Law Have Mercy!

Chaz went on "The Tea Podcast" & SPILLED IT on all of *those* Hot Topics! [BONUS EPI]

• Chaz Roberts, Ben Berthelot, The Tea Podcast LFT • Season 3 • Episode 36

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To watch the FULL interview in it's original form, you can find The Tea Podcast on Facebook @TheTeaPodcastLFT or on Youtube @TheTeaPodcast.

In today's BONUS episode of the Law Have Mercy! Podcast, we're sharing Chaz's recent guest-appearance on another local podcast -- "The Tea" Video Podcast recorded right here in Lafayette, LA! The show  is hosted by Ben Berthelot, CEO & Founder of Developing Lafayette, who has a knack for stirring up controversial conversations and never skips a chance to ask *THOSE* hot-button questions. For better or worse, Chaz's episode was no exception! 

Let's just say that if you've ever wondered about Chaz's honest opinion on some of the most gossip-worthy topics in the Louisiana legal landscape, this episode *probably* touches on it! Ben presses for Chaz's honest opinion on all the local law gossip like *those* big billboard lawyers, how much someone can realistically be paid from a personal injury case,  what sets our practice apart from the rest, what to NEVER say after a car crash,  and MUCH more! Rounding out the little expose, Chaz talks about   the craziest things he has ever encountered since starting his law career, and more. Plus, host Ben has zero shame as he asks Chaz what's the biggest settlement he's ever gotten for a PI client, which promptly leads Chaz into sharing yet another hot take on attorneys who focus on big checks & how they can be misleading about what really happens behind-the-scenes. 

Shoutout to the show's host, Ben, for inviting Chaz onto the show and asking the very questions everyone would want to ask! As you'll see/hear, his fearless interviewing skills made for a jam-packed chat that will NOT disappoint, so settle in and enjoy this candid little combination of local gossip and sobering reality checks! 

You can watch most full episodes of Law Have Mercy on YouTube!

For more FREE legal tips, check out our social channels:
Instagram - @chazrobertslaw
Facebook - Chaz Roberts Law
TikTok - @chazrobertslaw
LinkedIn - Chaz Roberts

If you are in need of legal guidance, visit our website: https://www.chazrobertslaw.com/

This show is co-produced by Carter Simoneaux of AcadianaCasts Network, Chaz H. Roberts of Chaz Roberts Law and Kayli Guidry Bonin of Beau The Agency, and Laith Alferahin.

Speaker 1:

All right, it is the T podcast. Today we have Chaz Roberts, a Lafayette-based personal injury attorney and social media content creator at Chaz Roberts Law. He has a podcast called Law have Mercy. And so whenever you were in high school, was this a dream of yours to become an attorney?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, really yeah, I was. I wanted to be a lawyer since I was probably 10 years old. Wow, yeah, why? What got you to want to be a lawyer? It's so funny because I met the first time I actually met a lawyer. I was in college. I was my business law professor, the first actual lawyer that I met, but dating back to I was 10 years old. I wanted to be a lawyer, which is insane.

Speaker 1:

I just I always Did you see it on TV?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, obviously I watched a lot of law movies. Like my Cousin, vinny the Firm, a Few Good man. I was into like legal movies but I always kind of defended people. I always like stuck up for people. I was all. When the teacher would have something and try to pull up a pop quiz I would start arguing with them.

Speaker 1:

Oh, you were providing a deposition. Nothing, yeah, man yeah.

Speaker 2:

I was always. I always gravitated to like representing people or sticking up for people I didn't even know the term representing people at the time, but like sticking up for people and so I just always had my mind I want to be a lawyer. Luckily, I guess right, a lot of people become lawyers and hate it. I guess right. I was meant for this. I couldn't see myself doing anything else. I would be a terrible salesman. I'd be terrible at any other thing but practicing law Really. So I guess right.

Speaker 1:

That's crazy. A lot of people don't have that early intuition of what they want to be and stick with it, like my little boy. He's seven. Not even a year ago he wanted to be a cop. But over the Christmas break we went and pulled over at the Lafayette Airport and just pulled into the grass and right there by the edge of the strip and watched airplanes take off above us and just kind of watched and there were some military airplanes practicing and now he wants to be a pilot. So like his thought process changed, like, oh, maybe cop is not cool anymore, maybe being a pilot. And then, you know, I took him to the airport, got like one of those visitors passes and got to meet some pilot and some captains and went inside the cockpit and like, oh yeah, now he wants to be a pilot. So it's interesting that you, being such a young age almost the age that my little boy is now knowing that you wanted to be an attorney.

Speaker 2:

I wouldn't say that that's a very common phenomenon at somebody that age. But you know now, like looking back on my career and just seeing where my colleagues, like my classmates, ended up like, we have some that are business owners. We have some you can put into intellectual property. You can be in the family law. You can be a lobbyist. You can be a politician Like it's. You could be an FBI agent. There's so many different areas you can go into by learning the law.

Speaker 2:

When you go to law school you really don't learn how to be a lawyer. You learn the law, you learn how to think like a lawyer. And so it's an expensive lesson Three years of law school it's probably tripled since I've been there and in the tuition price. But I would encourage people.

Speaker 2:

What it shouldn't be is someone gets out with a degree and doesn't know really what to do to go to law school. That's a bad move. I've seen people that have done that and that has not worked out well. But if you are interested in learning how the law works because think about it the law affects us all If you're, if you're starting a business right here, you need to know operating agreement contracts. You know if you are looking at buying a property, you need to interact with a lawyer to help you do that. If you're trying to change the way things are done in your town, you need a handle on the law, so it affects all of us, and so having an idea and understanding the law is just truly a great skill to possess, and it just so happens that I found a way how to run a business actually practicing law.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so I got to ask you about the. I feel like it's the elephant in the room whenever it comes to attorneys or law or anything like that. Bring it, bring it is the Morris, bartz and Gordon, get it done. You know snapping a finger and you know all that. Those are personal injury lawyers and they're, they're, they have very big names. There's also one in New Orleans area and the only reason I know this New Orleans based attorney is because of his commercial that he had with big freedom One.

Speaker 2:

One, la Fonta, la Fonta. Oh my God.

Speaker 1:

Yeah that I don't even know how this. I don't even know this guy's business, I just know his name. I know he appeared in the music video, but that was such a catchy tune that I can't get one La Fonta out of my head.

Speaker 2:

He will not catch me doing a commercial with big freedom. I mean spoiler alert. Just saying it works, it never know. It works for some people.

Speaker 1:

But so what do you make of those? I guess I'm going to call them huge success stories of attorneys that are, you know, the billboard attorneys, the people that you see on the commercials. You know you drive through Louisiana and you see all these billboards. You know it, mainly Morris Bar. Then you got Gordon and you got a couple of, like, I would say, medium sized firms, like I think it's the bozers I can't think of the full name, it's two guys. Then there's the Glenn Armintour, I think he's local. You know you see a few of those billboards but like, the two that you see are Morris Bar and Gordon, like what do you make of those?

Speaker 2:

Well, that's a very complicated question. Okay, so, number one, they're doing it, for it must work. Yeah, it's something's working. They're spending millions of dollars. I mean, he's got.

Speaker 1:

Billboards. Gordon's got this couple of buildings. He's got one right across the street from his one in Baton Rouge and he's got these huge flags. And then he's got, you know, Lapien and all these other locations. But it's crazy, yeah.

Speaker 2:

So I do things a little differently, right? How? So I don't even have a sign at the road, okay, so I have my only word of mouth and I have my social media. Social media is a very low cost way of getting your message out there. One of the big things that I'm passionate about is like changing the perception of lawyers, particularly personal injury, which is what I do.

Speaker 2:

So you know, there's so much stigma because of the billboards and commercials that whenever you say like I do personal injury law, they automatically assume ambulance chaser, billboard commercial more as well, you're more as well. This is a no, that's not, that's not me, it's a different. It's a different format, it's a different philosophy, it's a different mindset. Okay, but while I'm not a fan of it and while I try to change the perception, they have served a purpose by educating people in a way that, if you were hurt, okay, by by somebody else's fault, you have a right to recovery, all right. So they have done some good by educating the public. Also, if they're building these buildings and they're putting these bill, they could afford the marketing. It means that a lot of people are getting rex, a lot of people are getting hurt. Yeah, that's a problem. Okay, so the job of educating people that insurance companies are not your friend. Everybody is mandated to pay insurance.

Speaker 1:

You have to pay insurance in order to drive and it goes up, it keeps going up and you still gotta pay and I'm like I don't want to pay anymore Like I'm done.

Speaker 2:

And then what happens is you get in a wreck and let's say you had state farm or all state and you've paid your premiums for 20 years. You've kept the same provider, they will nickel and dime you.

Speaker 2:

Oh, I've experienced that Delay and do all these things to avoid paying you what you deserve. So while I am not a fan of every single billboard being associated with the same thing I'm doing, I'm not automatically going to dismiss it because there are other problems. Okay, people are getting hurt, we've got bad drivers and we've got terrible insurance companies, so it's kind of a necessity. Look, lawyers would go out of business if insurance companies just did what they were supposed to do. Right, right.

Speaker 2:

So that's why you see so many lawyers, and that's why you see so many people trying to get cases, cause Insurance companies are a problem, right?

Speaker 1:

So I guess I don't know if I gave you an answer. No, no, no, that's good.

Speaker 2:

But it's a gray area and I don't want to automatically dismiss those people. There's a lot of good lawyers that work for them. There's a lot of good people who are employed by them. It's not for me.

Speaker 1:

So you mentioned something just a second ago there, that there's a lot of people working for them, a lot of attorneys working for them. It is my understanding and I can't even remember where I got this understanding from is that they've gotten to a point the Morris, bart and the Gordon's that they are no longer an attorney. In a sense, they have an attorney firm they have-.

Speaker 2:

Right, Gordon McCartney is not working on your case. Right, it's not Morris Bart is not working on your case.

Speaker 1:

They are essentially the marketing department. Correct, that's what that is. It's the face of the company. I mean, he's making TikTok videos about his family, his billboards they just got a new dog. I'm like, oh so this is what's going on. It works. Look, we're talking about it right now.

Speaker 2:

It works, but it's one of those things that but the difference is if you hire my firm, you get me, you get me, you get my staff, but you get me. I work on every single case.

Speaker 1:

So that's, I guess I want to know that. We talked about the big guys. What does a I'm going to call your firm a boutique firm? Yeah, that's a good term. Okay, it's smaller, but more intimate, more personal.

Speaker 2:

Yes.

Speaker 1:

Okay, that's how I look at a boutique, Sometimes a little bit more expensive, but in the case of the billboard lawyers, I'm pretty sure they probably have a higher price tag. So I don't know of that for a fact. But so what differentiates you from the billboard lawyers and yourself?

Speaker 2:

Because the dude with the sign on the wall is the same guy that's working on your case. So there's more accountability, right, and so you can reach me. You got my phone number, or you come sit down in my office I met with two clients before I was here on cases, right, I'm the guy you talk to me, and so you get all of our resources and the people that work within our office. We get paralegals, and I have another lawyer, who is brilliant, that works with me alongside, but I work on every single case, and so when you have your name and your reputation, your integrity, I'm signing all that on the dotted line next to you and we are together. We are working on your case together. So I think it's a better level of customer service. I think it's a better level of service. I think the results are better.

Speaker 1:

How long is a typical case? I don't, I know that varies probably drastically, but like so personal injury, just in that scope of practice. Let's say somebody rearings me and you know I'm not like disabled from it, but you know it hurt Obviously. Let's say they hit me going, you know, 30, 40 miles an hour. I don't know what the speed would be to really get injured, but you know we have to go through all the the legal stuff. Like what would that look like? Like, let's say, if I wanted to file a case, like what would that look like from calling you to potentially, hopefully, if I'm in the right, getting paid out?

Speaker 2:

This is the two words that are the most common use words by lawyers that everyone in the general public hates. It depends, it depends, oh my God, it depends okay.

Speaker 2:

Because, it all depends on how hurt you are. Is your injury gonna resolve in two weeks, six weeks, six months, six years? Right, so you don't really want to close a case while that person is still treating because you want the insurance company to pay full value for everything. Okay, now, sometimes we can't. The person's gonna be treating for the rest of their life, so you get a future life care plan and then there's an opportunity to settle that case before the termination of treatment. But yeah, why would I settle if you're still hurting 10 months in? Why would I settle your case? I wanna find out what is gonna take to fix you, to get you as close to 100% as possible. So some cases we close in 30 days, 60 days, some two years. It just depends on how much treatment and I would say the longer the case, usually the more valuable the case, because that means more treatment. Do some lawyers sit on cases that people have finished treating and they sit on it for another year? Absolutely all right.

Speaker 1:

They're good teachers.

Speaker 2:

They're good policemen, they're bad teachers. They're bad policemen. They're good lawyers, they're bad lawyers. Okay okay. Okay, Ben, you're killing it. You're asking me some good questions, man.

Speaker 1:

Hey man, I'm trying, man, I still got a few more in the chamber here. So now I'm curious what does a dollar figure look like? Cause I will be honest here, whenever I'm driving in Lafayette, especially Lafayette on Johnson, ambassador Collie, salome, and if I'm ever going through an intersection, one of those dangerous intersections I'm always in the back of my mind is today, the day that I'm gonna have to remember one of those phone numbers. You know, there's one phone number that I can tell you right now. I can remember right off the bat because it's one of my favorite numbers and I'd probably end up dialing that. Now, if I know your number, I'll dial that.

Speaker 1:

But my question is is like in the back of my mind, I'm thinking okay, if I get hit today, how much money could I potentially get? And I know you're gonna say it depends, cause we just got through saying the length of case could be 30 days, could be 10 years, but I guess an estimation, an average or like what does that look like monetarily? Like how do you? How does that work, like how?

Speaker 2:

It's a great question and.

Speaker 2:

I will not say it depends, Okay, good, Okay, there's really sort of three factors that we look at when we take on a case. All right. Number one liability. Like is somebody else at fault? Okay, was it a he said, she said, or was it a clear like let's just say, in your example, somebody rear ends you, that's the cleanest type of fault you can get. So you got liability, all right. Number two insurance. How much insurance is available? If somebody hit you and they have a minimum policy, which is $15,000, you could sever an arm, a leg, you can be paralyzed, and if there's only $15,000 available, that's all you're gonna get all right.

Speaker 2:

That's why it's important to carry uninsured motorist coverage, and I could go on a whole rant on that right, but when you get uninsured motorist coverage, you're protecting yourself against other people yeah, who, by the way, this may be a news flash to you, but people who drive recklessly oftentimes don't take care of their financial responsibilities. Okay, so the people who cause a lot of times, cause the most harm, have the least amount of insurance or no insurance. Right, six out of 10 people driving around Lafayette have minimum coverage or no coverage. That should work. That should concern you.

Speaker 1:

That is crazy. And I'm not saying that I didn't think that, because I've been in situations where the other driver didn't have insurance and I was like a new driver. But yeah, go ahead.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so insurance available is a consideration because that really caps what you can recover right, and that's why those same billboards you were talking about they're standing on 18-wheelers, because 18-wheelers have to carry commercial limits which is far in excess of the 15,000, a 750 or a mil and above right so that's why more insurance available, more lucrative case right.

Speaker 1:

No wonder Gordon's standing on top of an 18-wheeler. That's right. I mean that'd be the case to go for.

Speaker 2:

He's not standing on top of a A Honda.

Speaker 1:

A 1996, neon right, yeah, they're standing on top of an 18-wheeler, a commercial business commercial requirements.

Speaker 2:

That's federally mandated, okay. So we're talking about fault. Somebody else has to be at fault, okay, and the reason why the fault is important is because, even if it's 50-50, you can recover. If it's 50% your fault, 50% of somebody else's fault, you can still recover, but you can only recover half 50%, okay. So that's a consideration. Number two is insurance. How much is insurance is available? Okay, you can't control what they have, but you can control what you have, and that's why I should. Before I leave this podcast, you will call your agent and say I want uninsured motorist coverage.

Speaker 1:

I think I have it. I think I have it. I want to up it, all right. I want to increase it, all right.

Speaker 2:

All right. Number three is damages. How hurt are you? Okay, is it a soft tissue injury that resolves in six weeks? Do you need neck surgery? Do you need back surgery? Do you need an ankle surgery? How badly are you hurt? Because when you plug all three of those things together, it gives us a case evaluation and we're looking at that, the insurance company's looking at it and ultimately a judge or a jury may look at that one day and just have to decide what's this case worth. And then you also factor in time away from work, you factor in pain and suffering. Pain and suffering is usually determined by the extent of the injury and how it has affected you and your loved ones. Okay, so I can't give you a good answer, but I can tell you cases range from $3,000, $5,000 to $5 million and everywhere in between and I'm saying 5 million, it could be beyond that, it could be a hundred million, but everywhere in between. But most cases which are typical soft tissue type cases are in the five figures.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so what is and I'm gonna dig into your history here what is the largest case that you've ever? One?

Speaker 2:

Just recently this is not the largest case Just recently we went to Texas and a day after picking the jury we got over 3.25 million.

Speaker 1:

Wait. So this is a case that you were involved in or, like, directly connected with.

Speaker 2:

Yes, Okay, yes, so multimillion dollar cases. You can't disclose all of them because of confidentiality agreements, but several cases, and it's a seven figures.

Speaker 1:

Do yeah. So how many cases like that have you had in your life as an attorney, by the way.

Speaker 2:

I just want to mention one thing Like. I don't think anyone out there should want a seven figure case, right Because?

Speaker 1:

that would be bad.

Speaker 2:

Because that would be bad. Yeah, I would say that you have to have some type of surgery or some type of really a bad hit to your life and you're not the same person you were before. So I wouldn't wish this on anyone. Yeah, right, it's, and that's why I like I'm real careful to talk about results, because and I think it's tacky when a lot of people post results I do sometimes in rare situations, because people need to know what I do and that I'm capable of that, but there's a price to pay for that and that is someone's life, that's someone's family, that's that is a someone who will never be the same potentially. They pay the price for that, and so I'm real careful about publishing some of that stuff.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2:

I'm just, I'm competing. You mentioned it earlier. I'm competing with guys that spend a million dollars, two million dollars, a month in marketing and I'm just a little bitty old fish here doing good work, yeah Right, and so you have to be in that flow somehow. I'm sorry, I cut off your question. No.

Speaker 1:

So I was going to say that it's interesting to see the commercials for these bigger lawyers, these bigger attorney firms touting the oh my lawyer got me $300,000 or my lawyer got me $900,000. And I'm like man, that sounds like amazing. And of course, they're on video standing. They look healthy and look paid actor.

Speaker 2:

Probably so. Yes, you're right, because what I always say is you made two million Cool Turn around. Let me see your scar, right?

Speaker 1:

That's a curious phenomenon, is this? And going back to being on the road, being in traffic, I'm always thinking those people that get those big payouts, what type of injury did they have to go through to get that? And I'm thinking to myself man, maybe it isn't that much, because the whole joke is, if you get hit from behind, you come out and you go oh my neck, you know you look sore and thinking that you're going to cut a $500,000 check out of it. Something like that may not even be worthy of a thing. I don't know, is that even that?

Speaker 2:

No, you got to understand. These insurance companies are billion dollar companies. Okay, and there's only like 12 of them that write insurance in Louisiana. So these are billion dollar, sophisticated companies. They're not just cutting checks willy-nilly. Here you go, here you go.

Speaker 1:

They're in the business of making money.

Speaker 2:

They're in the business of making money and the less money they pay out, the more money they make, the more money. Do you know how insurance works? They take a bunch of premiums and they take that money and invest it in other things in stocks and mutual funds and treasury bonds, and they make money on like a bank.

Speaker 2:

There's no warrant warrant. Buffett is a big fan of insurance and it's not by coincidence, sure. So they are not just cutting checks. In fact they're saying you get no money and it takes a lawyer, a strong lawyer, as an advocate that has the ability to file a lawsuit and bring the case in front of a jury of their peers. It's an amazing responsibility, it's an amazing power that we have. Just a little old me, from Sicily, louisiana, I can take on Chevron and Shell or all state or state farm or the biggest, some of the biggest corporations in the world. Their CEOs make $30 million a year, $40 million a year, and I can bring them into Little Bitty, samor and Parrish or Lafayette, parrish, and we could call 12 jurors and we can put them in the box and they can decide if that company is responsible to pay this nice person. And it's a really cool responsibility and it's a good kind of balance, you know, like the scales of justice, right. It's a good way of keeping people accountable in society, right.

Speaker 2:

So we talked a lot about the stigma, the bad stuff you see with people collecting checks and stuff like that.

Speaker 2:

But that's just a marketing ploy and an advertisement. I hate what I really despise about that, as it takes away from all the good people that I represent that were trying to live their version of the American dream, bringing their kids to soccer, practice, working hard in the all field, just trying to get by. And somebody hurt them and they took time away from work and they missed work and now they're behind on their bills and now they have medical bills they need to pay for and you know their wives upset with them. They have no patience to deal with their kids because they're always in pain, and on and on and on. I mean, can you imagine when the when the mother or father of a family unit gets significantly hurt? And where do they go? They need to be at least put back to where they were before financially, because they've missed the last two or three mortgage payments, because they have no job and they're hurt and they can't afford where they go, they find a good lawyer.

Speaker 2:

Good lawyer who can stand up, knows the law, understands the process, understands the bad guys and can tell their story, and I think that's a really cool thing, right? And so you're going to see the negative stereotypes. But man, there's so many good people who never asked to be in this position and they need representation and they're going against some beast, right.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and typically it's the people that don't want to have to call a lawyer, that don't know what is capable of being returned back to them, that oftentimes at least my perspective of it would be the ones to get screwed over because it's your career injury, people like the people that are somehow chronically always in an accident or always filing lawsuits and have these, this money just coming in from a, from you know suits, but it's the people that have never dealt with that, yeah, and so we will end up getting screwed over. Let me give you an example of why that happens.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I'm interested. Okay, so good person, honest, hard worker, taxpayer, has never made a claim in their entire life, gets hurt in a wreck. Okay, they shake it off. They don't go to the emergency room, they go to urgent care. They shake it off. Man, my shoulder, my neck's hurting, it's going to get better, it's going to get better. Then they get busy Still hurting, still hurting. Six weeks go by, they're still hurting. All right, what do they do? And they start calling the insurance company. Insurance company started saying, yeah, I'm going to go get treated. Well, they don't have the money to get treated, or just send us the. They'll string them along for another two or three weeks. All of a sudden, you're two months, in two and a half months, and you've never received medical treatment for your wreck. Okay, what's the insurance company gonna do? What's that defense lawyer gonna say one day? Just say they weren't hurt, this wreck couldn't have caused that neck pain and shoulder pain.

Speaker 2:

They didn't go get treated for eight weeks. They took them two and a half months to see their first doctor and then they met with a lawyer and the lawyer set them up with a doctor. This is not that's an example of how someone that's just trying their best to be patient and wait to get screwed right so you don't get rewarded for being tough and rubbing some dirt on it and keep things moving.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, like you tell your kid stop crying and get up and shake it off, type of thing.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and that same example that person can need neck surgery or shoulders. The person could have a torn shoulder and not know it. Neck surgery and not even know it.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, because it may not feel bad in the initial shock of the accident, but later down.

Speaker 2:

And some people will settle their case in the first week with the insurance company. The insurance company will offer them $1,500, $2,000. Make it real easy for them to do a digital signature on an email and they sign their life away. Next thing you know a week later they can't get out of bed. Sorry, case has settled. It's in writing. Never sign anything, never sign anything.

Speaker 1:

So that brings me to my next question is what is the best thing to do in the event that you get into an accident? But you're trying to be a good person, like that guy who doesn't wanna get anything involved. He thinks he can shake it off. What would have been the best case scenario Like? What would have been the thing to do first? You hear, at least from the billboard attorneys don't call your insurance first, call me Right. And you're like well, why? Or like don't call the police first, call me, like you know what.

Speaker 2:

It's because insurance companies are sneaky, all right, and they're recording everything you say. And so if you talk to them within hours of a wreck and you're still jacked up on adrenaline, your adrenaline's going, you're on the side of the interstate and trucks are flying by and your heart rates up. You're just lucky to be alive. And so you talk to insurance companies to try to get a rental and get your car repaired. You're just trying to open a claim, thinking that that's the right thing to do, because that's what your grandma told you to do You're just lucky to be alive.

Speaker 2:

So they ask you are you okay? Yeah, yeah, I'm okay, I'm good. You hurt in your mind because you're a tough bin. You're thinking well, I'm not losing a limb, I'm not bleeding out, so, yeah, I'm not really hurt. That's all being recorded and that will be used against you. What you say can and will be used against you oh no God, all right.

Speaker 2:

So the next day you wake up and you can't get out of bed. Well, you already told them that you weren't hurt. All right, now a good lawyer, we can unwind that, but it will certainly be an uphill battle, right?

Speaker 1:

So what I would do.

Speaker 2:

I know I got you. Look, it didn't happen to you.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, thank God.

Speaker 2:

You're getting this. This is prehabilitation. This is preventative medicine for you and everyone else that hasn't been involved in the wreck.

Speaker 2:

And I don't wish it on my worst enemy, I really don't. So number one, call 911. All right, you need a police report. So I'll make the example, and this is on some of my social medias. A lot of times people will try to just exchange information and go about their merry own way, right? So in a scenario you rear in me, you come up to the car, you say, chaz, this doesn't look real bad. Look, man, I'll pay for everything. Here's my insurance information. Let's just go by our way.

Speaker 2:

Well, what happens when you get home and you tell your wife, what happens? When you start thinking about your insurance premiums going up when you've been at fault, your memory starts to change right. You may not, that person may not answer their phone. There's things change right, and so you want to police. You want the police to come out and take a report and put all the insurance information, say what happened, maybe even take pictures, conduct a preliminary investigation, catch things on their body cam, on the dash cam, because now you're preserving evidence, right, I never, ever, I don't care how minor the impact is get a police report.

Speaker 2:

Call the cops. You pay taxes, that's their job. Let them come out, be a neutral party and conduct the investigation, okay. So that's number one. Number one. Number two if you're physically able to move around, so, like some people with airbags, deploy, they're knocked out, they're not in any condition to do anything other than going to the emergency room, all right. But if you're able to move around, take some pictures, take some videos. There might be a witness that saw how it happened and he's like sorry man, I gotta run, grab your phone, take a video and say sir, what's your name, what's your phone number, what's your address? What did you see? Thank you. Boom, now you got a witness, because a lot of times the witnesses leave because they don't wanna wait 45 minutes for the cops to get there.

Speaker 2:

So try to document some evidence with your phone via photo or video. Number three you should get medical treatment if you're hurting. All right, that day, the next day, day, after that, all right, Within the first week. Within the first week, you want some type of medical treatment if you are hurting, because it creates a causation link of the wreck with the injury.

Speaker 1:

And you're hurting like why wouldn't you? I don't wanna go to the hospital, yeah right.

Speaker 2:

So let's just step back from the trees, from the forest like and you're hurting. You should get medical care right. You should get some medication.

Speaker 1:

Because there might be internal bleeding. If it's an accident, that's bad.

Speaker 2:

And you have something called a duty to mitigate your damages. You have to put the tarp on top of your roof to prevent the house from flooding if the shingles blow off. That's called a duty to mitigate. You have the same thing with your body. You need to get treatment, and good treatment, as soon as possible, and in four. Let me go back. Urgent care, emergency room All right, emergency rooms are expensive.

Speaker 1:

Oh, yeah, yeah, I know.

Speaker 2:

So if you have some internal bleeding, like if you have some bad trauma, you have trouble walking, you're having a head issue or you're dizzy, go to emergency room. Ball means.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I mean, it's the quickest way to get in and out.

Speaker 2:

It's the quickest way to get in and out Now that ambulance ride is $2,500.

Speaker 1:

I don't know if you know that, but that's, I thought it was four, four a day? Hey, it could be. I don't know. I just don't want to know.

Speaker 2:

It seems like it goes up every.

Speaker 1:

I don't want to know the bill Every couple of weeks.

Speaker 2:

But other than the emergency room, urgent care is a good alternative. If you're looking at a $400 bill versus a $3,000 to $5,000 bill, all right. So the urgent care would be where most injuries right, would be more appropriate, even more appropriate than emergency room.

Speaker 1:

Okay, okay, but like, if you have, obviously, if you have broken bones and all that, an urgent care is not going to be able to take care of that right. Yeah, it'd be an emergency room. But if you're feeling like lightheaded or if you just have like a headache, stuff like that, that'd be urgent care.

Speaker 2:

And the urgent care will be glad to point you to the emergency room if they can't take care of you Okay okay, yeah, if you can walk around, like the emergency room is good at plugging holes, yeah, they're good at fixing bone breaks, they're good at checking internal organs for trauma. I feel like emergency room. You kind of know it when you need it. Right, you know it when you need it, you know when you see it, but urgent care is kind of everything else.

Speaker 1:

I feel like 10 years ago the emergency room was the urgent care.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

I used to go to the emergency room all the time If I, if we were feeling, you know, I don't want to say severely ill, but like if there was something that just didn't feel right, especially if you have a kid, like a newborn versus, you know, a teenager, like you go to the emergency room a little bit more often it's at least 10 years ago, we did and all the people in there were just hanging out, you know, going to the vending machine, like nobody was bleeding, and then you'd have the occasional ambulance that come through and then people were rushed back, but other than that, like it felt like an urgent care, that's like this could have been done with you know the whole saying in the office.

Speaker 1:

This could have been an email like you could have just went to the urgent care.

Speaker 2:

Ben, as the king of developing Lafayette, I bet every week you're putting a new post about a new urgent care opening.

Speaker 1:

Oh, I know, for a couple of years there there was several urgent cares and then the new one in Scott. It's technically an emergency room, but the standalone one. That one is really cool. But yeah, yeah, we. You talked about ambulance. What about air lifting? That's gotta be what? 10, $15,000?, $35,000. Oh God.

Speaker 2:

Ah, $35,000.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and how do you determine if that is what you need?

Speaker 2:

The police officers make a I think it has to do with the severity of the injury and the location, right. So like, if you're out in the country, right, the ambulance might be an hour away, it might be better to use the airman. It's all about the severity of the injury. They have their codes, there's a code process, but yeah, it's not cheap. And then you know, I've talked to some people from Acadian. It's like, well, we have to pay a pilot to be on standby. Yeah, like there's, it's not just that lift, it's like you're kind of subsidizing that the whole process, right.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, because the pilot's not just sitting at home. You know, playing Call of Duty and like getting paid via social media.

Speaker 2:

No, it's a. It's built in Slack. That guy's there all day. He might I don't know how often they're dispatched, but he might be dazed without being dispatched. But when that phone rings or that signal's given, he has to get in there and hit there.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so we're getting close to time here. Before we went live, we were talking about TikTok, attorneys and lawyers, and before we talk about TikTok specifically, I saw on TikTok I say TikTok not to talk about it specifically, but they're not going to talk about it, okay, but a video that I saw on TikTok was this teacher educating her class it was like a elementary class, middle school class about the differences between a lawyer and an attorney, and I had no clue that there was a difference.

Speaker 2:

I'd be interested to attend that class because I don't know the difference.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so apparently, and we did some Googling and apparently a lawyer cannot I. My information is based off a take-tow, so take it with a grain of salt, but a lawyer cannot practice law but can offer law services. And an attorney Can practice law because they've passed the bar, but a lawyer has not passed the bar. I. Use those terms interchangeably a lot of people do just like cop and policemen.

Speaker 2:

Like to me, those are two of the same. Okay, and that's certainly not true. Like I call myself a lawyer, I call myself an attorney, like that's. I don't think there's a Distinction that's made, at least not here in Louisiana, of a lawyer. Is someone who passed, who didn't pass, the bar, and attorney? I call myself a lawyer.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and I think that, like you said, it's interchangeable. I've said lawyer, I said attorney and I just thought attorney was like the the fancy way to call yourself a lawyer, but like, hey, I'm an attorney and just, it depends in context.

Speaker 2:

Some just rolls off the tongue easier some. But then if you're gonna buy everything you see on tiktok, I have, I have something to sell you back here. My man, you cannot trust anything on tiktok.

Speaker 1:

I know, I know, trust me, I know I've seen some stuff on there that I'm like.

Speaker 1:

I don't know if I believe that no, and then, thankfully, the way tiktok works, it's amazing, the algorithm does wonders. Yeah, a new video. A couple of videos later We'll say, hey, did you see this video? Like a stitch of this? And then these people go to try it and they say, like it Doesn't work, doesn't work, like it's like a tiktok train, like hey, do this and it's supposed to do this. And they try it like no, it doesn't work, yeah.

Speaker 1:

I'm like crap, I was hoping it would, because that looked like it really cool trick, right? Okay, so tiktok lawyers, attorneys, whatever you want to call them, interchangeable, basically these guys that show you a clip of an accident or a scenario and tell you about that scenario and what could have Actually gone wrong or what, how the law works in the case of that scenario, for you to win in that case. And so what do you? What do you make of those? Because obviously you're making short form video content, so you're kind of, in a way, having some dabbling into that, that world. But what do you? What is your input and your, your advice for people with those Lawyers?

Speaker 2:

the stitch videos are entertaining. I've tried, I've I've tried to sit down and make some of those stitch videos because I find them interesting. I wouldn't agree with everything that I've seen other lawyers put out, which would respect to some of their opinions on who is at fault in this night. I just know, like to that own self, be true, I'm not super animated and so I'm not the guy like I got, this monotone, kind of boy, kind of laid back guy, so I can't be like whoa, did you see that? Hey, they took a ride and you need to take a, like I did. I can't, I can't get up for it, so I just stay away from those. Like my style is and I've done, I've done some front-faced hey, you've been hurting the car, right, you need to do these four things. Like I've done a lot of those. But really now I just use my podcast clips to feed all my content.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and it's good information. There's like one piece that I watched recently which I thought was. I Feel like I should have known this, but like it's something you don't think about because I'm not over here getting big cashouts from an injury settlement ever you know. But you had a podcast with a Marcus mirror and one of the clips I saw was is Getting a tax settlement check Taxable or is it free and clear? And to find out that it was, I think, free and clear, like you know, oh, tax was on. It was amazing. I'm like if I ever get hurt, I am not given anything to the government for that.

Speaker 2:

It's amazing shout out to Marcus mirror.

Speaker 1:

He was a great guest and I saw him earlier and he's also part sponsor of the podcast, because this studio is In their office space and so we rent this spot. Yeah, so cool, shout out.

Speaker 2:

So the in the video I say you know, getting a settlement, personal injury settlement it's like a good day on will of fortune, yeah, but on will of fortune you have to pay taxes. Mm-hmm, a person in your settlement you pay no taxes, which is crazy if you think about it, because it is a lump sum of money tax-free, and so $50,000 is really like almost a hundred thousand dollars if you factor in taxes. So it would take some people a lifetime to have that much money in their savings at one time.

Speaker 2:

They also have to be very careful what to do with that money. I spent a lot of time with my clients counseling them like, look, this is this, is you paid the price for this and we were able to get you this sum of money? I would direct you to look at NBA players Lamborghini's football player that have gone completely broke and you need a plan and start thinking about that plan and tell me your house bigger house.

Speaker 2:

I mean, you know at least, at least that would be somewhat of an asset. Yeah, right, yeah, your cousin coming from God knows where asking for money is no, it is not an asset. You will never get that money back, my friend you. He will never pay you back and and you would imagine the crazy things that people have. Oh.

Speaker 1:

I know that because a lot of times people, it varies by the client.

Speaker 2:

But some people have never had that type of money before and and it's relative some people have never had a check for three thousand dollars before. Some people have never had a check for 10,000, 50,000, a hundred thousand. What do you do with it? What do you do with it? Oh, money, and you could talk to Marcus about this money is, it's scary, mm-hmm. It's a different set of problems.

Speaker 2:

Before the problems were being hurt Dealing with doctors appointments, dealing with a lawyer, dealing with the uncertainty. Now, when you get money, it's like I've never had to deal with this before. That's it its own set of challenges. You remember the wraps on more money, more problems. Like that's true in a way, and so I try to do my best to educate people and put them in the right way and Shout out to the podcast. I plug to the podcast, like I bring on guys who can talk about money, like Marcus, like CPA and AJ toss who says, like this is the five things a client should do when they recover money number one, two, three, four, five. So that's been a good source. Like the podcast has been another way of educating people at scale.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I think it's a. It's a great, it's a great tool and obviously I'm pretty sure some of these Responses for me today will make it in a clip or two.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, hopefully so, while we are getting close to wrapping up, I guess I want to have Another question or two. So what was the most bizarre case that you've ever handled in in your history so far? Oh, if you can speak on it like, I know there's some. You know some things you can't talk about like is there something super bizarre, would it? Would it be I?

Speaker 2:

Think it was. It was interesting whenever I was a young lawyer. As a young lawyer, you take cases that nobody else wants.

Speaker 1:

You think yeah, yeah you take the bottom of the barrel stuff.

Speaker 2:

I'm in a one-room office suite in the oil center that I'm paying $200 a month for yeah.

Speaker 2:

I have a laptop, a desk and a couch, all right, who is sending me cases? Lawyer? So people would call lawyers like personal injury lawyers, people that were like actually doing well and they were trying to like help their client out and say, oh dude, I got just the lawyer for you call Chaz. And so that that at my early Career, the first couple years when I was just trying to get my feet wet, that's when I would get the real crazy cases and I remember like going to Franklin in a trial, like Going all the way to trial and on a on a case of a war World, world, world War two aluminum boat that this guy had found and there was a, an issue of ownership and and just to see me in Franklin in the courthouse would have sued on and trial arguing about this aluminum boat From World War two that was supposed to be in the inauguration of Lyndon B Johnson's.

Speaker 2:

It was bizarre, bizarre, like what am I even doing here? Right, and and I could tell you 50 stories like that. I don't want to bore the audience, but it's when now I only do personal injury. And so it's a lot of this, similar facts, and there are some interesting aspects to each one. But Early on is when you really see the crazy stuff come out.

Speaker 1:

Oh, yeah, and family law.

Speaker 2:

Look, God bless any family lawyer Right. You will hear things and you will see things and you will Be part of things that you never thought would go on in the household.

Speaker 1:

I could only imagine. I feel like you would be.

Speaker 2:

You can't maybe not, but I feel like.

Speaker 1:

An episode of just Judy is just the ice, the tip of the iceberg on that, that is.

Speaker 2:

That is just Obviously it's TV, that is TV, but I could be way better than judge Judy with some of the same things I've seen.

Speaker 1:

I'd love. I'd love to see like reenactments of the crazy things, up to the craziest stuff, like the aluminum boat situation. That sounds, that sounds yeah.

Speaker 2:

And look, that's just off the top of my head. My memory is not like super great because I put so much more stuff in it on a daily basis, but if you gave me like on the way back to my office on the, this is what I should have talked about and be 20 times better. I have seen so much crazy stuff and for almost 15 years of practice you wouldn't believe. Okay, and I was a public defender for five years too. So being in, going in jail and talking to those guys and seeing some of the things it was it was insane.

Speaker 1:

What about, like, like fraudulent cases? Do you have you ever experienced a case where somebody tried to Fraud an insurance company or like tried to fake a case? Like, for example, the person that gets hit from behind comes out? Oh, my neck, my back.

Speaker 2:

I haven't seen, I have not been part of that, but I do know of a fraudulent ring when many people were indicted in New Orleans for staging wrecks.

Speaker 1:

Wow, they go dude to go through the link.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it was a it was a whole operation and it happened multiple times and they got wind of it and the feds came in and people went to jail. Wow, yeah, it's. It may be a movie one day, because there was a lot of interesting facts going on. Okay yeah, it happens.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I have not seen it, I've not been part of it, but it does happen. That's the ugly side, right? I mean People steal from church. You know, like, like, what is it the number with the answer to 99 out of 100 questions? Money, or like. I think where there is money, there, there will be people. There will be bad actors. Yeah, you know, and I and I and I use the bad teachers good teachers, good cos bad church Priests anywhere there are bad actors. You know, it's not all sunshine and rainbows, but you have to have a certain level of integrity and To stay above and rise above it. You know awesome.

Speaker 1:

Well, I think that is all I got. We're at about an hour.

Speaker 2:

I had a good time.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, man, I had a good time too. There was a few things that I definitely got some answers on. Where can people learn more about you?

Speaker 2:

Check me out on Instagram Chas Roberts law. I'm also on tiktok, same handle Facebook and Check out the podcast, law have mercy. I'll bring on lawyers and different areas and I've created basically a library of All the different areas of law and and I got cool friends and they come on and we talk law and hopefully it answers some of your questions for free. So law have mercy. And on Instagram, chas Roberts law.

Speaker 1:

All right, you'll go check them out, chas. Great to have you on, man. Maybe maybe in a few months we can have you back on. And, yeah, hopefully your business does well, keeps doing well and you grow, and I look forward to Not seeing a billboard, but maybe seeing a sign by the road, maybe, I don't know baby steps. Yeah, sounds good, all right. Well, thank you guys for coming on and I look forward to seeing how your business grows. And, yeah, I wish you all the success.

Speaker 2:

Thank you, man. Thanks for having me keep doing great work, man.

Speaker 1:

I appreciate it.

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Chaz Roberts

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