When my children were young, I described my job as a trial lawyer to them in part by explaining that I helped people who were hurt in car accidents. One day as we headed out of town for a vacation, traffic slowed as we approached an ambulance tending to accident victims. Upset, my daughter asked, “Oh, no. Mom, do you have to go to work now?” My young child unintentionally joined the club of people who thought of trial lawyers as ambulance chasers. Her misunderstanding was quickly corrected with a
more complete description of my job. Unfortunately, not all of the general public have been as easily dissuaded from that notion.
Potential clients frequently come into my office–at least they did so prior to COVID—and repeatedly explain to me that their injuries are “real, not like everyone else.” Many try to justify coming to see a trial lawyer by explaining that they are not looking for money, but rather, have much loftier goals, like making sure that the same thing never happens to anyone else or wanting their health insurer to be repaid for the medical bills it should not have had to pay. They often assume that their case is the only
one where some insurance company has treated them unfairly.
I have tried many different approaches in responding to such comments, but I hope to be able to convey that the same forces that caused them to feel the need to tell me repeatedly that their injuries are real, may have also caused them to unjustifiably doubt everyone else. I explain that if they have been hurt at work or by another person’s negligence, then they are entitled to fight to be reimbursed for their very real losses. That does not make them greedy (or even a Democrat).
I also have to regularly explain that once someone files a claim against an insurance company, that insurance company becomes the opposition–some much more ferociously than others. At that point, it becomes the insurance adjuster’s job to diminish potential claims as much as possible. They do so by taking recorded statements that injured people treat as friendly conversations while the insurance agents mine for gold to be used to deny the claims at a later date. They take photographs and interview witnesses, preserving evidence that will help them, while the injured person’s best evidence disappears because no one was looking out for them. The insurance agents may subtly discourage treatment or may steer individuals toward doctors they know from experience will be more friendly toward their points of view.
Sometimes I also talk about all of the money that so many self-interested industries have spent to try to “reform” the system to make it even more difficult for injured people to recover for the harm done to them by others’ negligence. For many years, “tort reform” was a very hot political issue. We were bombarded by assertions of fraudulent injury claims, greedy ambulance chasers, and allegedly outrageous payments being made for supposedly minor injuries.
The McDonald’s hot coffee case was treated as conclusive evidence of a system run amok, without any real understanding of the very severe injuries suffered by 79-year-old Stella Liebeck or the hundreds of
warnings McDonald’s had previously received that its coffee was being served at a dangerous temperature. Most also ignored the fact that Liebeck had only asked McDonald’s for $20,000 to cover her medical and other expenses—which the multi-billion-dollar company refused to pay–and that the amount the jury did award for punitive damages represented only two days of McDonald’s coffee revenues. Almost no one reported that the punitive damage award was ultimately reduced by the judge
and that the case was settled amicably.
The McDonald’s hot coffee case should be cited as a shining example of the good that trial lawyers accomplish. A company was serving a dangerous product. It was warned but refused to change to protect its customers. The product caused severe injury. The company fought every step of the way, but was ultimately forced to pay for the harm it caused. Hopefully, it also then changed its practices to better protect its future customers.
If you have been injured at work or due to someone else’s negligence, you deserve to have someone who is looking out for your best interests from the very start. Please call a trial lawyer.
