@font-face { font-family: "-3 "; }@font-face { font-family: "Cambria Math"; }@font-face { font-family: "Cambria"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 10pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Cambria; }.MsoChpDefault { font-family: Cambria; }.MsoPapDefault { margin-bottom: 10pt; }div.WordSection1 { page: WordSection1; } 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.
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.
