The Hazards: Fleecing The Lamb
Phenomena associated with growth such as instability, inflation, and boom-and-bust cycles are bad enough. Man-made hazards to your properties present more serious threats that could break an otherwise formidable piggy bank. “A man sits,” wrote Henry Thoreau, “as many risks as he runs.” If you own properties, run a business or practice a profession, salivating predators with an attitude are not far behind. Even relatives, close friends and associates will turn into predators once money is involved. This is a fact of life. The world is getting more complex. Personal privacy is fast eroding in the age of interlinking databases and computers. You may not realize it but you have enemies lurking in the dark. The hazards that threaten your properties seem boundless. Unlike weather conditions that may be predicted by modem instruments, a forecast of the hailstorm of lawsuits is a tough call. Everywhere you look, there is a powder keg waiting to explode. There is no need to be paranoid about it as long as you have adequately covered your assets. Engaging in gainful employment, opening a business enterprise, or practicing a profession is bad enough and the attendant risks of contractual and tort liability make the entire landscape a defense lawyer’s worst nightmare. No, it is not your ordinary business risks, such as market forces, dwindling sales, a slumping economy, high interest rates, political instability lack of investor confidence, business reverses, labor union problems, lower margins, higher costs of raw materials and imported goods, stiffer competition, and crony capitalism. It is none of these predictable contingencies. These are litigation risks, especially those that end up in huge adverse judgments. To a plaintiff’s lawyer, the mere thought of collecting a fat judgment conjures vivid thoughts about living in a palatial home full of concubines, antiquities and expensive furnishings.
