We all know that Americans can welcome lawsuits; in other words, anyone can file a lawsuit for almost anything. In an emergency, it's no different. There will be decisions to be made on the spot and they will not always be favorable to the parties involved. Lawsuits always come out of nowhere, which is why it is important to have an emergency management legal advisor. Like anything else, you should always, always cover your butt. Failing to cover it properly (by legal standards) can present negligence liability issues. In emergency management, negligence “…typically arises from the failure to perform (or unreasonably poor performance of) specific governmental tasks…they may include failure to follow a plan, taking decision at the executive level (bad choices, poor planning, poor emergency response), or the lack of wisdom of an incident commander…or the failure to comply with a legal obligation, such as the OSHA Act…” ( Nicholson & Esquire, p. To help prevent lawsuits, an attorney should be present during emergency management. Nicholson and Esquire talk litigation ...