Personal Injury Law

Erin's Corner - #2: Further Discovery and Comment about the World of Missouri and Illinois Personal Injury Law

By Benjamin J. Sansone, Esq.

Continuing on my journey to personal injury law discovery - some would describe as my own ?trail of tears? - I have come across many different points of view from different sides. This is in-part a response to some emailed comments and questions I received and in-part a declaration of my recent discoveries. But here is what I know so far:

I don?t like the blemish that personal injury attorneys are seemingly required to wear. It?s the proverbial pimple in the middle of the forehead that detracts from the supermodel?s otherwise flawless face. We have all made our own little snarky attorney comments. We are all well aware of the ?sharks? out there. Ad nauseam! I had a great mental picture of how this all worked. Mighty Joe client, down on the field, preparing to charge the innocent and weak defendant (dollar sign appropriately painted on his back), while hundreds of personal injury attorneys stood salivating, with calculators in hand, eagerly cheering Joe on.

Really, not all attorneys are the hostile piranha, ready to devour every doctor, small business owner or large corporation?s bank account, they are made out to be. You simply cannot lump them all together. We don?t hear about every car accident on the evening news because they are unfortunately so common. However, if there is a train wreck, it is covered by every station. They are a decidedly more rarity. We always hear about those greedy personal injury attorneys that have wiped out companies, because they are not the norm. They are train wrecks. They are, without a doubt, the infection causing the big fat zit!

Most of you are visiting this site, obviously seeking an attorney.

Some of you may be feeling a bit guilty for considering a possible lawsuit. You don?t necessarily want to crush the culpable party, but you do need restitution and accountability for their mistake. You do not want to appear greedy, but medical bills are piling up. Ockham?s razor: don?t hire a train wreck! Hire an attorney with a reputation of one that uses the law for the goal of righting wrongs, not for financing dream beach houses. Don?t, not hold someone accountable because of a few trains that fell off the tracks. I find it interesting that personal injury attorneys appear more forgiving than most of their critics. Attorneys meet with some potential clients that literally reek with laziness and greed, yet they do not assume each client that walks through their door is out to retire off someone else. They assume that this person or person?s family has been wronged.

When I wrote in Blog#1, ?..?he does not take cases without merit?, I unwittingly assumed readers knew that no attorney in their right mind would take a case destined for failure. Attorneys take cases where they can assume a probability of a positive outcome. By ?merit? I was referring to the type of case described in the previous paragraph. Merit - meaning the quality of being deserving. Not ?a case I can make a ton of dough off of.? Quite the opposite of that actually. This firm represents injured parties. Not greedy parties.

Full post as published by Missouri Injury Law Blog on May 15, 2009 (boomark / email).