Why Politics Matter – Even If You Are Not a Plaintiff (Yet)

Politics matter. Your choices matter, from the President to the members of your school board. These elected officials decide what our government will do, or the implement the policies handed down to them by others within the government. Every time you step into a polling booth, you choose the direction of the country, your state and your community. To those who say, “My vote does not mean anything – I am only one person,” I say in response that this is the exact attitude those who have been running our country want you to have. They know an apathetic electorate is the key to government by the few who always vote.

Many of you have had extremely good fortune, and you have never been a plaintiff. You have never suffered an injury due to the negligence of others. You have never lost a loved one to a malfunctioning or defectively designed product. You have never been the victim of medical malpractice. I sincerely wish you a life free from these troubles, for I can tell you from 28 years of fighting for victims, it is a miserable experience.

However, tragedy may be just around the corner. Virtually all of my clients tell me, “I never thought it would happen to me.” So much of life is that way. We don’t see how precarious our health and the lives of our loved ones are until they are taken from us.

People who are in a position of being sued are just as likely to be victims as anyone else. Many of my clients are what people would refer to as “white collar” workers – professionals, business owners, executives. They are truly stunned when they discover that the Republican politicians they have been electing for years have been committed to denying people – particularly people with legitimate claims – access to the courts. My “blue collar” clients are more familiar with the inequities of our society, where so much opportunity and wealth is monopolized by so few people. Working class people seem to take the news that a right to sue has been taken away from them with a fatalistic attitude, as if it was just one more thing. Wealthier people assume the only difference between now and the years before “tort reform” is that frivolous lawsuits have been nipped in the bud.

Nothing could be further from the truth. And this is why politics matter.

Tort law has made our country safer. Virtually all of the modifications to products that you see in the marketplace, from air bags on cars to flame-retardant child pajamas, were put in place in response to lawsuits or the threat of lawsuits. If we lose the right to pursue a meaningful remedy, meaning one that will economically hurt those companies that engage in dangerous behavior, what will keep those companies from acting unsafely? The government? Please, spare all of us the fantasy that our government has the time, money or will to keep corporations in line.

Our President has the power to influence legislation, and to veto bills that are not in the best interests of Americans. The “tort reform” lobby has been pressing for limits on lawsuits against doctors and hospitals, drug companies, product manufacturers, insurance companies and many other types of businesses. Understand that these efforts do not seek to quash frivolous lawsuits. Despite what you are led to believe, frivolous lawsuits are a tiny problem, and since most lawyers who represent victims work on a contingent fee basis (meaning, we do not get paid unless we win), it is bad business for lawyers to prosecute frivolous lawsuits. The market takes care of most of these cases, and good judges – including good Democratic judges – take care of the rest.

Your US Senators and Congressmen have two extremely important jobs that directly affect potential victims of dangerous behavior. First, Congress can pass laws that either promote safety or ignore safety. When Congress interferes withe the rights of people to sue in court, it promotes a culture of danger. We need our Congressional Representatives and Senators to be on the side of consumers, patients, workers and other individuals. Corporations have legions of lawyers, accountants and other experts to help them fight for corporate rights.

Congress also has the ability to investigate and expose dangerous practices, by holding hearings and subpoenaing witnesses and documents.

State Senators and Representatives perform the same function on the state level. Most of the rights that have been taken away from you have been lost on the floor of the Texas legislature, where corporate money has bought undue influence. The Texas Republican Party, and the legislators it has placed in office, have kowtowed to the special interests that want shoddy homebuilders, dangerous doctors, careless corporations and drunk drivers to escape liability.

Our Supreme Court of Texas – which is also elected – has similarly done the bidding of the “tort reformers,” deciding in case after case that people who win at trial should lose on appeal. Judicial activism – where judges substitute their beliefs for those of the legislature or a jury – is alive and well in Texas, and none of it has been to your benefit. The Republican imbalance on our Supreme Court cannot be cured in one election, but there are three spots open this time, and it is important that working people and consumers have a voice on the Supreme Court. The Democrats running for these positions will make sure you have a voice on the Court.

Local judges, including judges on the courts of appeals and the district and county courts, also affect the administration of justice. Our judiciary in Harris County is 100% Republican. There are some good judges who are running for reelection as Republicans. The one thing keeping me from voting “straight ticket” Democratic was my respect for some of the sitting judges. However, I recently saw an advertisement where all the Republican judges stood in their robes on the steps of the courthouse. We were encouraged to keep our Republican judges. It was then I decided to vote straight ticket – Democratic. If the good judges are going to stand with the bad judges (and believe me, they know who the bad judges are), they deserve to be treated equally.

Perhaps you disagree with me and believe the Republican Party and its candidates have your best interests at heart. It appears to me that many people have, particularly in the past eight years, been encouraged to vote against their personal and financial interests because of issues that are often referred to as “wedge issues.” One thing an economic downturn does is focus all our attention on the central issue of the day – the economy. The contempt for regulation that has been Republican dogma for decades is now coming home to roost, and we are seeing the disastrous effects of that approach in our economy. The same folks who gave us Enron and Bear Stearns by encouraging deregulation and discouraging oversight of our economic actors are the same folks who have brought you tort reform. For a while, it made them richer and most of you poorer. Instead of having a courthouse that was a place where the smallest person could take on the richest and most powerful with a fair set of laws and rules, walls have been erected by our legislature and Supreme Court that block victims from reaching the courthouse door.

You may not be a plaintiff in a personal injury lawsuit now. In fact, you may never be a victim. However, someone you, or someone you know and love, is more likely than not going to need a lawyer some day. If you want to make sure there is a legal system that will be a forum where you can seek a full and fair remedy, remember that politics matter.

Steve Waldman – swaldman@gwlawyers.com

Scattered to the Winds – But Still Up and Running!

Hurricane Ike has scattered many of us to the winds.  That holds true for our attorneys and staff, as well as our clients and friends.  Some of us have returned to our homes, but others still await the return of power.  However, our law firm is still up and running, albeit on limited capacity.  We expect to be back at full capacity by Monday, September 22, 2008.  During the interim, we are receiving emails and voicemails, and we are able to respond to questions.

Thankfully, our homes and offices were spared Ike’s worst destruction.  We have computerized much of our practice, and that data is secure.

Many of our friends were not so fortunate.  Natural disasters bring us all together, and they cause all of us to realize the fragility of life and the power of nature.  We pray for all our friends who have been displaced by the storm, and we hope you have a full recovery of your property as soon as possible.

Steve Waldman – swaldman@gwlawyers.com

OF HURRICANES AND SERENDIPITY

Houston is apparently dodging a major storm as Ike has turned south. However, our gain appears to be Corpus Christi’s loss, as Ike turns its lonely eye toward her. Living along the Gulf Coast during hurricane season reminds me of the role chance plays in our lives. One minute, we are making evacuation plans. The next, we are out of danger, thanks to some high pressure system coming from the North.

Being a trial lawyer offers many other examples of chance, as a momentary loss of attention or a single bad decision can lead to a tragedy that affects numerous lives. This is particularly true in car accidents. I represented a woman who was driving along on her way to work, doing everything right (proper speed, seat belt, not using her cell phone). Suddenly, a high school kid driving a vehicle in the opposite direction jumped the median and hit her head-on. Her legs were crushed in the accident. From that moment on, her life changed. Her treatment (surgeries, therapy, etc.) and recovery became her focus, as she attempted to regain the physical ability that had marked her daily life for as long as she remembered. She went from being a “workout girl” (her words) to a patient.

Had my client left home one minute earlier or later, she would have been elsewhere when the kid lost control of his vehicle. Instead of her, someone else would have become the patient. She would have continued with her life and probably gone on to have a day that, at worst, would have been uneventful. She may have made a big sale, and that day could have become a day she would celebrate.

As for the kid, his actions were anything but momentary. He was driving at an incredibly high rate of speed. That means he made a decision to drive like an idiot. He did not care about the health or safety of anyone. He was the hurricane on the highway, just looking for some peaceful shore to disrupt.

Some of our cases involve momentary lapses of judgment. Some driver drops his cell phone and bends down to pick it up, or fails to notice traffic stopping in front of him. Other cases involve a conscious decision to ignore safety, such as the trucking company that intentionally drives with overweight loads, or the manufacturer that sells products with a known defect. Some corporations put money before safety, and those are other hurricanes in search of victims. As with a storm on a collision course with land, it is not a matter of whether someone will be injured, but whom and when.

I am relieved that Houston is being spared the devastating effects of Hurricane Ike. But, I pray for those folks farther down the Texas coast who will take the brunt of the storm. I realize how precarious our place on this earth is, and how forces of nature show no favoritism in deciding whom to strike.

Steve Waldman – swaldman@gwlawyers.com

Thoughts on the Sherman Bus Tragedy

The sad and preventable tragedy that befell the church group in Sherman, Texas last week has been on my mind. Aside from my prayers for the victims, I have had several random thoughts.

This bus company was apparently a disaster waiting to strike. We ask how any company could be in a position to cause such havoc. The reason is insufficient regulation. For all of you who complain about government involvement in your life, here is an example of our government not doing enough to insure that all buses are properly inspected, and that the companies who operate them have sufficient resources to maintain safe, reliable buses.

Our government agencies involved in safety, such as the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), can barely keep up with the fatal accidents. They have inadequate funding and personnel to act in a preventative fashion, or investigate all accidents.

Most accidents involving injuries are investigated by insurance companies and the lawyers representing victims. When a serious accident occurs involving an insured person or company, the insurance company jumps on the investigation immediately, and their goal is to defend the insured from a claim.

Recently, I saw a letter to the editor in the Houston Chronicle. The writer was scolding an accident victim for hiring a lawyer immediately. Let me assure you – regardless of how quickly a lawyer is hired by a victim, we are usually days behind the insurance company. If you or a family member is the victim of a serious accident, you should hire a lawyer as soon as possible. Otherwise, you put yourself at a disadvantage.

The Sherman bus accident victims obviously had no idea they were dealing with a company that had such low standards for safety. Could they have done more? Yes, but is it fair to criticize them? How many of us have put our children on buses for camp or school functions? Have we ever personally investigated the bus company, looked at their maintenance records, performed a background check on the driver, or even kicked the tires on the bus? No. Perhaps we should. I believe our legislature should pass stricter standards for all bus companies, and then adequately fund the agencies responsible for enforcing those standards.

The next question many of us have on our minds is whether the people in charge of the bus company will be held criminally responsible for the deaths of these people. I do not know what charges will be filed, or if anyone will go to jail. However, I can assure you that the criminal law cannot take the place of the civil justice system in dealing with companies that do not act responsibly when they have the lives of others in their hands.

Convicting a person of a crime is a difficult thing to do, particularly for conduct that is less than intentional. Even when a company is grossly negligent, proving they have committed a crime “beyond a reasonable doubt” is much more difficult than proving they were at fault in a civil trial. Lawyers who represent victims are engaged in holding negligent and grossly negligent individuals and companies responsible for causing harm to others. When we sue someone, our goal is to prove the defendant should have behaved in a safer manner. Our goal is to compensate victims. Yes, trial lawyers make money from lawsuits. We also lose money if we pursue lawsuits that have no validity. The “frivolous lawsuits” you hear politicians complain about are largely a figment of political propaganda. Lawyers cannot afford to file frivolous lawsuits. They lose those lawsuits. Unless someone is paying the lawyer by the hour to sue someone (which seldom happens), the market controls the lawyers.

Frivolous defenses, however, are rampant. The number of lawsuits that are disputed on liability (the defendant claims he did nothing wrong) when the facts are obviously in the other direction is staggering. The reason is simple. Insurance companies pay defense lawyers to dispute lawsuits, even valid ones.

Anti-lawsuit organizations (Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse, Texans for Lawsuit Reform) tell their members to get on juries and hold down damages. I implore all Texans to fight this fire with fire – when you are called to jury service, get on the jury and do justice. If the plaintiff does not deserve to win, do not let the plaintiff win. However, when the defendant has been negligent, and the plaintiff has suffered damages, award the full measure of damages.

One other thought about the Sherman, Texas tragedy. Most of the victims of this crash are going to be undercompensated. Why? Because the bus company cannot have enough insurance coverage to pay all the damages it has caused. What can you do to protect yourself and your family from being victimized twice – once by a negligent driver, and again by an underinsured driver? The answer is to purchase a sufficient amount of “uninsured/underinsured” motorist insurance. This, along with “personal injury protection” insurance, protects you from being left with inadequate compensation when you or a family member is injured by a person who has inadequate insurance coverage. Some insurance companies sell cheaper insurance policies by excluding these two coverages. Do not listen to this type of salesmanship. Always buy as much of these two coverages as you can – they are inexpensive, and they protect YOU.

Steve Waldman -swaldman@gwlawyers.com

Church-Sponsored Assault?

Very few things get people riled up as much as religion, and the relationship between church and state is a hot-button issue for many people. Some people believe strongly in the separation of church and state; others believe religion has a place in public life.

As a lawyer who represents injured people, my views on this point have two elements. First, I have a personal view about the role of religion in public life. Second, I have a view regarding the degree to which religion should affect, or be affected by, judicial decisions.

Our courts serve the role of ultimate arbiter of matters within the control of our government. Since shortly after our government was formed, the Supreme Court declared that in a fight between branches of government, the judiciary had the final say. While this has caused consternation for various people over the years, the principle has generally served us well.

Recently, the Supreme Court of Texas provided a glaring exception. In the case of Pleasant Glade Assembly of God v. Schubert , the Court considered a case where a 17 year old girl who was forcibly held down against her will and subjected to an extensive process by which demons were cast out from her. In the process, the girl suffered minor physical injuries, but she alleged substantial psychological injuries. These psychological injuries ultimately caused her to drop out of school and qualify for Social Security disability. For those of you unfamiliar with the process of qualifying for Social Security disability, it is an extremely difficult process that usually requires extensive proof from reliable doctors.

The Supreme Court, with three Justices dissenting (Chief Justice Jefferson, and Justices Johnson and Green) held that Ms. Schubert was not entitled to bring an assault claim against the church or the people who subjected her to this trauma, because the incident occurred during the course of a religious function in which the Courts have no right to intervene.

To read the opinion, click on the following link:

http://www.texasbarcle.com/materials/digests/opinions/21845.pdf).

Our Supreme Court is treading on dangerous ground, and it is yet another example of what happens when one political party becomes so powerful in a state that its most extreme elements take over. Our courts have, for many years, ruled that there was no protection afforded to activities where a person may suffer substantial physical harm from an activity claimed to be religious. Snake handling, human sacrifice and ordeals such as enduring physical abuse or poison have, at times in the past, been forms of religious expression. This opinion departs from established precedent, and is nothing short of judicial activism.

We have seen our Supreme Court of Texas exercising similar judicial activism in the diminishment of the rights of consumers, patients and other victims of the negligence of others. Our courthouses are becoming increasingly hostile to those of us who depend upon the law to protect us from wrongdoers or compensate us when we are wrongfully injured.

It is important for every Texan, and every citizen, to realize that the day may come when you will need the courts to provide you with a forum to seek justice as a result of an injury. You can count on two things. First, you will be up against an opponent who is either a large corporation or an insurance company, which will have assets and resources far beyond your own. Second, until our courts and our legislature are placed back into the hands of fair-minded, reasonable people, your chances of success will increasingly fall to the interests of large corporations and insurance companies.

This case is yet another warning shot that our courts are out of control. I hope we all remember this when November rolls around, and we have the opportunity to replace the radical Republicans who dominate our courts and legislature with moderate candidates (Democratic or Republican) who believe in the rule of law, the value of precedent, and the rights of victims to fair compensation.

Steve Waldman (swaldman@gwlawyers.com)

Toy Safety – No Excuses When Corporations Injure Children

Once again, I find myself quoting another source, who has provided information that is important for all of us to know about.  This comes from Peggy Lo at the Public Interest Research Group:

It was more than a year ago that we first began to see
the reports about the millions of toys recalled for toxic lead and other
hazards. The news was shocking, and we weren't alone in calling on Congress to
take swift action to protect our kids.

But more than a year later -- despite the outcry, despite
the clear need for reform -- Congress hasn't delivered a bill to make toys
safer.

And you won't believe what's holding it up now:
ExxonMobil, the world's richest oil company, is standing in the way. Why? The
company wants to kill a provision that would ban toxic phthalates from plastic
toys. ExxonMobil just happens to be one of the largest manufacturers of that
chemical.

Unbelievable.

Please sign our letter to the congressional leadership.
Tell them to stand up to ExxonMobil and deliver a toy safety bill that really
protects our kids:

http://www.uspirg.org/action/product-safety/toy-safety-bill?id4=ES

After 45 million children's products were pulled from
store shelves in 2007, I can hardly believe that we're still waiting for
Congress to act.

Earlier this year, both the House and Senate passed a
version of a bill to improve toy safety. But now, as the final bill is being
hammered out, ExxonMobil has joined forces with the toy industry and the
chemical industry in an all out attempt to weaken this bill.

And with precious little time left to pass a strong bill
-- Congress will recess in August -- ExxonMobil just might get its way. That
is, unless we can keep the pressure on Congress to deliver the strong toy
safety bill they've promised.

Help us make it happen. Please sign our letter to
congressional leadership:

http://www.uspirg.org/action/product-safety/toy-safety-bill?id4=ES

Then, send this message to a few friends and ask them to
take action, too.

Let's make sure when it comes to toy safety, Congress
sides with America's children, not with Exxon Mobil.

Sincerely,

Peggy Lo

Toy Safety Online Organizer

PeggyL@pirg.org

http://www.toysafety.net

If your child has been injured by a defective toy, call us.  We are here to hold negligent toy manufacturers responsible for putting dangerous products on the market.

Steve Waldman

swaldman@gwlawyers.com

Computers, Voice Mail and Real “Live” Attorneys

Those of us who lived in the age before computers and voice mail have participated in a great reshaping of human communication that includes the way lawyers do business. We share information via email and voice mail – with clients, other attorneys and insurance companies. We even file lawsuits electronically! It seems the brave new world is upon us.

But, the more things change, the more they remain the same.

I grew up in the home of a small town lawyer. Beaumont was (and is) a city of over 100,000 people, but it has always had a distinct small town feel that its residents treasure. My father did not like dealing with clients over the telephone. He wanted to look people in the eye. He grudgingly put up with the telephone, because his client demanded it.

Today, we have begun to abandon the telephone in favor of emails and voice mails. Yet, many people resist computerized communication. Have you ever heard someone say he or she hates emailing friends and family and would rather use the telephone for personal communication? Now, the telephone is considered “personal,” while email and voice mail are considered impersonal.

What will come next? Video phones are already available. Two people with Mac computers and high speed internet connections can have an audio-video conversation with no additional bells or whistles. Perhaps the next step of the digital age will be more personal, as we utilize this form of communication to see and hear each other.

I have attempted to continue my father’s practice of emphasizing personal meetings with clients. In college, I learned that 90% of all communication is non-verbal, and I have seen this truism at work. When I ask a client recovering from back surgery, “How are you doing?” and the client says, “Fine,” that gives me an impression the client is doing well. Imagine that client bent over, his face twisted in pain. He may say “Fine,” but his body language says otherwise. However, the realities of daily life often make a trip downtown difficult. This just means we have to work a little harder to communicate.

We utilize email, voice mail, telephones, fax (remember when faxes were new?), and even “snail mail” to communicate with our clients. Whatever helps our clients and makes them feel they are receiving the personal service to which they are entitled. Convenience is important, but there are times when we ask our clients to come see us in person. There still is no substitute for a face to face meeting.

Steve Waldman

It’s Official: Allstate is the Worst (According to AAJ)

Sometimes, information that is helpful to our clients and friends comes from others.  Here is a press release from the American Association for Justice:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 9, 2008
CONTACT:
Ray De Lorenzi, American Association for Justice
202-965-3500 x369
ray.delorenzi@justice.org

ALLSTATE RANKS AS WORST INSURER FOR CONSUMERS

Insurance Industry Employs “Deny, Delay, Defend” Strategy, Puts Profits Over Policyholders

WASHINGTON, DC – Allstate ranks as the worst insurer for consumers, according to a comprehensive investigation of thousands of legal documents and financial filings.

The rankings show a distinct pattern of insurance industry greed amongst 10 companies that refuse to pay just claims, employ hardball tactics against policyholders, reward executives with extravagant salaries, and raise premiums while hoarding excessive profits.

“While Allstate publicly touts its ‘good hands’ approach, it has instead privately instructed its agents to employ a ‘boxing gloves’ strategy against its policyholders,” said American Association for Justice CEO Jon Haber.  “Allstate ducks, bobs and weaves to avoid paying claims to increase its profits.”

Allstate (NYSE: ALL) set the standard for insurance company greed and placing profits over policyholders.  Allstate contracted with consulting giant McKinsey & Co. in the mid-1990s to systematically force consumers to accept lowball claims or face its “boxing gloves,” an aggressive strategy designed to deny claims at any cost.  One Allstate employee reported that supervisors told agents to lie and blame fires on arson, and in turn, were rewarded with portable fridges.

Thousands of court documents, materials uncovered from litigation and discovery, testimony, complaints filed with state insurance departments, SEC and FBI records, and news accounts were reviewed to compile the rankings and statistics.

The rest of the rankings are as follows:
2.      Unum (NYSE: UNM) – Unum’s actions are even more shameful considering the type of insurance it sells: disability.  Unum’s behavior was epitomized when it denied the claim of a woman with multiple sclerosis for three years, stating her conditions were “self-reported,” contrary to doctors’ evaluations.  In 2005, Unum agreed to a settlement with insurance commissioners from 48 states over their practices.
3.      AIG (NYSE: AIG) – The world’s biggest insurer, AIG’s slogan was “we know money.”  AIG, described by commentators as “the new Enron,” has engaged in massive corporate fraud and claims abuses.  In 2006, the company paid $1.6 billion to settle a host of charges.
4.      State Farm – State Farm is notorious for its deny and delay tactics, and like Allstate, hired McKinsey consultants.  State Farm’s true motives became apparent during Hurricane Katrina; for example, it employed multiple engineering firms until they could deny the claims of the Nguyen family of Mississippi.  In April 2007, State Farm agreed to re-evaluate more than 3,000 Hurricane Katrina claims.
5.      Conseco (NYSE: CNO) – Conseco sells long-term care policies, typically to the elderly.  Amongst its egregious behavior, the insurer “made it so hard to make a claim that people either died or gave up,” said a former Conseco-subsidiary agent.  Former Conseco executives were fined when they admitted to filing misleading financial statements with regulators.
6.      WellPoint (NYSE: WLP) – Health insurer WellPoint has a long history of putting profits ahead of policyholders.  For instance, California fined a WellPoint subsidiary in March 2007 after an investigation revealed that the insurer routinely canceled policies of pregnant women and chronically ill patients.
7.      Farmers – Swiss-owned Farmers Insurance Group consistently ranks at or near the bottom of homeowner satisfaction surveys, and for good reason.  For example, Farmers had an incentive program called “Quest for Gold” that offered pizza parties to its adjusters that met low claims payments goals.  Like Allstate, it also hired the McKinsey consultants.
8.      UnitedHealth (NYSE: UNH) – The SEC opened an investigation into former UnitedHealth CEO WILLIAM MCGUIRE for stock backdating, which ultimately led to his ouster in 2006 and returning $620 million in stock gains and retirement compensation.  Physicians have also reported that their reimbursements are so low and delayed by the company that patient health is being compromised.
9.      Torchmark (NYSE: TMK) – According to Hoover’s In-Depth Company Records, Torchmark’s very origins were little more than a scam devised to enrich its founder, Frank Samford.  Torchmark has preyed on low-income Southern residents and charged minority policyholders more than whites on burial policies.
10.  Liberty Mutual – Like Allstate and State Farm, Liberty Mutual hired consulting giant McKinsey to adopt aggressive tactics.  Liberty’s tactics were highlighted when a New York couple’s insurance was “nonrenewed” by Liberty, even though they lived 12 miles from the coast and never experienced weather-related flooding.

Financial documents also revealed extravagant profits and executive compensation while policyholders’ claims were routinely delayed and denied:
·        Over the last 10 years, the property / casualty and life / health insurance industries have each enjoyed annual profits exceeding $30 billion.
·        The insurance industry takes in over $1 trillion in premiums every year.  It has $3.8 trillion in assets, more than the GDPs of all but two countries.
·        The CEOs of the top 10 property / casualty firms earned an average of $8.9 million in 2007.  The CEOs of the top 10 life / health insurance earned an average of $9.1 million.
·        The median insurance CEO’s cash compensation is $1.6 million per year, leading all industries.

To see how consumers can hold the insurance industry accountable and view a full copy of the study, visit http://www.justice.org/docs/TenWorstInsuranceCompanies.pdf.

We All Need a Break

I am frequently and pleasantly surprised by how often the lessons of today can be found in the Bible. The first Commandment that had an impact on daily (or weekly) life was, “Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.” That was the beginning of the concept of taking time off from the mundane, profane and inane activities of life and giving the body and mind a rest. What started as a six day work week eventually became the foundation for the vacation.

Some people do not have the luxury of a vacation. Many of my clients are unable to work, and when a person loses the ability to work, he or she also loses the ability to take time off from work. That sounds odd, but the distinction between doing “a day’s work for a day’s pay” and R&R is part of the fabric of our lives. People who can no longer work experience a tear in that fabric that is real and unsettling.

I am thankful for my job and the work I do. As my friend and colleague John Farneti once put it, my job gives me an opportunity to do good work that helps people. Most people have the same opportunity, even if they are not in a professional or service industry. Regardless of whether you are a lawyer, doctor, nurse, educator, pipefitter, truck driver, construction worker, or stay-at-home Mom, the work you do helps others and contributes to the good of your community. A job well done makes everyone’s life better.

Many of us are taking time off this week to celebrate our nation’s Independence. As we commemorate the birth of our country, we should give ourselves a true break from work. For me, that means putting down the computer and the Blackberry, or as my legal assistant Debbie describes it, “unplugging myself.” We have a terrific staff, and three other lawyers in my firm who can handle emergencies.

Have a great Fourth. Enjoy your family and friends. Eat a hot dog and a piece of apple pie. The work will still be there when you are done!

How the “Tort Reformers” Took Away Your Rights

So this is how the tort deformers did it. They did not tell the truth. They just told their lies often enough, people accepted them as truth. You have to hand it to the tort deformers – they are clever.

“Tort reform” is the name given to the wholesale gutting of the right of people like you to obtain fair and just compensation for your injuries caused by the fault of others, and the right of juries to sit in judgment of bad actors such as drunk drivers and corporations that knowingly make dangerous products. “Tort reform” is the abandonment of centuries of legal tradition dating back to the Bible, developed through years of refinement by the courts of England and the United States (mostly by stodgy old judges who could never be called “liberal”). The purpose of tort law is to punish wrongdoers (some would call them “evildoers”), and shift the economic harm caused by their negligence to the victims.

With a few strokes of the pen, by legislatures and judges put into power by people advocating “tort reform,” your rights to sue for damages when you are injured or your loved ones are killed by the fault of others have been greatly reduced, and in some cases (such as medical malpractice) obliterated.

The thing is – all the talk about the need for “tort reform” was grounded in lies. We have had no “lawsuit crisis” in America. Our court system may have needed some tweaking, and judges and legislatures have been tweaking the rights of litigants for years. So how did these big corporations and insurance companies who were the bucks behind “tort reform” turn “reform” into “deform” (hence my term – “tort deform”)?

It turns out a couple of brainiacs wrote a book about the brain that explains it all. Sam Wang, an associate professor of molecular biology and neuroscience at Princeton, and Sandra Aamodt, a former editor in chief of Nature Neuroscience, have written the book, Welcome to Your Brain: Why You Lose Your Car Keys but Never Forget How to Drive and Other Puzzles of Everyday Life. In their op-ed piece in today’s New York Times, they explain how the Swiftboaters made John Kerry look like a coward, and how the rightwingers are now trying to label Barack Obama a Muslim. They tell the lie over and over, and eventually, people forget where they heard it. It becomes imprinted on their brain, and the source of the information is lost in translation from one part of the brain (the hippocampus) to the other (the cerebral cortex). Genius!!

So, when the tort deformers told you we needed to rush to destroy medical malpractice law in Texas, or else doctors would leave and never come back, they knew the statistics did not back up their claims. They knew doctors left rural Texas for the big cities for the same reason other businesses leave the country for the city – more opportunity (that is, money). But, like lemmings, many of us lapped up that pablum, and in 2003 we passed Proposition 12. Now, if your loved one is killed by the negligence of a doctor or hospital, just try to find a lawyer. Chances are, you won’t. And the effects of tort deform go on and on, as your rights to seek compensation in the courts fall victim to repeated attacks by a legislature and a Supreme Court who are, to borrow a phrase, dancing with the ones who brung ‘em.

So, what should you do? This is not a political column (OK, it is this time), but I suggest you do three things. First, remember that the political party that took away the rights of consumers, patients, workers and others to seek fair compensation for their injuries, is the party of our current governor and president (that would be the Republicans). Second, don’t just accept the words of pundits and commercials. Read. Ask questions. Talk to both sides, not just the one with the most money who can flood the media with its version of the truth. Become informed. Then, finally, go to the polls and VOTE!

Steve Waldman
Board Certified – Personal Injury Trial Law
Texas Board of Legal Specialization
Grossman & Waldman, LLP
1415 Louisiana, Suite 3555
Houston, Texas 77002-7392
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