Why is best Mesothelioma Lawyer Directory
It’s not because my lawyer was so good, but because of his actions in the courtroom that my jaw actually did drop.
In 1998 I was hit by a car driven by an elderly blind driver while I was training for a triathlon. It was the end of my cycling career. It took me two years just to learn to walk again, and it was about at the end of this time when the case came to trial.
I didn’t have a lawyer in those days, living blissfully in a world where I believed if you lived a good life lawyers were just leeches. But while I laid in the hospital with plasma dripping from my many wounds my boss came to visit me and gave me the name of a torts lawyer he knew. I ended up in his office on crutches and he appeared before me in a dark, conservative suit and tie and a grave expression on his face. In a large conference room filled with leather and oak he asked me pointed questions and for a description of the incident. He took notes. His assistant did all kinds of lawyer things. He told me to get ready for the long haul - that sometimes these cases took as many as seven years to conclude. His most memorable expression was, “The law cannot give you your health back. The best substitute for that is money, and it’s a poor substitute.” He also disabused me of the notion that I would end up with “millions” as people think they will after an accident. A dirty little secret of the insurance industry is that they only pay up to the amount of insurance a driver is required to carry. In Massachusetts, the minimum is 100,000 - but the maximum is about 300,000 (plus expenses). If you want more, then you have to go after their other assets, such as their bank accounts, house, car and so forth and each additional step requires more time and legal expense and the system is stacked against the person suing. Even if you win, as I discovered, the insurance company absolutely will not pay. “For every day they don’t pay,” he said, “they are making money on the money they owe you. It’s to their advantage to delay it as much as possible.” Even after I won it took almost a year to get the money from the sleazebags at Liberty Mutual and I only got it when we sued the woman’s homeowner’s insurance and that insurance company in turn sued Liberty Mutual. It was like pulling teeth, with all kinds of deceptive offers. When I was first hit by the car, someone from Liberty Mutual showed up at my house and offered to “buy me a new bike” if I signed a document absolving them of liability.
The first day of court happened to be my first day without crutches. I was so happy that I wanted to show that I could walk. Because it was court, I put on my best suit and tie, shined my shoes and staggered to the court house. I still thought it would be like television. Instead it was a bedlam of screaming children and strollers, single parents, fat court police, metal detectors and stunk of sweat and body odor. The oaken panels of the courtroom were defaced with grafitti and carvings from the multitudes who had sat waiting and bored in the audience and docks for hours for their turn at justice.
When I saw my lawyer I was astounded to see him in a loud, hounds tooth sport coat and a stained tie, which was askew even though it was only 9 AM. Where was the well-groomed, conservatively-dressed lawyer I had met in a richly-appointed office? When he saw me, he immediately got angry. “Where are your crutches?,” he asked me impatiently, “Go get them and don’t let me ever see you without them again.” I had to worm my way through the throngs of check kiters, welfare cheats and shoplifters to my car to get the crutches.
One thing about the “Justice System” in America - when a man commits a crime it’s his wife/girlfriend and children who suffer the most. It was like a face slap watching them “clear the court”. Almost all the people I saw were young, in their early 20s and every crime I saw was a crime of desperation where people were robbing Peter to pay Paul, or usually, feed their children. There were no jewel heist masterminds, no gun-toting back door men kicking in doors. There were no murderers or kidnappers. I was the only “civilian” in the court wearing a suit. Nearly every single person I was with in the court while waiting my turn was a gray, beaten-down, marginally-educated loser with a blue collar job and his family and screaming babies who watched him “pay the Bailiff” or get a court date.
When it was my turn the court was nearly empty. Everyone else had been dealt with, swiftly and without explanation. When they tried to explain something to the Judge, they were told “See the Bailiff” and dragged off. This wasn’t really a trial court, just one to ascertain how the case should be disposed, fine or trial, remand or release. The Prosecutor was an Assistant DA who looked like a fifteen-year-old boy in a suit. The woman who hit me looked like a fat, matronly grandmother dressed in mourning black and weeping into a handkerchief. Her lawyer did all her speaking for her. Unlike my lawyer, who was slumped in the bench, this lawyer actually did wear a suit, a wrinkled, frumpy suit. The Prosecutor laid out the case and I was in awe - he knew more about it than I did. The State knew everything. Later I would go shake his hand. The woman had been charged with a felony - reckless endangerment - and lots of civil driving crimes. The Judge was about 150 years old, with wispy white hair going in all directions on his head. He slumped over the bench like a man at a bar who had one too many boilermakers and I thought he was dead. On either side of him the flag of the state and country hung like dishrags in the oppressive heat and humidity of the courtroom. But for me this was electric - my case, my turn, my life. For everyone else, from the sleepy, immensely fat court police officers with their bellies hanging over their gun belts, to the bored lawyers who had done this a thousand times, it was a tedious formality they had to do to get through every day.
The prosecutor outlined the case. The woman, standing in front of the judge weeping, waited while her lawyer defended her. Her defense was that it was “my fault” she hit me. In less time than I could imagine the Judge banged the gavel and found her responsible and “See the Bailiff”. Suddenly, my lawyer was animated, and on his feet. He hadn’t said a word during the entire proceeding, simply slumping in the hard wooden chair next to me. But as soon as the gavel pounded the bench he leaped up and started punching the air. “Yes!,” he hissed out, “Yes!” I looked at him in jaw-dropping amazement. “I know you don’t understand,” he said to me ebulliently, “But this is an enormous victory. Judges almost never find old people guilty of anything - they’re old too. They relate. But his finding her guilty kicks the legs out from under the insurance company. They can’t fight us in court. They have to pay. We win! We win!”
For him it meant he would get his 1/3 cut in two years instead of seven and he didn’t have to waste time sending motion after motion to get the insurance company to pay. As it was, it still took a year of motions to get the money out of them. I never saw the lawyer again. After that it was all clerks who handled the settlement. I don’t even remember his name.
The best mesothelioma attorney is the one that provides some medical information based on their extensive experience of talking with doctors and talking with patients. And they know how to get patients and their families the highest amount of compensation for their specific case.
They can tell if a lawsuit should be filed or if it makes more sense to see claims with the many asbestos trust funds. One may be easier than the other, but may result in a much higher payout in the end.
When you talk with them they won’t just tell you what you want to hear so you sign a contract with them. They tell you the truth about what to expect, both the good and the bad.
And in my opinion, the best mesothelioma attorney knows when they or another law firm is better equipped to get the most compensation for a client and are willing to refer the case on and not just keep it because they will get a higher fee.
A trusted mesothelioma law firm needs to have a good history of top jury awards and awards for the mesothelioma cases. A free consultation will allow them to assess your situation and the prospect of successful litigation while answering any questions that you might have. Your mesothelioma law firm must also behave on a contingency fee basis, which means that you do not need to pay unless the company succeeds in getting you compensation.
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