COMMUNICATIONS WITH CONSUMERS
To ensure quality control and that inquiries are handled accurately, courteously, and promptly, phone calls between consumers (“Consumers,” “you”) and Hilliard Law (“Hilliard,” “we,” “us,” “our”) or any of our affiliates, agents, contact center specialists, support staff, legal secretaries, legal assistants, paralegals, and/or attorneys may be recorded. Additionally, Hilliard may from time to time make calls and/or send text messages to you at any telephone number associated with your account. The manner in which these calls or text (SMS) messages are made to you may include, but is not limited to, live person-to-person calls, and the use of prerecorded/artificial voice messages and/or an automatic telephone dialing system. You certify, warrant, and represent that the telephone numbers you have provided to us are your contact numbers. You represent that you are permitted to receive calls at each of the telephone numbers you have provided to us. You also agree that Hilliard may send emails to you at any email address you provide us, and/or use other electronic means of communication to the extent permitted by law.
GENERAL
Hilliard shares the concerns of visitors (“Visitors,” “you”) to the Hilliard website (the “Site”) that links directly to this privacy policy about the protection of personal information online. This privacy policy (the “Policy”) describes our practices regarding the privacy of information that we collect through the Site, which is hosted and operated from the United States. This Policy does not govern our collection of information through any website, or by any other means, other than through the Site, or the collection of information by any subsidiaries, partners, sponsors, consultants or affiliated companies (“Affiliated Entities”).We encourage you to read this Policy before using our Site. By using the Site, you agree to the terms and conditions of this Policy. If you do not agree to the terms and conditions of this Policy, please do not use the Site.
1. Information Hilliard Gathers Through the Site.
Hilliard gathers two basic types of information through the Site: “Personal Information,” from which an individual can be identified, and “Aggregate Information,” from which an individual cannot be identified.
a. Aggregate Information. Hilliard may use cookies and other technologies such as log files, tracking pixels, and analytic tools and services to collect information (including Personal Information) automatically from you. Such information includes your IP address, location information, the type of the web browser and operating system you use, browsing activities, usage information, and any other information that your web browsing software or Internet Service Provider automatically provides to our Services.
i. Server Log Files. When you visit our website, we may track information about your visit and store that information in web server logs, which are records of the activities on our sites. The servers automatically capture and save the information electronically. Examples of the information we may collect include:
- Your unique Internet protocol address;
- The name of your unique Internet service provider;
- The town/city, county/state and country from which you access our website;
- The kind of browser or computer you use;
- The number of links you click within the site;
- The date and time of your visit;
- The web page from which you arrived before coming to our site;
- The pages you viewed on the site; and
- Certain searches/queries that you conducted via our website(s).
We use the IP addresses of all Visitors to calculate Site usage levels, to help diagnose problems with the Site’s servers, to administer the Site, and to improve the user experience. We also may use IP addresses to communicate or to block access by Visitors who fail to comply with our Terms of Service. Collecting IP addresses is standard practice on the Internet and is carried out automatically by many websites.
ii. Cookies. Cookies are data that a web server transfers to an individual’s computer for record keeping purposes. Cookies are an industry standard used by many websites and help facilitate users’ ongoing access to and use of a particular website. Cookies do not cause damage to your computer systems or files, and only the website that transferred a particular cookie to you can read, modify or delete such cookie. If you do not want information collected through the use of cookies, there are simple procedures in many browsers that allow you to delete existing cookies, to automatically decline cookies or to be given the choice of declining or accepting the transfer of particular cookies to your computer. You should note, however, that declining cookies may make it difficult or impossible for you to use portions of the Site. Importantly, by visiting the site, you consent to the use of cookies and similar technologies in accordance with this privacy policy.
iii. Tags. The Site may use so-called may use third party analytics tools, including but not limited to, “Facebook Pixel tags, Google Analytics tags, and Bing Analytics tags” “web beacons,” “clear GIFs”, “Javascript” or similar means to compile aggregate statistics about Site usage and response rates. Tags allow us to count users who have visited certain pages of the Site, to deliver branded services and to help determine the effectiveness of promotional or advertising campaigns. When used in HTML-formatted email messages, Tags can tell the sender whether and when the email has been opened.
b. Personal Information. You are not required to register or provide Personal Information in order to access our Site, though certain functionalities (such as submitting a free case evaluation) require Personal Information. on. Personal Information may include your contact information (such as your name, postal address, telephone numbers and/or email address) and case-specific information (such as important dates and injury details). We collect Personal Information from you only when you voluntarily provide it to us: for example, in contacting us through the Site, sweepstakes, answering surveys and polls, signing up for email updates and announcements concerning our services and contacting Hilliard for case evaluation. If you fill out the “contact” form on this website, we will ask you to provide some personal information (such as e-mail address, name, and phone number). Further, if chat is available through this site, you may be asked to provide information if you participate in an online chat. Please do not submit any confidential, proprietary or sensitive personally identifiable information (e.g. Social Security Number; date of birth; driver’s license number; or credit card, bank account or other financial information) (collectively, “Sensitive Information”). If you submit any Sensitive Information, you do so at your own risk, and we will not be liable to you or responsible for consequences of your submission.
2. Use and Disclosure of Information Hilliard Gathers Through the Site.
a. Personal Information. We may use your Personal Information in any of the following ways:
i. Communications. We encourage Visitors to contact us with questions and comments. Personal Information may be used in order to respond to your questions and comments.
ii. Business Purposes. We may also use your Personal Information for internal business purposes, such as analyzing and managing our businesses. The Personal Information you provide through the Site may be combined with other information you provide to Hilliard (via online or offline means), with demographic information and other information that is publicly available, or with other information about you that Hilliard may otherwise obtain online or offline.
iii. Miscellaneous. Finally, we may disclose your Personal Information if we believe that we are required to do so: (i) by law; (ii) to comply with legal process or governmental requests; (iii) to enforce our Terms of Service; (iv) to protect our operations; (v) to protect the rights, privacy, safety or property of Hilliard, you or others; and (vi) to permit us to pursue available remedies or limit the damages that we may sustain.
b. Aggregate Information. We analyze Aggregate Information in order to enhance website security, track the popularity of certain pages of the Site, the success of our email notifications, traffic levels on the Site and other usage data, all of which helps us to provide tailored content, improve the Site and related services and to otherwise enhance your experience on the Site. We may share Aggregate Information with Affiliated Entities and other third parties.
3. Other Important Notes Regarding Our Privacy Practices.
a. Special Note for Parents. Hilliard takes seriously its obligations under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act concerning the collection of Personal Information from individuals under the age of thirteen (13). The Site is not directed at children, and we request that children under the age of 13 not provide Personal Information through the Site.
b. Security. We have security measures and tools in place to help protect against the loss, misuse and alteration of the information under our control. No method of transmitting or storing data is completely secure. As a result, although we strive to protect your Personal Information, we cannot guarantee the security of any information you transmit to us through or in connection with the Site.
c. Other Third-Party Sites. The Site may contain links to third party websites. These linked sites (including the websites of Affiliated Entities) are not under Hilliard’s control, and we are not responsible for the privacy practices or contents of any such linked site or any link contained in any linked site. We provide such links only as a convenience, and the inclusion of a link on the Site does not imply endorsement of the linked site by Hilliard. If you provide Personal Information through any such third-party website, your transaction will occur on such third party’s website (not the Site) and the Personal Information you provide will be collected by and controlled by the privacy policy of that third party. It is important that you familiarize yourself with the privacy policies and practices of any such third parties.
YOUR CALIFORNIA PRIVACY RIGHTS
California Civil Code Section § 1798.83 permits users of our Services who are California residents to request certain information regarding our disclosure of “Personal Information” (as defined by California law) to third parties for their direct marketing purposes. To make such a request, please send an email to privacypolicy@hilliard-law.com.
In addition, the state of California provides California residents with certain other rights concerning their Personal Information. This section describes (1) the categories of Personal Information, collected and disclosed by Hilliard , subject to California privacy law, (2) your privacy rights under California privacy law, and (3) how to exercise your rights.
1. Collection and Disclosure of Categories of Personal Information under California Privacy Law
- In accordance with California law, we may have collected the following categories of Personal Information within the preceding 12 months:
- Identifiers (for example, name, postal address, date of birth, email address, IP address, and online identifiers);
- Signature, Taxpayer Identification Number, telephone number, passport number, driver’s license number, insurance policy number, account numbers, and other categories of Personal Information as defined by Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.80;
- Protected classifications under California or federal law (for example, age, citizenship status, national origin or ancestry);
- Commercial information (for example, records of services purchased or other purchasing histories);
- Internet or other electronic network activity information, including information on your usage of our Sites;
- Geolocation data;
- Sensory data (for example, video and audio recordings);
- Professional or employment-related information;
- Education information; and
- Inferences drawn from any information identified above.
On an as needed basis, and in accordance with our confidentiality obligations, we may disclose each of these categories of Personal Information with our co-counsel, referral counsel, or service providers for business purposes (for example, to facilitate our representation of you or to enable the service providers to provide their services) and as otherwise described in the “Use and Disclosure of Information Hilliard Gathers Through the Site” section above. Hilliard has not sold personal information about consumers within 12 month period preceding the date of this Privacy Policy.
2. Your Privacy Rights Under California Law
Under California law, subject to certain exceptions, California residents have the following rights with respect to their Personal Information:
i. Notice. You have the right to be notified of what categories of Personal Information will be collected at or before the point of collection and the purposes for which they will be used and shared.
ii. Access. You have the right to request information on the categories of Personal Information that we collected in the previous twelve (12) months, the categories of sources from which the Personal Information was collected, the specific pieces of Personal Information we have collected about you, and the business purposes for which such Personal Information is collected and shared. You also have the right to request information on the categories of Personal Information which were disclosed for business purposes, and the categories of third parties in the twelve (12) months preceding your request for your Personal Information.
iii. Erasure. You have the right to request to have your Personal Information deleted from our servers and we will direct our service providers to do the same. However, please be aware that we may not fulfill your request for deletion if we (or our service provider(s)) are required to retain your Personal Information for one or more of the following categories of purposes: (1) to complete a transaction for which the Personal Information was collected, provide a good or service requested by you, or complete a contract between us and you; (2) to ensure our website integrity, security, and functionality; (3) to comply with applicable law or a legal obligation, or exercise rights under the law; (4) to otherwise use your Personal Information, internally, in a lawful manner that is compatible with the context in which you provided the information.
3. How to Enforce Your California Privacy Rights
If you would like to exercise your rights listed above, please send (or have your authorized agent send) an email to privacypolicy@hilliard-law.com or call us toll-free at: 1 (800) 334-3298. You have a right not to receive discriminatory treatment by any business when you exercise of your California privacy rights.
While we take measures to ensure that those responsible for receiving and responding to your request are informed of your rights and how to help you exercise those rights, when contacting us to exercise your rights, we ask you to please adhere to the following guidelines:
- Tell Us Which Right You Are Exercising: Specify which right you want to exercise and the Personal Information to which your request relates (if not to you). If you are acting on behalf of another consumer, please clearly indicate this fact and your authority to act on such consumer’s behalf.
- Help Us Verify Your Identity: Provide us with information to verify your identify. Please note that if we cannot initially verify your identity, we may request additional information to complete the verification process. Any Personal Information you disclose to us for purposes of verifying your identity will solely be used for the purpose of verification.
- Direct Our Response Delivery: Please provide us with an e-mail or mailing address through which we can provide our response. If you make the request by email, unless otherwise requested, we will assume that we can respond to the email address from which you made the request.
REQUIRED NOTICE UNDER THE TEXAS HEALTH AND SAFETY CODE
Because our law firm gathers, stores and electronically transmits medical records (Protected Health Information — PHI), we are required to post a notice to clients that their protected health information is subject to electronic disclosure pursuant to The Texas Health and Safety Code, Sec. 181.154 – HB 300. Texas and Federal Law prohibits any electronic disclosure of a client’s protected health information to any person without a separate authorization from the client for each disclosure. This authorization for disclosure may be made in written or electronic form or in oral form if it is documented in writing by our law firm.
The authorization for electronic disclosure of protected health information described above is not required if the disclosure is made: to another covered entity, as that term is defined by Section 181.001, or to a covered entity, as that term is defined by Section 602.001, Insurance Code, for the purpose of: treatment; payment; health care operations; performing an insurance or health maintenance organization function described by Section 602.053, Insurance Code; or as otherwise authorized or required by state or federal law. In other words, no further release is necessary for electronic disclosure to other health care providers, insurance companies, governmental agencies, or defense lawyers representing adverse parties.
CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY
Hilliard reserves the right to change this Policy and any of our policies or procedures concerning the treatment of information collected through the Site without prior notice. You can determine when this Policy was last revised by referring to the “Last Updated” legend at the bottom of this page. Any changes to our Policy will become effective upon posting of the revised Policy on the Internet, accessible through the Site. Use of the Site following such changes constitutes your acceptance of the revised Policy then in effect. We encourage you to bookmark this page and to review it periodically to ensure familiarity with the most current version of our Policy.
This Policy represents the sole authorized statement of Hilliard’s practices with respect to the collection of Personal Information through the Site and Hilliard’s use of such information. Any summaries of this Policy generated by third party software or otherwise (for example, in connection with the Platform for Privacy Preferences or “P3P”) shall have no legal effect, do not bind Hilliard, shall not be relied upon in substitute for this Policy and neither supersede nor modify this Policy. By continuing to use our Services, or communicating electronically with us thereafter, you agree to accept such changes to this Privacy Policy.
CONTACT
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or Hilliard ’s information privacy practices, please contact us at:
Email: privacypolicy@hilliard-law.com
Phone: 1 (800) 334-3298
Physical Address: Hilliard Law 719 S. Shoreline Blvd., Corpus Christi, TX 78401
LAST UPDATED
July 19, 2023