What’s the worst injury case you handled?
As a Los Angeles personal injury lawyer, a question I am often asked is “what’s the worst injury you handled?”
Where do I begin!?
I’ve seen it all. I’ve had clients with shoulder replacements as a result of a trip and fall on a Los Angeles sidewalk. I’ve had clients who needed disc replacement surgery in their neck, brought on by a horrible T-bone collision. I’ve had clients in scooter accidents where their legs and feet had to be put back together again with emergency surgery. Broken arms, wrists, elbows and ankles? I’ve seen lots of those too.
Every single client I have had the privilege to represent over the past almost 15 years will say the same thing: Their injury was horrible to them. They would have preferred not to have been injured.
I was observing a friend of mine in trial a few years ago. He was trying a car accident case, and his client was injured in the crash. The case did not settle and trial was underway. I was there to show support to my friend, a fellow plaintiff’s lawyer.
My friend asked the potential jurors a powerful question during jury selection. “Who would trade places with my client?” Not a single juror raised their hands.
There is a belief in society that injured plaintiffs just want money. None of my clients have ever said to me, “break my shoulder, but give me $250,000 and it’ll be alright.” Nobody willingly wants to get injured in exchange for money.
A lot is taken from a person when they are injured. Perhaps it’s an important hobby. Perhaps they can no longer do some of the activities they did before the incident. Maybe they can’t lift up their grandson anymore. Maybe they haven’t had an uninterrupted night’s sleep in months or years.
The law views money as the way to compensate injury victims for what was taken from them.
We can’t give an injured plaintiff back her shoulder or elbow as it was before she needed surgery. We can give her money to compensate her for what was taken from her.
I’m proud to fight for my clients and to help them get back what was taken from them.
