Chapter 1 How Attorneys and Lawsuits Improve Public Safety

What most people don’t understand about the law and the work that attorneys do on behalf of their clients is that, for the most part, it is positive. It may not seem that way to most Americans, and for good reason. There are, no doubt, many unscrupulous attorneys working today. They cloud the legal system with frivolous lawsuits and seek only money, no matter the means or justification. But consider another idea: the idea that at the core of the law is a quest for justice and balance.

When people (be they individuals or members of corporations) fail to follow the rules set forth by our governing bodies, the results are often catastrophic. People get hurt or, worse, killed. And sometimes it takes a lawsuit to force the defendants to admit they’re wrong and start following the rules. Without such lawsuits, the defendants I have fought against would still be flouting the rules. It would just be a matter of time before someone else was hurt—perhaps someone you know and love.
While this book is mostly a primer on the aftermath—both legal and emotional—of the personal injuries caused by negligence, it is also a missive from the inside. It is an explanation of sorts from an attorney who works in the field of personal injury. It is based on my personal experience and the prism through which I have come to view the law and its role in our society.

That role is centered on the idea that one legal action can serve to protect an entire society. Above, I mentioned the rules of a civilized society because I believe they are the driving force for the work that I, and many other fine attorneys, do. So what are these rules?

When you leave your house and drive somewhere, you know that a red light means stop. You know that you aren’t allowed to steal from the till at your place of employment. You know that if you hit someone with your car you will be punished with a fine or, worse, jail time. You know that your company can’t advertise one thing and sell something else. These are the rules that govern a civilized society—the things we’ve agreed upon as members of a social clan.

The idea that most people will obey these rules is something we take for granted in our daily lives—until someone breaks them and the resulting fallout affects us personally. For example: you might think little of the traffic laws in your state until someone runs a stop sign and hits your car. We don’t consider the rules for the construction and maintenance of a building until one collapses and we see terrifying footage on the evening news. And, for the most part, that is as it should be. We shouldn’t have to think too deeply about the agreement that most members of our society have made not to harm one another.

One rule in particular acts as a sort of general code that underlies these rules: we will not knowingly harm others. You take white pills labeled as the appropriate medicine for your medical symptoms because you believe that a pharmaceutical company wouldn’t knowingly sell you defective medicine. To take the pills otherwise would be madness. You get on a plane and believe you will arrive at your destination because you think the airline has done its best to meet maintenance requirements and that they wouldn’t put money before safety.

All of these rules, be they at your workplace or at your favorite restaurants, are there to make things safer. They are also there to instill confidence in the system in which we all live. Without that confidence and without these rules life would be chaos. We wouldn’t be able to trust any products we bought or any of our neighbors or even our employers. So what happens when someone breaks the rules? A loss of trust, the growth of cynicism in our society and, worst of all, the death of one person or the deaths of many people.

When someone ignores the rules the results can range from simple annoyance to death—and, oftentimes, lawsuits, which many people view as harmful to our society but which are actually indicators of civility. Wouldn’t you rather two disputants resolve their differences in court than through violence and vendetta?
The negative reactions many people have to legal actions are the results of the ways we view the outcomes of these cases. Many view legal actions as methods of forcing higher fees on the customers of a business that has been sued or as annoyances that contribute to the formation of a “nanny state” that’s afraid of liability. But what most people don’t see is that when someone is willing to ignore the rules of our society when dealing with one person, he or she is likely willing to ignore these rules when dealing with many people.

The truth of the matter is that attorneys like myself are really guardians looking out for the best interests of our clients as well as society at large. And you’ve seen the results of our work even if you haven’t always appreciated what it has meant for your safety and comfort.

In some ways, personal injury attorneys are like police officers. Most people see police officers as the men and women pulling them over to give them tickets. They see them as annoyances and just wish the cops would leave them alone and go chase real criminals. That is, until these same people are the victims of real crime. Then they expect the police to show up immediately to help them.
When people have been injured because of someone else’s wrongdoing, they begin to understand the value of having good attorneys representing their interests, just as they might begin to appreciate the police in the wake of a crime. The end result of this vigilance by attorneys is a safer society.

There are obvious signs of these improvements everywhere you look. If you’ve ever looked closely, you’ve seen the multiple warning labels that are attached to most consumer products. These say “caution, contents under pressure” or “warning, keep hands and toes away from moving parts.” Now, these warnings may seem like common sense, but the fact is that many of the precautions you see businesses taking are the results of real accidents that sometimes resulted in deaths.

When you walk into a restaurant and see a “caution, wet floor” sign it’s because at some point an employee left a wet floor for his patrons and someone fell and was hurt. Someone was injured because the business didn’t want to put out a simple warning about a floor that may have been only partially dry.

In addition to these obvious signs literally thousands of regulations and safety improvements have been made as a result of companies being forced to be more conscientious about what they do. And the reality is that lawsuits will continue to be necessary as corporations (sometimes multibillion-dollar corporations) cut corners in order to save money.

Prevention Is Better Than Apologies

As a result of litigation that involved other companies, many companies have actively updated safety plans for emergencies and for the prevention of injury. For example, I represented a client who was shot in strip mall. The mall, at the time, had no security guards and no lighting in the parking lot despite the fact that there were shootings and drug deals there on a regular basis. By exposing these patterns we showed that the owners of the establishment were ignoring the problems there at the expense of their customers.

In recent years, lawyers around the country have sued tobacco companies who lied to their customers about the true dangers of smoking. The results have been far-reaching. Advertising cigarettes and other tobacco products is now banned on television and at many sporting events. Stores are forced to card customers buying cigarettes so that minors can’t legally purchase them. All cigarette packs are required to come with warning labels. These are all preventative measures that resulted from legal actions.
People think that lawyers screw things up, and they long for the days when there were fewer lawsuits. But look at the “good old days” when men could harass female workers and when corporations could get away with dumping toxic waste into rivers. Your neighbors could build whatever they wanted without following ordinances, even if their new additions were unsafe or cast shadows on your property.

People abused their privileges in the good old days. There are frivolous lawsuits but for the most part they exist because someone has done something wrong and refuses to take responsibility. Attorneys help to force litigants to accept their responsibilities and therefore protect their future clients or employees.