Honoring the Saints

Belogradshick, Bulgaria - photo by JoAnn Sturman

Scott Sturman

Having never witnessed a progressive cause it could not support, the Fresno Bee is a good example of not only how the news is reported but what is reported and where it is displayed in the newspaper.  When check out time arrives, we ordinaries are remembered with a few words in the obituary section, tucked away in a cranny well back from the front page.  There is an equality in death and in the obit section; individual articles and pictures may vary in size, but a eulogy is a eulogy.  Does it really make a difference who has the biggest grave stone or mausoleum?  Politicians and the rich and famous are notable exceptions, but what is the Bee’s infatuation with the deaths of personal injury and criminal defense attorneys? 

When the Grim Reaper visits, few question front page publicity for a judge or legal scholar, but why the same treatment for professional litigators who sue anyone anytime, and whose phone numbers can be found in the back pocket of every dead beat in the community?  It’s not due to the public’s respect for the profession.  Just as nurses and firemen consistently rate as the most respected professions, the legal profession doesn’t fare so well with personal injury and criminal defense attorneys hovering at the lowest strata.

Perhaps even Joe the Plumber sees through the victims’ rights and reverence for the Constitution arguments and understands this stagecraft increases the cost of all products, services, and health care and is responsible for the explosion of regulations and rules.  Trial attorneys are bright people and realize tort reform, loser pays, and the broken jury system pays the bills, and the Bee clearly stands in their corner.  

   Belogradshick - photo by JoAnn Sturman

Suing Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere

El Capitan - photo by JoAnn Sturman

Scott Sturman

A judge can be dismissed for only a few reasons, and stupidity is not one of them.   --W.R. Priskna

My friend’s recent experience with personal injury attorneys confirmed that this group of predators are among the lowest life forms on the planet.  When unhampered by financial limits to their demands, they exhibit a rapacious and disingenuous ability to push damages to the extreme.  The larcenous quest is assured when dunderheaded judges preside over a carnival atmosphere, and jurists are selected by how well they fit into a court fool’s costume.

A death occurred on a job site, when an entry level employee with a wife and small child thoughtlessly put himself in harm’s way.  In the hands of an elite team of personal injury attorneys, the story would be rewoven and embellished to convince a jury the fault was due to the employer rather than a careless mistake.  Punishment rather than compensation became the objective, as the attorneys were quick to point out the lifestyle disparities between the deceased and his employer.  As it is in the political arena, class warfare is a handy tool in the courtroom, when jurists lose sight of facts and rely on emotion to redistribute wealth.

Of all the penalties, punitive damages, awards, and attorney fees levied in the case, one element typified how matters spin out of control when personal injury lawyers run amok:  The jury was convinced that without a man in the house, the widow feared for her personal safety at night.  The obvious solution was to provide a security guard in her home while the sun was below the horizon–seven days a week, 365 days a year, for a lifetime.  The cost was only $1.5 million, and one the jury agreed was entirely reasonable, although before his death the husband earned only $20,000 per year.  And what if the widow had a live-in boyfriend or remarried at a later time?  This was a trifling consideration compared to the pain and suffering she had endured since her husband’s passing.
 
Physicians in California are protected from exaggerated pain and suffering awards by MICRA legislation which caps limits at $250,000.  The program reduces medical costs and discourages physicians from fleeing the state to escape a predatory legal climate.  Now the program is under attack by personal injury attorneys, who feel emboldened by a 2/3 Democratic majority in both the California Assembly and Senate.  The lawyers, of course, declare their only concern is adequate compensation to injured parties.  A healthy share of the settlement has nothing to do with their love of humanity.

Californians should consider the following before tinkering with MICRA and its effect on the number of physicians practicing in the state:  There is already a shortage of physicians that only will intensify when Obama Care is foisted on the public.  Educational debt for physicians continues to escalate and often far exceeds a quarter of a million dollars.  With sagging reimbursements, adding more fixed costs in terms of higher malpractice premiums will further discourage highly qualified students from entering the medical field or force them to practice in more physician friendly states.

Listening to NPR’s California Report on the way to work, an anti MICRA advocate was asked what he thought was a reasonable limit to pain and suffering awards, “At least a million dollars,” he quipped.  To an increasing segment of the public who don’t know how many zeros are in a million, it doesn’t seem like a lot of money, but its impact on medical practices translates into a financial burden that a select profession must bear.  When there are too few doctors available to tend to life threatening medical conditions, consider having a personal injury attorney take care of the problem.  If they can’t talk your way out of it, at least they can find someone to sue to ease your pain and suffering.

Personal Injury and Fetal Monitoring

Blue Eyes - photo by JoAnn Sturman

Scott Sturman
fliesinyoureyes.com

This year my wife JoAnn attended a fetal monitoring conference in Las Vegas.  Both doctors and nurses attended the course where they reviewed interpretation of fetal heart rate and its relationship to uterine contractions during the delivery process.  Accurate analysis of this real time data is crucial to the well being of both mother and baby during labor.  It is a technical subject primarily of concern to medical personnel who work in labor and delivery and attorneys who litigate malpractice cases stemming from poor outcomes.

A mock trial was conducted at the conference which showcased personnel injury and defense attorneys, who specialize in obstetric malpractice law.  Their comments regarding trial strategy, particularly jury selection, were sobering but not unexpected.

Jury selection is the first, second, and third most important aspect of a personal injury case.  The personal injury attorney averred he was looking for compassionate jurists who could identify and sympathize with his client.  He avoided selecting teachers and those working in the medical profession.  From the perspective of the personal injury lawyer, the penchant for relying on the facts, asking questions, and dealing with problems logically disqualifies a juror.  It is not surprising these characteristics are exactly the traits desired by the defense attorney.

The audience asked the attorneys how the behavior and personal interests of potential jurors could affect the trial.  Although these questions were hypothetical and often asked for comic effect, this is deadly serious territory for lawyers.  The decision whether to retain or disqualify a jurist rested heavily on intuition.  The ability to predict a person’s reaction to testimony, based on occupation, hobbies, and book preference is an art.  An inability decipher these connections means the difference between winning and losing and a lot of money. 

There is something inherently amiss with a system where the delicate balance of justice can be influenced more by sobbing testimonials and stagecraft than actual events of the case.  It is time to dispense with theatrics and admit in medical malpractice cases, the jury system is too capricious and vulnerable to manipulation.  For once the Europeans have the right idea of using three judge panels to rule on these matters.  Should a verdict be rendered based on a prospective juror’s belief in witchcraft, passion for tattoos, political affiliation, church attendance or preference for People Magazine or The American Rifleman?