San Rafael California Insurance Law Firm

When Californians hear the term "malpractice," they will automatically think of a medical mistake that leads to illness or injury to themselves or death of a loved one. However, malpractice is not limited to medical professionals. If other professionals who agree to provide various services make mistakes through intent or incompetence, there is recourse to address it and be financially compensated. When errors are made by an accountant, an attorney, a financial professional or anyone else, it can warrant a professional malpractice legal filing.

Professional malpractice occurs if there are egregious errors related to failing to adhere to the requirements for professionalism, the professional does not live up to the appropriate standard of care, shows negligence, commits fraud or other acts that harm the client. To recover damages in these circumstances, it is important to know what to do to pursue compensation and hold the professional accountable.

Organizers of California concerts depend on contracts with talent to justify the application of resources. A benefit concert organized by The Circle Foundation contracted with Remy Ma and Safaree, stars of the docuseries "Love & Hip Hop", but the nonprofit that mentors urban youth canceled the event after the stars violated the performance exclusivity clauses in their agreements.

The Circle Foundation responded with a lawsuit against the performers, claiming that they breached their contracts. Per the contracts, they were specifically barred from giving concerts within 60 miles of the benefit concert's venue during the 30 days leading up to the event. Exclusivity clauses like this are largely standard and are meant to prevent the weakening of public interest in an upcoming event.

Lawsuits filed in California on May 6 allege that two of the nation's largest tax preparation companies defrauded low-income filers by using deceptive and misleading practices. The companies supposedly made it difficult for taxpayers to access the Internal Revenue Service's Free File program. In the lawsuits, the Los Angeles City Attorney accuses H&R Block and Inuit of violating California's unfair competition law. The litigation asks for injunctions to put an end to the alleged deceptive practices and seeks restitution for filers who paid for tax preparation services even though they qualified for the Free File program.

Free File is a program created by the IRS in partnership with online tax preparation companies that allows individuals with an annual income of $66,000 or less to complete and submit their tax returns for free. According to the lawsuits, H&R Block and Inuit made finding information about their free options extremely difficult and instead tried to upsell low-income filers with costly services.

California-born celebrity Leonardo DiCaprio is one of the investors in a diamond company that recently received a warning letter from the Federal Trade Commission over advertising practices. Diamond Foundry, which counts the actor among its backers, is a purveyor of laboratory-created diamonds. These man-made diamonds have chemical properties equivalent to those of natural, or mined, diamonds. However, rather than being mined from the earth, these diamonds are grown entirely inside a laboratory, typically through the use of a small plasma reactor that allows chemical elements to form a final stone.

Several lab-grown diamond companies received these warnings in April 2019. The statements noted that these companies must make clear that the diamonds they sell are lab-grown rather than "natural." The FTC letter said that it was concerned that consumers could believe that they are buying mined diamonds instead of man-made versions because of the terminology in the advertisements, especially on social media. For example, some ads called the stones "aboveground forged" or "real diamonds created in America" without using the term "laboratory-grown."