Our firm has been blessed to have interacted with, befriended, represented, and fought for 3,000 people. Each one of our customers has their own story to tell. And while all of your stories are different, most of you have a common bond…. You sought Justice.
You did not seek something you were not entitled to. You were not lazy. You were not greedy. Each of you or your family was put in a position of harm that you never asked for. All of you faced the same battle together, along with myself. We all battled big business and the insurance industry giants, together. And all you wanted was for it to be made right.
It is not a punishment to “do right” when you hurt others. We teach our kids that if they break something, such as a window, that they have to pay for it. Paying for the harms and losses we cause others is not a punishment. Failure to require those that hurt innocent people to pay full measure for all the harms and losses they cause is the same as making the injured person pay the defendants for what they did, and rewards/encourages bad behavior.
Insurance Companies and corporations know that the courtroom is where they can be held accountable for their actions. They cannot stand this. While each of you are working hard every day and providing for your families, the insurance companies and big business are engaged in a constant march to remove your ability to access justice in the courtroom. Here in Tennessee, for example, insurance companies were screaming to the governor and the legislature to restrict the citizens’ rights to go into the courtroom and hold them accountable. They lobbied and donated huge sums of money to their selfish cause, and the legislature bought it, and passed a cap on personal harms damages at $750,000.
The business Golden Rule is “He with the gold, makes the rules.” They did. And they still want more. They will fight to change the Tennessee Constitution to change the wording from “The right to a trial by jury shall remain inviolate”, to something less.
You would never teach your children to go up to someone after they hurt them, force them to only say (begrudgingly) the words “I’m sorry”, and turn around and forget about the damages they caused. Yet that is what insurance companies do when we go to trial. Insurance companies will force you to litigate for years, trying to wear you out, and then turn to the jury and say “Ladies and gentlemen, our client has (just now) apologized to the plaintiff, but do you think it is fair to give the plaintiffs a blank check?” This is their method of operation in about every case. Many times the judges will let the insurance companies hide the truth from the jury, which I believe that is akin to committing fraud upon the jury. Juries are not even allowed to know that each defendant is represented by an insurance company. But they are, in every single case we try before a jury.
We continue to fight for you, one client at a time. All of you have a common bond with one of our most recent victories, Mrs. Kelly Rider. She was hit by a dump truck traveling 45 miles per hour. Although fault was clearly against the trucking company, they blamed her and denied justice to Kelly for almost 4 years. The day before trial, they admitted fault, after making the Rider family worry about it for over a 1000 days. However, admitting fault and paying for the harms are two totally different things.
Please View Our Testimonials, and click “Kelly’s Story”. She tells it in person much better than I could write it here. When you watch it, you will be reminded of the similar trials, denials and junk each one of you had to put up with from the insurance industry and their teams of lawyers who try to deny you justice. When I watch Kelly’s story I am reminded why what we do here matters.
Let us all be on guard to do what is just, and what is right to our fellow neighbor. In a perfect world, there would be no need to employ us to hold big business, irresponsible people, and insurance companies accountable. However, greed, selfishness and irresponsibility have been around forever, and it does not appear there is any end in sight.
Ask those who have harmed you to make amends, and do what is right. If they do so within reason, that is a good and proper thing to do. If they turn their back on you and leave you to the wolves, call me.
“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy. The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern.” Proverbs 31:8-9
