Clifford Haines zealously represents the interests of his clients, filing lawsuits and following the cases through to resolution. The firm also accepts referral cases from other attorneys, especially those that will be argued before a jury.

Medical Malpractice

Medical malpractice is an act or omission by a health care provider—whether an individual, group or institution—that deviates from accepted standards of practice in the medical community and which causes injury to a patient. Simply put, medical malpractice is professional negligence by a health care provider that causes an injury.

Contract Issues

A contract creates certain obligations that are to be fulfilled by the people or companies who enter into the agreement.  In the eyes of the law, a party's failure to fulfill a contract obligation is known as a breach of contract. Depending on the specifics, a breach can occur when a party fails to perform on time, does not perform in accordance with the terms of the agreement, or does not perform at all.  Accordingly, a breach of contract will usually be categorized as either "material" or "immaterial" for purposes of determining the appropriate legal solution or remediation for the breach.

Libel

Sometimes people in conflicts with others become the subjects of injurious lies. The relevant area of law is called "defamation of character,” generally defined to include “libel” and “slander.” Generally speaking, defamation is the issuance of a false statement about another person, which causes that person harm.  Slander involves the making of defamatory statements by a transitory (non-fixed) representation, usually an oral (spoken) one.  Libel involves the making of defamatory statements in a printed or fixed medium, such as a magazine or newspaper.  In the context of defamation law, a statement is "published" when it is made to a third party.  That does not mean that the statement has to be in print; defamation spoken on the radio or television would be categorized as libel.

Product Liability

Product liability law governs the liability of manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors, and vendors for damages caused by dangerous or defective products.  The goal of product liability laws is to help protect consumers from dangerous products, while holding manufacturers, distributors, and retailers responsible for putting products into the marketplace that they know or should have known were dangerous or defective.  Product liability law extends to cover not only physical defects but also “marketing defects.”  A marketing defect involves such issues as inadequate warning labels or instructions, which, for example, prevent a consumer from recognizing a defect in the product, or from being aware of how to safely use or apply the product.

Intellectual Property

Intellectual property refers to creations of the mind: inventions, literary and artistic works, and symbols, names, images, and designs used in commerce.

Intellectual property is divided into two categories: Industrial property and Copyright.  Industrial property includes inventions (patents), trademarks, industrial designs, and geographic indications of source.  Copyright refers to literary and artistic works such as novels, poems and plays, films, musical works, drawings, paintings, photographs, sculptures and architectural designs. Rights related to copyright extend to those of performing artists in their performances, producers of recordings, and broadcasters in their radio and television programs.

Commercial Litigation

Commercial litigation compromises any type of litigation or controversy related to the conduct of business. Examples of areas included under the general term "commercial litigation" include:

• Debt collections
• Bankruptcy matters
• Contract disputes
• Shareholder litigation
• Antitrust actions
• Consumer fraud allegations
• Civil RICO (Racketeer-Influenced and Corrupt Organization) action

Obviously, the term has broad scope.  Commercial litigation matters can range from relatively simple, uncomplicated matters, to highly complex issues that could take several years to resolve.

Personal Injury

A personal injury occurs when a person has suffered either physical or psychological injury as the result of an accident.

The most common type of personal injury claims come from traffic accidents, trips and falls, assault and others. The term personal injury also includes medical and dental negligence and conditions which are often classified as industrial disease cases.  Industrial disease type cases include asbestosis and mesothelioma, chest diseases (e.g. emphysema, pneumoconiosis, silicosis, chronic bronchitis, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and chronic obstructive airways disease), vibration white finger, occupational deafness, occupational stress, contact dermatitis and repetitive-strain injury cases.