering corporate corruption and the significant awards awaiting those willing to bring those behaviors to light. The SEC’s whistleblower program pays large awards to those who provide timely information resulting in a successful prosecution. A whistleblower may receive up to thirty percent of any sanction imposed on a corporation, and the sanctions are often in the millions of dollars.

If you are considering making an SEC whistleblower claim, you should understand the risks involved, including retaliation and loss of a career. Those risks are taken to achieve a significant reward, but the reward is not known until an investigation and successful prosecution. Accordingly, it is vital that you retain experienced whistleblower counsel to help you through this process so that the risks are mitigated and the reward is maximized.

The SEC could not do its work without whistleblowers.  The Chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower Jane Norberg stated that the work of whistleblowers is evident in the “more than $671 million in disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, much of which has been or is scheduled to be returned to harmed investors,” and recovered “based on actionable information from whistleblowers.” Overall, enforcement actions involving whistleblower awards have helped the SEC recover more than $1 billion in financial remedies.

Here is the exact language from the December SEC press release:

“The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced an award of more than $4.1 million to a former company insider who alerted the agency to a widespread, multi-year securities law violation and continued to provide important information and assistance throughout the SEC’s investigation.  The whistleblower is the third awarded by the SEC in the past week.

Company insiders often have valuable information that can help the SEC halt an ongoing securities law violation and better protect investors,” said Jane Norberg, Chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower.  “The breadth of the SEC’s whistleblower program is demonstrated by this case, where the whistleblower, a foreign national working outside of the United States, affirmatively stepped forward to shine a light on the wrongdoing.”

The SEC’s whistleblower program has now awarded more than $179 million to 50 whistleblowers since issuing its first award in 2012.  All payments are made out of an investor protection fund established by Congress that is financed entirely through monetary sanctions paid to the SEC by securities law violators. No money has been taken or withheld from harmed investors to pay whistleblower awards.

Whistleblowers may be eligible for an award when they voluntarily provide the SEC with original, timely, and credible information that leads to a successful enforcement action.  Whistleblower awards can range from 10 percent to 30 percent of the money collected when the monetary sanctions exceed $1 million.

By law, the SEC protects the confidentiality of whistleblowers and does not disclose information that might directly or indirectly reveal a whistleblower’s identity.

What Should You Do if You are Considering a Whistleblower Claim?

Are you considering filing an SEC whistleblower case? You will require the help of an experienced whistleblower attorney to decide whether the conduct you have observed constitutes an SEC violation. Evidence gathering, dealing with the federal government’s attorneys, important deadlines, and filing requirements make your representation both complex and time-sensitive.

Call Barrett Law now at (601) 790-1505 if you think you may be an SEC whistleblower.

Having expert legal advice by your side can mean the difference between receiving your share of a whistleblower judgment and losing your career and livelihood. Call us today.

 

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Mississippi Whistleblower Lawyer Advises: IRS Office of Whistleblower Annual Report Demonstrates Huge Opportunities for Claims

A recent annual report by the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Office of the Whistleblower highlighted the tremendous awards awaiting those who pursue IRS whistleblower claims.  On January 5, 2018, the IRS released its Annual Report to Congress, making clear the tremendous settlements available to whistleblowers if they come forward. However, it also highlighted reduced staffing in the Office and a significant case backlog. For those new to this program, the IRS’s whistleblower program pays large awards to those who provide timely information resulting in a successful prosecution of tax misconduct. A whistleblower may receive up to thirty percent of any sanction imposed on a corporation, and the sanctions are often in the millions of dollars.

If you are considering making an IRS whistleblower claim, you should understand the risks involved, including retaliation and loss of a career. Those risks are taken to achieve a significant reward, but the reward is not known until after an investigation and successful prosecution. Accordingly, it is vital that you retain experienced whistleblower counsel to help you through this process so that the risks are mitigated and the reward is maximized.  Know that there is an extremely high risk that your whistleblowing will anger your employer and that that anger can translate into retaliation against you, often resulting in a losing your job. You should know that retaliation is prohibited however and that successful prosecution can result in your reinstatement, as well as other penalties such as double back pay, fines, and attorney fees. If you are a Mississippi whistleblower or think you may be, call Barrett Law now at (601) 790-1505.

Important Points in the IRS’s Annual Report:

  • In 2017 whistleblowers received over $33.9 million in awards, and over 242 award determinations were issued.
  • Since the inception of the program in 2007 whistleblower disclosures have resulted in recoveries of more than $3.6 billion, and the total amount of rewards paid is over $490 million.
  • The size of the IRS Office of the Whistleblower has been reduced, from 61 full-time equivalent employees to 38 FTEs.
  • There are 28,197 open whistleblower claims pending in the office.

It is important to note that the above statistics, while large, only reflect civil penalties extracted by the IRS’s whistleblower program and do not include criminal penalties that also often ensue from whistleblowers’ tips. So, while the $3.6 billion in recovery over ten years is a tremendous amount of money, it is only a fraction of the total bounty recovered. Sadly, the IRS continues to exclude criminal penalties from whistleblower; if your whistleblower claim results in a financial recovery, you will only be due a percentage of the civil penalties the IRS attains.

While the recovery amounts in the IRS’s Annual Report are tremendous, the reduction in staff and backlog of cases in the IRS’s whistleblower office are troubling. With a backlog of over 28,000 cases and a reduction of staff by half, it is hard to imagine that the IRS’s whistleblower office can continue this sort of enforcement with any gusto, a troubling thought for those risking their careers to bring fraud to light. Now more than ever, having a carefully written report to the IRS about the activities you have observed is vital. Catching the IRS’s attention will mean the difference between attaining your reward and waiting in a very long line.

What Should You Do if You are Considering a Whistleblower Claim?

Are you considering filing an IRS whistleblower case? You will require the help of an experienced whistleblower attorney to decide whether the conduct you have observed constitutes fraud. Evidence gathering, dealing with the federal government’s attorneys, important deadlines, and filing requirements make your representation both complex and time-sensitive.

Call Barrett Law now at (601) 790-1505 if you think you may be an IRS whistleblower.

Having expert legal advice by your side can mean the difference between receiving your share of a whistleblower judgment and losing your career and livelihood. Call us today.

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Mississippi Whistleblower Lawyer Advises: IRS Office of Whistleblower Annual Report Demonstrates Huge Opportunities for Claims

A recent Washington Post story about a Department of Justice False Claims Act prosecutor should send chills down the spine of any citizen and should be a black eye for the federal government. Former DOJ attorney Jeffrey Wertkin was arrested for trying to tip off companies that were being secretly investigated based on whistleblower tips.  His plan was to take on these companies as clients once he became a defense attorney in private practice.

As anyone who has considered making a whistleblower claim knows, there are tremendous risks involved. Having the DOJ—the attorneys sworn to prosecute these cases for the federal government—turn against you should not be one of those concerns. If you are a Mississippi whistleblower or think you may be, call Barrett Law now at (601) 790-1505.

As an attorney, Wertkin represented False Claims Act cases brought by the federal government after whistleblowers provided tips. As a result, he had access to secret files based on those tips against companies that were unaware of the government’s investigation and the whistleblowers working from within the companies. After prosecuting those cases for six years, he decided to leave the DOJ for a private law firm, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld. That transition, from prosecutor to defense attorney is not unusual, and the law, DOJ policy, and ethical rules would normally prohibit the attorney from ever working on a case in private practice that they had access to during their DOJ career.

What makes the Wertkin case particularly unusual is that he ignored the law, policies, and rules applying to ethical conduct and took a number of undisclosed, sealed investigations with him when he left the DOJ. He then, wearing a wig and fake mustache, engaged in a cloak and dagger scheme to tip off companies to their impending prosecution. His pitch to them was that he had inside information and could best represent them in his role as a partner at his new firm. Amazingly, he was caught in the act of trying to sell these secrets and admitted to his wrongdoing on the spot. In what is now seen as a tremendous lapse by law enforcement, he was then released, returned to his office at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld and destroyed evidence of his crimes.

Obviously, Wertkin was looking to bring in clients and make money off of them, and his greed brought him down. He will be sentenced in March 2018 and will likely serve several years in jail. His punishment is a small part of this puzzle, however.

Wertkin’s acts cast a long shadow over the DOJ, and raise questions about DOJ attorney conduct. For example, is this a unique case, or have other former DOJ attorneys engaged in a similar pattern of conduct in the past? How many other of Wertkin’s cases were corrupted as a result of this conduct? Most importantly, each of these cases was the product of a brave whistleblower who took tremendous risks in an effort to help the federal government end fraud. Those cases are now likely irreparably harmed and will not result in any reward for the whistleblower. Should Wertkin’s misdeeds deny those whistleblowers the rewards that they are due? Taking these questions together, it is clear that Wertkin’s behavior undermines public trust in the False Claims Act process specifically and whistleblower protection in general.  What can and will the federal government due to rebuild that trust? Whistleblowers will only come forward if they have total confidence that the government will maintain their confidentiality.

What Should You Do if You are Considering a Whistleblower Claim?

Are you considering filing a whistleblower case? You will require the help of an experienced whistleblower attorney to decide whether the conduct you have observed constitutes fraud. Evidence gathering, dealing with the federal government’s attorneys, important deadlines, and filing requirements make your representation both complex and time-sensitive.

Call Barrett Law now at (601) 790-1505 if you think you may be an IRS whistleblower.

Having expert legal advice by your side can mean the difference between receiving your share of a whistleblower judgment and losing your career and livelihood. Call us today.

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