At Rappel Health Law Group, we respect
and understand your concerns about privacy and we take all reasonable steps
to ensure that your personal information and communications are handled in a safe and
responsible manner. Because of our respect and understanding of your rights,
we have developed this policy which discloses our privacy practices, both
with use of this website and through use of electronic communications and in our general professional services operations and
describes the information we collect and what use we may make of that
information. This policy may change from time to time to as required by our
business needs or legal requirements. Please check it frequently.
Rappel Health Law Group is the sole operator of this website and is assisted
with a "shared domain" service provider; however, it is the only
entity that collects and maintains personal information if submitted to us
by the user through use of e-mail communications although certain
non-identifying statistical
information and IP address information of visitors to the website is held by
the vendor. For questions or
comments concerning our Privacy Policy, contact
postmaster@rappelhealthlaw.com or write to Managing Member, Rappel
Health Law Group, P.L., 1515 Indian River Boulevard, Suite A210, Vero Beach,
Florida 32960.
Information We Collect Through Our Website
We collect information that you chose to disclose to us. For example, when
you request via e-mail to receive free written information
about our qualifications and experience from us, we collect the information
necessary to deliver the information to you, such as your name, e-mail
address, phone number, etc.
Additionally, in the course of using our site, we automatically track
certain information about you. This information includes the URL that you
just came from (whether this URL is on our site or not), which URL you go to
next (whether this URL is on our site or not), what browser you are using,
and your Internet Protocol (IP) address. Many sites automatically collect
this information. Cookies are stored on your hard drive, not on our site. Most
cookies are "session cookies," meaning that they are automatically deleted
at the end of a session. You are always free to decline our cookies if your
browser permits. We
will not and do not attempt to read any additional information on your hard
drive, and we do not combine collected information with other personal
information to determine your identity or your email address when using this
website to inquire about us.
If you send us personal correspondences, such as e-mails including
attachments, we may
collect such information into a file specific to you.
There may be other forms and sources of information we collect about you,
depending on how you use the site or contact us electronically through the
use of the Internet.
Our Use of Your Information Collected Through Use of Our Website
We internally use personally identifiable information to statistically
analyze site usage, to improve our content and to customize our site's
content and layout. We believe these uses allow us to improve our site and
better tailor it to meet our users' needs.
We may also use personally identifiable information to deliver material to
you that, in some cases, is targeted to your interests. If you supply us
with your mailing address or other contact information, you may receive periodic mailings from us. If you
do not wish to receive such mailings, please send us an e-mail to
postmaster@rappelhealthlaw.com indicating your e-mail address or
mailing address as applicable.
We may, in some situations, use your e-mail address, your mailing address or
phone number or facsimile number, to contact you.
Our Protection & Disclosure of Your Information In General
Regardless of whether you communicate with us on-line, we do not sell, rent or in any way share any personally identifiable
information about you to any third party outside of Rappel Health Law Group
or it affiliates. As part of our law practice, your personal information is
kept secured in accordance with our internal operation policies and
procedures which include "best practices" standards adopted by the U.S.
Federal Trade Commission, although we are exempted from this regulatory
regime pursuant to federal statutory law and legal precedence.
We may
collect nonpublic personal information about you from the following sources:
·
Information we receive from you, such as on applications or other forms or
in arrangements to compensate us for our legal services. Examples may
include,
Contact
Information
(such as name, address, and telephone number). We use contact information,
for example, to identify you, send you information about our services, and
call or write you about your matters and accounts.
Identification Information
(such as a social security number). We may need your social security number,
for example, to obtain a credit report when you apply for retaining our
legal services with us; report proceeds received from you or on your behalf or paid to you to
the IRS and/or the US Treasury Department or any other governmental revenue
collection authority, or comply with other legal requirements.
Financial Profile Information
(such as income, assets, and liabilities). We use this information, for
example, to process regulatory applications or transactions, to assist in
litigation matters and make appropriate legal product
and service recommendations to help you get the most from your relationship
with us. If you are making
a payment, we may ask for your credit card number and billing address. If
you pay your account by draft, we may electronically store or make a
photocopy of your check.
·
Information about your transactions we secure from our files, or from our
affiliates or others. This
information, such as your account balances, payment or overdraft history,
parties to transactions and trust account usage, permits us, for example, to
process your requests quickly, recommend appropriate products or services, and price
products and services competitively on the basis of your entire relationship
with us.
·
Information we receive from a consumer reporting agency.
·
Information that we receive from others involved in your transaction, such
as a real estate agent or broker, certified public accountant, financial
planner, lender or financial institution, depending on the nature of your
transaction.
Unless
it is specifically stated otherwise in the course of providing legal
services to you, no additional nonpublic personal information will be
collected about you unless you disclose the information to us. We may disclose any of the above information that we
collect about our clients or former clients to our affiliates or to
nonaffiliated third parties as permitted by law or as based on your written
consent or authorization or release.
We also
may disclose this information that we collect about our clients or former
clients to the following types of nonaffiliated companies that perform
services on our behalf in order to assist our clients or with third-party vendors who
are utilized to support our operations and with whom we have
confidentiality agreements and data security safeguards in place to meet our
professional services operation needs:
·
Financial service providers such as companies engaged in banking, consumer
finance, securities and insurance.
·
Non-financial companies such as expert witnesses and consultants, information technology
repair and support services and public accounting professionals.
We do not disclose any nonpublic personal information about you to those
employees of financial and non-financial companies for any purpose that is not specifically permitted by
law.
We
restrict access to nonpublic personal information about you to those
employees who need to know that information in order to provide legal
services to you or to support our operations. We maintain physical,
electronic, and procedural safeguards that comply with federal regulations
to guard your nonpublic personal information. We
use advanced technology and information
management techniques to implement security, audit and control programs
designed to protect the confidentiality and security of the information we
collect.
It is
the policy of our firm to protect the privacy of our clients. We do not
disclose any nonpublic personal information about you to anyone for any
purpose that is not specifically permitted by law or without your express
consent, authorization or release.
It is the policy of this firm to
protect
the confidentiality of Social Security, driver's license, passport and
credit card and debit card numbers, bank account and other financial data, date of birth
and other nonpublic personal information of our clientele; prohibit the
unlawful disclosure of such nonpublic personal information and limit access
to nonpublic personal information of our clients.
We make reasonable efforts to restrict access to nonpublic personal
information about you to those employees who need to know that information
in order to provide services to you. We also make reasonable efforts to
train those employees to protect the privacy of our clients. We maintain
physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards that comply with federal and
state law to guard your nonpublic personal information.
We have adopted policies, procedures, employee orientation,
training and education programs, and communication programs designed for the
protection of client information. It is the responsibility of each employee
to comply with our Privacy Policy.
Unfortunately, due to the existing regulatory environment, we cannot ensure
that all of your private communications and other personally identifiable
information will never be disclosed in ways not otherwise described in this
Privacy Policy. By way of example (without limiting the foregoing), we may
be forced to disclose information to the government or third parties under
certain circumstances, or third parties may unlawfully intercept or access
transmissions or private communications. Additionally, security of mailings
such as billing details and letters and documents can not be guaranteed by
us as they may also be misdirected or negligently delivered to others by
agencies or entities not controlled by us. Further, we can (and you authorize
us to) disclose any information about you to law enforcement or other
government officials as we, in our sole discretion, believe necessary or
appropriate in accordance with those laws, rules and regulations that govern or
concern the practice of law. Examples are where you complain about our
services or conduct to professional regulatory authorities;
when we suspect fraud or for risk management purposes; when
we are required by a federal or state law or a regulation or rule to do so; or
when we receive a lawfully issued subpoena or are ordered by a court to do
so. Since we do hold client monies, we may be subject to random audits by
regulatory authorities which govern our practice of law.
Therefore, although we use legal industry standard practices to
protect your privacy, we do not promise, and you should not expect, that
your personally identifiable information or private communications will
always remain private although our solemn oath and duty of confidentiality
as attorneys-at-law is an over-riding
principle recognized under the law that protects your personal information
and communications held by us from disclosure.
The U.S. Federal Trade
Commission works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and
unfair business practices in the marketplace and to provide information to
help consumers spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint about
unauthorized disclosure of your personal identifiable information or to get
free information on consumer issues, visit
ftc.gov on-line or call toll-free 1–877–FTC-HELP (1–877–382–4357);TTY:
1–866–653–4261. The FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, identity theft, and
other fraud related complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure online
database available to hundreds of civil and criminal law enforcement
agencies in the U.S. and abroad.
Additionally, in the State of Florida, you may file a complaint
about unauthorized disclosure of your personal identifiable information
with the
Office of the Attorney General; and in the
District of Columbia, you may contact the
Office of Consumer Protection (OCP) of the Department
of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs and the
Office of Consumer and Trade
Protection Section of the Office of the Attorney General (OAG).