Law Have Mercy!

A Beautiful Day in the Big Easy to talk Beignets, Bad Injuries, and Beating Billion-Dollar Insurance ft. Ted Sink

• Chaz Roberts, AcadianaCasts • Season 3 • Episode 45

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Our guest on today's episode of Law Have Mercy! podcast is Ted Sink, attorney and founder of Ted Law Firm with locations in South Carolina and Georgia. To learn more or to get connected with Ted and his firm, visit his website tedlaw.com and follow on social media @tedlawfirm and @tedsinklaw. 

Law Have Mercy! It's another episode of firsts as we escape the safety of our sound-proofed podcast studio & the show on the road for a total change of scenery! When we found out that our friend, attorney Ted Sink, was coming to Louisiana for a few days in May for a work conference, we knew we had to find a way to interview him for the podcast and indeed, a few days later we were headed West on i10 to do just that. Our destination? None other than the Big Easy, New Orleans, LA. Being the great, accommodating guy that he is, Ted made time during his brief visit to sit down with us. The result  is this-- our first-ever episode of Law Have Mercy! shot outside of our studio, first episode shot outdoors, better yet!, and our first time bringing an out-of-state guest on to the podcast! Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler!

From a random bench in the middle of the French Quarter, Ted and Chaz traverse a variety of topics that is both uniquely Southern and quite befitting of their dichotomous setting-- the vibrant, historic, storied city of New Orleans. They chat about the allure of both Charleston and New Orleans and share fascinating stories about Ted's connections with the Bravo stars from "Southern Charm," before settling in to tackle harder-hitting truths about personal injury law, battling insurance giants, helping clients, taking on goliath, and the competitive nature of personal injury law in southern cities with real-life anecdotes that illustrate the challenges and rewards of navigating a complex legal landscape.

Always sure to leave us with actionable tips & valuable insights, the lawyers underscore the crucial role of medical documentation, give practical advice on how to  protect ourselves at the scene of a car wreck, and remind us why it's so important to take care and seek timely medical attention in the wake of injury. With heartfelt stories of clients who overcome the unlikeliest odds to bonding over the sweet, fried goodness of a world-famous Cafe Du Monde beignet, this one is definitely worth the watch! 

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

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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:

Thank you, bro Sure, that's one of the hazards of having a podcast outside, I guess. But overall I'd say it's pretty damn cool.

Speaker 2:

It's beautiful, it's beautiful.

Speaker 1:

So, ted, you're from Charleston, south Carolina, and I would imagine I mean, look, it's notorious for being one of the most beautiful cities in the country.

Speaker 2:

I am sad to say that I have never been there. Well, you're going to come. I'm going to take great care of you. Someone said to me something brilliant on this trip. They said New Orleans is just voodoo Charleston, and I think that's kind of fun.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, are there any similarities you've picked up?

Speaker 2:

Oh, there's a ton. These are historic cities. You've got the French-European influence. They're old cities and port cities.

Speaker 1:

They each have these old, beautiful houses, some of which are probably older than the country. I'm a little embarrassed to admit I'm a huge Bravo guy. My wife and I watch all the terrible shows on Bravo, including Southern Charm, and so that show, I mean, presents Charleston in a very prominent light and it looks cool as heck. I mean, there's tons of bars, restaurants, always something going on. Is that what you've experienced?

Speaker 2:

There is, you know, growing up I grew up between Charleston and Atlanta and, like Charleston was always, it was wonderful but it was a little sleepy. Atlanta had more vibrancy, but now it's turning around. Charleston's got amazing food, there's always something to do, and the lifestyles that are portrayed in Southern Charm.

Speaker 1:

Is that your lifestyle?

Speaker 2:

Some of that's real. No, no, I'm a humbler person than that and I don't. You know, I want to spend my time and focus in other areas. But you know, there are, those are, those are all real people who are around. So you know, I live right down the street from I forget her name, priscilla or whatever, the, the, the matriarch. Yeah, you know, I spent a lot of time with most of those people one way or another. It's a small city, so you run into everybody.

Speaker 1:

So you know some of the Southern Charm cast.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, for sure, I went to law school with Craig Naomi lives right by me. We got Thomas Ravenel Old.

Speaker 1:

Thomas. Old Thomas, see, I don't think he's on the show anymore. Oh, thank God, old Thomas. Old Thomas, see, I don't think he's on the show anymore.

Speaker 2:

Oh, thank god I haven't watched much, except for when I walked Craig over to watch the first episode. He was a little nervous. Yeah, now they have a spin off, they've got the.

Speaker 1:

A spin off.

Speaker 2:

Southern Hospitality Wow.

Speaker 1:

Some of the bars and clubs. I've seen it. It's pretty boring.

Speaker 2:

Is it really, oh gosh, not super Some of the bars and clubs I've seen it.

Speaker 1:

It's pretty boring, is it really? Oh gosh, it's not super entertaining.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, nice people on there too. It's funny, but you run into everybody, Like one of them is working at one of the gyms, Another one of them works at a club, so you run into everybody. You know Catherine has been around a lot.

Speaker 1:

Do you see tourists that go there specifically to see the Southern Charm kind of mystique cast hangouts? I know it's a big thing in LA with Vanderpump right. A lot of people go to the clubs Pump and Tom Tom and those kind of clubs to experience the Vanderpump scene.

Speaker 2:

You know it's funny. I'm so not oriented to the show and I grew up in touristy places so I never think about it. But probably I know people are impressed by it I feel like, oh wow.

Speaker 1:

I obviously am right.

Speaker 2:

Craig has the pillow store which I think he's making money off of. Shep has the part ownership at a couple of bars and I think people are drawn to that. The notebook is another thing. People come to Charleston for that one connects with me a little more Great movie right.

Speaker 2:

Great movie it is. My vision of love fits very well in that. It's not maybe the healthiest, just go visit if you're not getting into the letters after 100 days. But you know there's some more direct ways. But it's nice, it's beautiful. So those kind of images and I I think there's there's truth to both of those and they come together in charleston. You know the contemporary with southern charm, some of the low down too. You know some of the so you, you practice personal injury.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, you do the same thing I do, except in charleston yeah, well, across the state of south carolina and georgia.

Speaker 2:

I love my I. I love my Georgia.

Speaker 1:

So you cover a big area.

Speaker 2:

Yeah well, I try, I do my best. I go where the work is. So it's really nice. I keep a place in Atlanta and in Charleston so that I can be boots on the ground with the medical providers, with the clients. How often do you have to go to Atlanta, you know so sometimes, like I spent like last, not last year, the year before that I spent most of Q4 in Atlanta just because there's a lot going on there, I might, on the way back, fly to Atlanta and hand out someone a check. She's like a, she's a singer, sort of like one of those New Orleans staples. How you got those people who are just like she's a singer?

Speaker 1:

A career singer A career singer.

Speaker 2:

She's an entertainer singer. She wants me to drop off the check directly and you will. I definitely will. I definitely will, and not for the fame or whatever, just because she's. She was in a. Really it was a particularly challenging set of circumstances for her and I was really proud that the firm stepped up and helped her get through it. Those are the ones that make me proud, the ones where I'm absolutely confident that nothing would have happened without us or someone with our level of attention to it. You know some lawyers will do that, some lawyers maybe not, so I'm really proud when we make a difference like that.

Speaker 1:

I love to make a difference. There's nothing better than handing a check to a client.

Speaker 2:

I do love that. That'll never get old. Yeah, I know I mean I'm in the business of taking people from one of the worst days of their lives to one of the biggest checks of their lives, and that is a good business to be in.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, what did you say last night? That it's uh, you solve problems with money.

Speaker 2:

I solve problems with money. I like problems money can solve because I solve problems with money. Yeah, but the problems that money can solve, Right.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, well, the plain devil's advocate, right? Somebody that's not in our world. That may sound bad, it may sound crass.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, what's the real meaning behind it? Yeah, I mean I love servant leadership. I mean I don't know if you or everybody knows what I mean by that, but I think that we're all called to serve and part of serving is figuring out what you can do in a situation. We run into people in some really bad situations. I mean you have a broken leg. Someone else did it to you. If someone smashes up your car, you know, if someone took a baseball instead of a car wreck because that's our business, if someone took a baseball bat to your car, I mean you'd want to get paid back for that, right, you know, maybe you'd want to send him to jail, but you want to get paid back for that, no matter what.

Speaker 1:

And you know, we I think we as lawyers are not just use the law, but we use some of our street smarts and our experience to make sure that that gets taken care of quickly, efficiently and well. Well, the alternative would be they are not compensated. They have to eat the property damage. They have to eat the property damage. They have to eat the broken leg, they have to pay the medical bills. They're out of work and or the alternative is okay. That's one scenario. The other scenario is we don't have a civil system where we can go file paperwork and then people are in the streets with a duel or a knife fight, trying to figure out who's right, who's wrong.

Speaker 2:

Oh yeah, for sure. Or vengeance, or vengeance. Like you hit my car, I'm going to go hit your car Now, or you hurt my kid, I'm going to go hurt your. There are certainly some clients who are ready to go after the other people like especially.

Speaker 1:

You've got to talk them off the ledge sometimes.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, I mean, I've had clients Especially happens, I think with like a husband a husband's in one car and a wife and a child are in another car, and then that car where the wife and the child gets hit and the husband had to see it and felt powerless about it. Yeah, it's emasculating, yeah, yeah, they definitely, and it just messes with your world because that guy doesn't, doesn't necessarily want to pursue the civil justice system. No, he sometimes wants to go and you know, sometimes there I'm the counselor, I'm the calm, calm it down and here's how we'll proceed and here's where you're going to feel better about it.

Speaker 2:

Letting people know that there's another end to this is good, whether I mean especially if someone's been had something like that dramatically mentally happened to them or physically uh, you know, if you've god forbid lost a part of a finger or toe or limb. I mean just knowing that there's another side and sometimes our past clients are like a support group, you know. We can say sometimes, if they want to talk or whatever, like hey, I know these people or these resources that can help you see what life is going to be like transition and then, helping give hope and clarity to you're going to be on the other side of this, yeah I've actually recently I've had.

Speaker 1:

I linked up a former client with a current client and she had been through the same procedure and the doctor was adamant that she needed it. She knew she needed it but she still had fear because of the uncertainty of the surgical process, recovery process. And I said, would you be open to speaking to one of my clients? I called one of my clients and they're about the same age, they can relate, they have similar young mothers, they have a lot in common and I linked them up and they spoke and she was like thank you so much and the former client was honored to do it, exactly Because she knows what she's going through. Her former client was honored to do it.

Speaker 1:

Exactly Because she knows what she's going through, right?

Speaker 2:

And they know how meaningful it is when you get on the other side. Helping give certainty in an uncertain world is, I think, a part of what we do. We have to share that. This is your first time. Maybe or maybe it's your third, but it's my whatever thousandth or whatever it is.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, isn't it amazing. So what I say is look, either I could invent a time machine, unlikely, or I could fight this thing and get you the maximum compensation. That's the only two options. Yes, Because we can't put you to your pre-wreck physical state. You can't actually turn back time. Can't turn back time. So all we have figured out in thousands of years of humanity is like the green stuff, right.

Speaker 2:

It's funny. It's funny right, Because if there were a different way to do it, I would, we would investigate that way, yeah. I mean, I would love to be able to be like you're fine.

Speaker 1:

Wave a magic wand. Wave a magic wand.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, the car fills out, it uncrumples, the leg starts moving well, the back straightens. I mean we would do that and I would be fine. If that put me out of business tomorrow, or if the insurance companies found a way to do that and it put me out of business tomorrow, I would be happy. I would leave a happy man. But what I hate is to see that someone heard in these bad situations feeling confused, and then they're about to get rolled over by the system by the insurance companies, sometimes by police. And then they're about to get rolled over by the system by the insurance companies, sometimes by police investigations, not getting everything. I'm not saying the police should have done everything, but sometimes there needs to be civil investigation on top of it. Sometimes not getting the right medical treatment, going to a chiropractor.

Speaker 1:

Are you saying that insurance companies are not your friends? Are you implying that?

Speaker 2:

I am directly stating that sometimes their interest may be adverse to yours. Yeah, like uh, you might need an advocate in that process right.

Speaker 1:

Their review that they depend on to get a salary looks at how little they paid or how much they paid on a case. So they are directly incentivized at the adjuster level to give you the least amount possible and that is a directly adverse position than the clients right, it is.

Speaker 2:

Every dollar they save is a dollar they make and it's a dollar they're keeping from you.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. So in Louisiana we had this thing where they made the lawyers the bad guys, yeah Right, and they call it tort reform. Sure, and that has swept across many states. And the insurance companies have very powerful lobbies, as you know. They're billion dollar corporations. So in their persuasive means, they get these legislators who are not lawyers, who are not in the system, to push forward these bills. And the bills are trying to gut what we do. And look, have we done a good job of PR protecting the lawyer brand with the endless commercials, billboards, all those kinds of things? Probably not right. But the narrative is that the lawyers are what drive up people's insurance rates. They don't factor in how many bad drivers there are, how many bad roads they are, how many, how the interest companies are for profit, right, I mean, I don't know if you've and either george or south carolina have run into the tort reform movement.

Speaker 2:

sure, so my whole, my whole life. It's certainly been one of those things. It's loomed out there. It's funny when they call it tort reform. I, I think we're all happy to have tort reform let's. Let's start with a One. Covid happened. No one was on the road, there weren't any wrecks. Did the insurance company suddenly cut rates Because there weren't losses? Our business slowed down a lot Maybe not for my firm, but for a lot of the firms it slowed down and the courts closed. So we know that it isn't that. That story is not true, because when the insurance companies didn't have as many claims, it's not like your premiums went down, they went up, they kept going up More profit record profit, Right record profit.

Speaker 2:

So you can already see that there's a disconnect there. Second thing if we're going to have tort reform, fantastic, let's have tort reform. Here's the reforms I want. Right now, if you buy a new car, the average price of a car is above the minimum state policy limits. In South Carolina and in Georgia, you know, I think it's what $30,000, $40,000 average price for a new car, which is really high, $25,000 state minimums and that's going to apply for your property damage as well as your personal injury. That's ridiculous. If someone else hits me, it should be their insurance paying for my car and I know that's why everyone's got to buy UIM underinsured motorist, yes, or in Georgia, UM add-on, add-on. Don't get that reducing.

Speaker 1:

Always keep uninsured motorist coverage and I recommend everyone get collision coverage. I don't care how old your car is. Yeah. And rental coverage too. Rental coverage is a big one Because no one wants to come out of pocket. 40, 50 bucks day exactly in the deposit and they may be out a vehicle 10, 15, 20, 30 days, 40 days, right in some situations. But yeah, I'm a big proponent. If you follow my social media you know I bang that drum constantly. Uninsured motors uninsured because in louisiana we have a. The state minimum is 15, 20, 15, 25, 30, yeah. So 15 per person, that's nothing. An er visit is what? Seven thousand dollars, now, that's nothing. An ER visit is what? $7,000? Now, that's another thing that keeps on going up. Yeah, it does. So let's reform that.

Speaker 1:

Let's make it fair.

Speaker 2:

Let's make sure the other person's insurance pays, because that's not what's happening right now. If they want it to be reformed, let's have reforms that are fair.

Speaker 1:

I think that I have people and that's a big thing that I'm trying to push on the podcast and social media. It's like, wait a second, we are representing individuals against billion-dollar companies, right, okay, and you're trying to gut us. We're taking massive financial risks, massive infrastructure, as you know, as we're building our firms, employ several people to try to move the ball along to represent an individual against a billion-dollar company.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely. And name another business where we take on the case today that we fund it. We put all the labor and all the people working with us and all the front, the costs and all this stuff. Name another business where you do that and sometimes that could be months, sometimes that could be years and we don't get paid anything. Until you get paid, we take that on as a liability. I call it the best deal in town. It's a good deal, it's a good deal for the clients and you've got to make sure you finance it. But it is funny, it's a strange thing to try to squash.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, what do you think I mean other than the policy limits? What do you think is the biggest difference from the way you practice personal injury in in Georgia and South Carolina to how I may practice in Louisiana?

Speaker 2:

So you guys have Napoleonic based law, right, you got that one. You got the one state that's to keep the outsiders out.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it does right. The way it operates is the same as what you do, but we just like to call it that right. It's good for marketing.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, it's good for marketing. It keeps people away, but beautiful places. I understand Charleston has become one of the more saturated markets in terms of competition. Savannah and Charleston similar to.

Speaker 1:

New Orleans because they've got that southern thing.

Speaker 2:

It's a place where people want to be smart Lawyers, want to move in, and then they all end up fighting each other for cases.

Speaker 1:

Are there a lot of wrecks in Charleston, Savannah?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so Savannah, I see there are. I mean statistically I know the answer is yes, your bigger wrecks, I think. Um, and I've gotten more. Yeah, there are, there are a ton of them, and especially the new population moving into to charleston. There's going to be a lot of people from the northeast for some reason they always talk about people from ohio, but there's a lot of people from northeast ohio, all the stuff moving in um to charleston. Especially during covid, it had a really big pop-up. I think real estate prices went to the roof.

Speaker 1:

Why is that? Why are they moving?

Speaker 2:

You know, I think during COVID especially, it's like oh, I want to be somewhere kind of warm, I want to be somewhere that's.

Speaker 1:

The beach is nearby. The beach is nearby, I can walk around Golf courses, restaurants. It's just a great place to live. Yeah, I mean a lot like this.

Speaker 2:

I mean, this is as long as you can deal with humidity.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, well, that's a problem here. We got lucky. It's raining on us. We were super lucky. It could be 95 degrees and steamy. You feel like we're inside a Ziploc bag. I dress more appropriate for the occasion, well yeah, I mean I, I, I am.

Speaker 2:

I am not a native. We Charlestonians sometimes dress it up a little, I see that yeah.

Speaker 1:

But I didn't get to the question what do you think is the biggest difference or similarity? Either one, you can go either way.

Speaker 2:

Well, I know it's something that stands out to me and this is a little picky thing, but in Louisiana, if the other side, if you don't have insurance and the other side does, you can't get paid right have insurance and the other side does, you can't get paid right.

Speaker 1:

There's something like that there's no pay, no play, no pay, no play. So you can't collect your property damage essentially the first 25, which is basically your property damage, and you can't collect the first 15. So if I have a million dollar case, then it's going to be a million minus 15,000. I can still pursue the claim. I just can't collect that first 15,000.

Speaker 2:

Okay, well, good See, the no pay, no play is very interesting.

Speaker 1:

But in most cases the other person probably only has a $15,000 policy. So you have to have a $30,000 case to get $15,000. That means you have to have on paper medicals that are a $30,000 case. So effectively it kills that market. So that's fascinating to me.

Speaker 2:

Effectively it kills that market. So that's fascinating to me. You guys have, I think, seven DMAs, the designated market, like the TV areas. That's fascinating. It's about 4 million people here, right? Yeah, probably 5.

Speaker 1:

Probably 5, yeah.

Speaker 2:

Is that a lot for this type of population? So I would say that's a little low for that. Many TV markets or radio markets, oh more markets than you would think yeah, it's way more markets than you would think.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's more markets, way more markets than I would think. And how do you know so much about Mark? I used to work in ad agencies. I used to do like set up new products. I did like 500 new product concepts. I helped work on everything from one of the first self-cleaning showers to one of the first multi-cat and multi-pet deodorizers for carpets, and then I started getting into electronics because it wasn't moving as fast as I wanted, so I helped out.

Speaker 1:

And this was before you went to law school.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, before I went to law school and then I helped out Google and Samsung and Sharp and all these kind of big tech companies. I like that world. I'm like how do you use technology? And now I get to use that in doing things like accident reconstruction etc. You know, cars are a lot like smartphones these days. You know the EMRs, the electronic data recorders. They will record all sorts of things about when did you brake? How were you going faster, slower? Does this person have some habits that we should know about? And so the data monitors and the data recorders are a little black box in the cars.

Speaker 1:

I just used it effectively in a case in flip liability. They thought that my client swerved into their client who was crossing two lanes of traffic and then we pulled the data box and she went from under the speed limit like 54 miles per hour down to 20 miles per hour at the moment of impact, showing that she slammed her brakes to avoid the wreck that the guy was crossing over. Knott was going full speed and lost it and hit him in the median, which was a ridiculous thing that the police officer came up with. But you never know what these police officers are going to write. On the whole, I think that everyone should always call 911 and1-1 and get police reports, agree, not even and think about I don't care if it's in a parking lot and they may say we can't handle it, still call.

Speaker 1:

They can help facilitate the exchange of information, take photos, that kind of thing, and on the whole they are usually right on the police reports. But they're human, absolutely, and it rains sometimes and there's a lot of traffic going by and they may hear some half things and they may really like one person versus the other person who might be at fault and so human error occurs and so a good lawyer, getting a lawyer early on in the process. To your point way earlier about investigation is Ted can look at the file, look at the police report and it says your client is at fault. The client can give you their story saying there's no way. You start pulling up Google images and say I believe the client.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I believe the client, yeah.

Speaker 1:

And then you will get data box information to show that kind of information. You'll get an accident reconstruction. I don't think that kind of information You've got an accident reconstruction. I don't think people kind of see that side of the lawyery.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I don't think they know that we do a lot of. Yeah, sometimes I get camera footage, which is a blessing. I've had that happen a few times where Actually two times, where clients were just crying with relief we got video. Here's one that means a lot to me. There was a client that got dropped by the old firm I used to be with and they said they signed her up and then they, I guess, weren't able to attend her initial traffic hearing so she got a citation for the wreck. She was rear-ended in a Jeep. She got cited. They said you're at fault. Every once in a while it happens, but that was a strange thing. So then she goes to court and somehow she loses the criminal proceeding. So they're like we definitely can't help you now and I was like, oh man, they signed her before that.

Speaker 2:

I don't know maybe something didn't happen, but they didn't go and support and then they dropped her, which is tough. Anyways, a little while later she called me and she's just like look, I just want to know what my options are. And I said, well, why don't we take a look at it? You've got to rearrange it.

Speaker 1:

And she was hurting.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, oh, she was hurting so much and her husband was um, and she told me I could talk about this. Her husband is going blind, so she's the one person who's there. He's pretty much blind, so she, she's the only person supporting the whole household. And I got, uh, you know, and and she's all of a sudden she's got a double crush syndrome, uh in in her arms, very bad, um, very bad problems. And she comes to me and I said, well, look, I'll meet with you. We had a really good phone conversation. It didn't look like maybe there's nothing we could do, but I got in there. Anyways, I ended up pulling, I ended up getting camera footage of it and proving, and it was not easy to get. It took a while. Public records request.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, and eventually got it and prove that that she was, you know, not only not at fault, but the other person was. They paid policy. I couldn't believe the other side. Even when we started to prove this, they didn't offer policy limits. That's the funny thing. We had a tape and they they went from okay, fine, You're right, we were at fault, not you, you'd think. Then they'd say, well, here's the check, because she needs surgery. No, they didn't want to do anything like that. But the nice thing is you help this woman and like she comes in. She was crying the first day but she was so happy we were done and since then, you know, I've served her daughter-in-law and her family.

Speaker 1:

She was grateful.

Speaker 2:

All over across the state.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I mean it could impact and all these little tasks that we're doing the accident reconstruction, the drone footage, all that stuff. It was thousands of dollars of investment. That we put up. Yeah, so the insurance company. You're a terrible businessman, by the way.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, I know.

Speaker 1:

The insurance company. This woman says they denied my claim. The insurance company says here's why we're denying it. And you're like Ted, ted has an ego. I can do this. I can do this.

Speaker 2:

I believe her, I can do this. I've got a heart and an ego. Well, it's true, deadly combination, that's right, yeah, and I don't want to. I'm not trying to say anything bad about any other law firm, but like, this is how I want to practice. I want to practice, I want to have some faith. The other law firm, but this is how I want to practice. I want to practice, I want to have some faith. You can't do it in everything You've got to be judicious.

Speaker 1:

It's not just the easy ones either Exactly.

Speaker 2:

but that's what I don't want to be. I never want to be the inverse of an insurance company. We're not just here to gather the stuff. You do your own thing and then let me know when it's important to have a lawyer Because we can do these investigations after. But something helps so much with clients Beyond getting you who I am underinsured motorist coverage. It really helps at the wreck if they take photos and videos of their vehicle and any other vehicles that are involved. Because when I just see the damage to your you know the damage to your vehicle there's a lot I can do. But if I see it to both, I can do a lot more in terms of the accident reconstruction.

Speaker 1:

And it's tough for us to get those pictures. They may not exist.

Speaker 2:

They may not exist, and that's the other thing. Witnesses you may see the police speaking to witnesses. You may see the police write down the witness phone number, but that doesn't mean that is ever getting in a police report. So many clients think the police are getting the witnesses uh-uh and and uh. You know south carolina and georgia, that police report also not admissible, right. So I mean there's some exceptions, but pretty much not admissible.

Speaker 2:

No so if it's written in there, if there's a witness statement in there, it doesn't matter. We need them directly. Yeah, so so what?

Speaker 1:

I tell people, if you're physically able to because you may not be physically able to, maybe you have a family member at the scene you say, take pictures and videos of the scene. Other take the picture of the license plate videos. But you know, we've seen witnesses that have been at scenes and they're there and they're willing to testify or help not testify, but actually just help. But the cop is an hour and a half away. Well, she has a life too. That witness has a life. She has soccer practice, she has to pick up her kids from school. I would take my phone and take a video. Name, phone number, address.

Speaker 2:

What did you see? That's a great idea.

Speaker 1:

What did you see? And it could be a 45-second video, a 30-second video, a five-minute video. It's here, you got it. It's a great idea. That's even better than a written statement. Yeah, in my opinion, a hundred percent with you. Yeah, and look, here's the other thing I've been kind of pushing on too.

Speaker 2:

It's fun. We're lawyers who use technology. Yeah, and try to adapt to that world. I and try to adapt to that world. I mean, sorry, what?

Speaker 1:

were you squeezing. So number one is call 911. Number two is take pictures and videos at the scene, and you brought up an excellent point. Take the other vehicle too. Any witnesses? But number three that I fight with is get medical treatment as soon as possible, 100%. Okay, that's number three for me, yeah.

Speaker 2:

You don't know if you're hurt. You're full of adrenaline and all this stuff. You may feel you're fine, but you should go get checked out. Something else I see people doing which I love. It comes from the same kind of spirit that I think you and I have, which is wanting to protect and help. But if someone's in a wreck with their family, sometimes it'll be the mother, sometimes it'll be the father, but they won't take care of themselves. They'll say like we're going to get everyone else to the ER and they won't get checked out. I had a guy have that happen and he had a hairline fracture in his leg. He had a broken leg. He was walking around on it. He's like I'm not going in, but Dad's worried about the family, he's worried about mom, he's worried about the kids and the kids were actually the kids and mom very minor injuries. Yeah, I mean it comes from a great place, yeah.

Speaker 1:

But when they talk to the police, sometimes they'll say I'm okay, yeah, they'll okay. That's the famous line I'm okay, I'm okay. And it's like what you really mean is you're on the side of an interstate? Yeah, you're not really okay. You're just not dead or severely hurt.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so be careful about saying I'm okay to police officers and when insurance adjusters call you which don't talk to them, call the lawyer. But if the insurance adjuster calls you, how are you doing today? Fine, there's a word that can cost you thousands of dollars or months of your life. Just saying that. Fine, because in black and white.

Speaker 1:

It just says fine, fine, yeah. It doesn't say, well, I'm okay, yeah, yeah, I'm fine.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, like I'm, yeah, it doesn't yeah I'm fine. Or it doesn't say I'm injured, I'm flustered. I'm trying to deal with getting my car. I'm trying to get a rental car. I'm trying you, I'm trying, you know, my car's at the tow shop. I've got a rental car. My kids are screaming. I had to get a new child seat. I have now these medical appointments and my job is I wonder what's going on, I'm fine, you know. But people say I'm fine because they're just trying to get past the question.

Speaker 1:

Well, I brought this up in a jury selection recently. I was like okay, when you're at the water cooler at work, you may say I'm okay, I'm fine. You don't want to say I had a terrible night last night. I had a terrible night Because you're going to just get up and immediately walk away. We don't want to hear of people's problems, and so when the adjuster calls, or the police officer, they kind of just say naturally, I'm okay, I'm fine. That's what we're conditioned to do as humans Rub some dirt on it and keep it moving, Because Ted doesn't want to hear my problems.

Speaker 2:

The insurance company is there for bad scenarios. They should be the ones paying you, they should be the ones caring, but instead they ask you these set up questions like how you feeling today, and they'll ask it like that so that they've got fine on the record and it comes across without any of the other context.

Speaker 1:

It's so slick and everything. What you're saying is everything that you're talking about is recorded. Yep, right, and it will, can and will be used against you.

Speaker 2:

People know about that in criminal. They don't know about it in civil.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and then, and the bar is much lower to admit it in civil, so if you call a lawyer sooner in the process, okay, we talked about the investigation. We talked about, we brushed on the medical. But that lawyer cuts off the communication between the client and the adjuster. They never need to speak to that adjuster ever again, and that's a good thing, not only so they can move on with their life and go pick up their kids from soccer practice, but it prevents them from saying things that could be used against them Exactly.

Speaker 2:

Right, exactly. And you know, all of a sudden, those tricks that insurance companies use and I don't want to call them tricks, but they do seem to be tools of their trade those go away when you've got the lawyer, they know suddenly to treat you with respect and dignity. I do like that too. We get to restore some respect and dignity. I like this, I like this. You know the stuff we're talking about with technology or or going above and beyond with clients. You're right, it is. It is, I guess, technically bad business. I like, I'm a bad, I'm a proud bad businessman when it comes to. Sometimes I want to go prove a point, sometimes, like I know that no one else will take this claim, I know that no one else believes in this, but I, I actually love, I love to go on a crusade every once in a while. Too much of it and you won't be able to do any more of them.

Speaker 1:

It's the only job that, while you're sleeping, people are sticking sticks of dynamite into your business.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

The other defense lawyer, the defense lawyer, the adjuster, sometimes your own client right.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, things are happening. The legislator I mean everybody is is trying to sabotage you while you're sleeping and they don't even know it Right and and the ways that clients do it. They don't mean to, but they'll get in a subsequent wreck because they're going to drive somewhere. They're back on the road, they're back free and and they just have bad luck again. Some people get arrested because we're human. Hey, scotty Scheffler just got arrested. He's the number one golfer in the world. He got arrested this morning, ran through some traffic A traffic stop because there was already a bad wreck. A police officer jumps on his car. He continues to drive 10 yards yards so he's got aggravated assault um fleeing all this stuff and and scotty's like the most like straight up normal guy you'd ever seen.

Speaker 2:

He's the number one golfer in the world that is going to be a life-changing set of circumstances it could be, for sure it could be so bad things happen to good people. They do, they do right and people sometimes our clients can't get to the medical appointments because they don't have a car. The rental car thing isn't coming through, um, all sorts of stuff happen that can harm the case and that's why you got to get to your, you know, your, your neuro, your mri or your whatever.

Speaker 1:

Just get, get there, get that consistency and and it's so important that we help facilitate that right, because I, even in my own town, and I know a lot of people, right, if I had a bladder issue, let's just say, or some, uh, an ankle issue, would I know who to call? I mean, and I know a lot of people I don't know I would probably start asking people. So when people get in and, you know, with maybe less of a network, get into a wreck and they have a spine issue, a neck issue, a back issue or head issue, they don't know who to see. Yeah, some people just go see their family doctor, right?

Speaker 2:

family doctor's, like, the family doctor is then just going to point you to someone else and now all of a sudden, you have something that's been festering for two weeks and some things get worse with time. Some things don't get better with time. Neurological stuff generally does not get better unless you intervene. You've got to do something. You know what you're saying is right. Like I, we'd live in a world full of doctors and lawyers and even I, like I've had to write up lists of. Here are the ones that I would call in certain situations. I will say it comes in handy even in the non-case world, though you know I just try to do for clients what I do for anybody. Like here are some thoughts you control your care, your doctors control your care, but here are some things that you might want to ask them about. Here are types hey, you're terrified of going to the MRI tube. Hey, ask them about. Here are types hey, then you're terrified of going the mri tube.

Speaker 2:

Hey, there are sometimes standing mris. They're not available in many places, but here's and sometimes maybe that'll show what your spine is doing when it's compressed, when you're standing. Or you know the nystagmus test, or hey, it sounds like you're seeing spots. You are, uh, you know, you got vertigo, uh you know. So you can't stand and you're not and you're blacking out. Sometimes you probably have considered seeing a neurologist. They may have not known what a neurologist is Right, some people, and some people try to sleep that off. Some people, yeah, it just never gets better, though, right.

Speaker 2:

And if they're only going to their primary care physician, who's like well, we're going to give you some pain pills, the ch Like well, we're going to give you some pain pills. The chiropractor is going to make your back feel a little better, but you're not getting that looked at in the right kind of thing. Even the MRI that you get in the ER may not be enough, even the oh, I have a concussion. There are things you can do if you can intervene, and people don't know about all those options.

Speaker 1:

So I deal with a lot of referral-based work and so my clients are great people. They don't want to be there. They're not professionals, right, they're amateurs. Yeah, and I say like I always want to represent amateurs. Amateurs are amazing, but amateurs mess up because they're uneducated on the process. Sure, and like. To me, one of the biggest things other than trying to talk to the insurance adjuster for three months and really and hitting their head against the wall, that's like number one. Number two would be they wait too long to get medical attention. Yeah for sure. Do you see that in your practice?

Speaker 2:

I do. But I mean I really, I really really focus hard, um on making sure that happens very quickly. Um, you know not. And just honest, honest to god, this it's not a. I know that it's good business practice, but it it really is, because I just see so often that people don't know how badly hurt they are and I, you know, I'll tell them look, I don't care where you're getting treatment, you just need to get it. And you need to get it now. Like, well, I'll wait or I'll try to take care of this other thing and get it. Some people are so focused on their car they're more focused on their car than their own body.

Speaker 2:

It's amazing that people care so deeply about their twelve thousand dollar vehicle than they do about their own human body yes, it is, and you know that's, that's for all sorts of reasons, right like the, the american spirit of freedom that comes with the car. It's your car is an extension of your identity and all that. It's a lot of people's biggest asset too. A lot of people's biggest asset too. A lot of people's biggest asset and there's a new one that I'm slowly coming to realize is that a lot of people, when they're really seriously hurt, they don't want to recognize it at first. Some people, it takes a moment of adjustment to realize, well, my life is forever changed by this, or I'm really, I'm really quite hurt, and you know when you sometimes, when you go to get that diagnosis, it's a big moment I think people, especially some of my men clients, they're proud, they don't want to admit that they're hurt.

Speaker 2:

Southern men and medical treatment, yeah right exactly.

Speaker 1:

They don't want to be in a waiting room, they don't want to be vulnerable with a doctor, they don't want to be away from work. They don't want to be away from their family. They don't want to be away from work. Right, they want to be away from their family, and I can understand all that. Yeah, you know it's a pain to be there, but wouldn't you rather address this now, which, by the way, you have a duty to mitigate your own damages? Yeah, you have a. You have a duty to put a tarp on the top of the roof and stop the the rain from coming in. So you need to get medical treatment and heal yourself in the quickest way possible. That is a duty in the law, in Louisiana, anyways.

Speaker 2:

That's what I tell them. I'm a legal doctor, jurist, doctor. You need a medical doctor. You need both kinds, because the insurance company isn't going to believe me Well, they're not going to believe you when you say you're hurt. For sure they might believe me a little bit when I say you're hurt, but they aren't really going to believe anything unless it comes out of the mouth of a doctor and then written on some paperwork by the doctor and then saying that that's causally related to the wreck. You got to have a doctor do it this is your one time to get diagnosed.

Speaker 1:

If it's not written, it didn't happen. It didn't happen. So you being home for three weeks and not being able to get out of bed, I, you being home for three weeks and not being able to get out of bed, I believe you. I understand you. If a doctor didn't say on paper that that's what you've been dealing with and link it to the wreck, we get nothing.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and it's even worse. The insurance company gets a windfall. They keep that money. That money really should be yours. They take it, it's profit. It goes to their shareholders, not to you. Who's sitting in bed miserable, and that's sort of. Some people are just so miserable and scared. Yeah, they're stuck in like a hole. I mean, I've been there. I broke my foot in a car accident in New York city and it was um, it was bad, I mean totally shattered and um, all the midfoot. It's an injury that only usually football players get, that's a bad injury.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, it's all of it. So I kind of couldn't really That'll retire a running back. Yeah, yeah, All those are broken and it was bad. And I was trying to protect somebody in the cabs. You were in a cab, I was in the back of a cab, my cab and the other cab were trying to race to get around a bus on 14th Street in New York City and I pressed my foot and I tried to hold back the other person in the car, which you can't do. I mean, it's physically impossible what I was doing. I just wanted to protect her from being hurt and, yeah, shattered my foot and I mean I sat down.

Speaker 2:

I was not in a fancy place, I was in a very non-fancy place, but I sat down there in kind of this basement apartment and you know my whole life had changed. And as soon as you get past the pain, you're like geez, I don't know if I can get up to go get food. There was no Uber Eats at the time. You know how do I get food, how do I, like your whole life has changed.

Speaker 1:

New York is so tough to get around. Yeah yeah, it's a walking city, so I suddenly lost that.

Speaker 2:

But I think I relate to clients on that kind of stuff, when you have those. And, yeah, the insurance company, right, they didn't want to believe that I was hurt. I mean, they keep, you know, I had a cane and stuff. I got crutches and physical therapy. They didn't want to believe I was hurt. They wouldn't actually pay very much of anything until we sat a jury. Wow, I had to get a lawyer and sit a jury. This was before I was a lawyer. Wow, otherwise I would have gone and taken this. Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1:

You're licking your chops for your own case?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, oh yeah, that's right.

Speaker 1:

No, I would do yeah but the problem is okay, so we facilitate medical treatment as soon as possible. The problem is sometimes the client will wait three, four, five weeks before contacting the lawyer, right, right, and so in that month or two months I've had a case recently that I settled for a nice settlement three months before she saw her first medical treatment and you know we were able to—. She went three months, three months without her first treatment.

Speaker 2:

And you got a good result on that A dang good result. That's good lawyering, yeah, dang good result.

Speaker 1:

So it's very hard Three months Well she was able to properly articulate the first time she saw a doctor. Hey, I've been dealing with this for three months. I've done ice baths, I've done heating pads, I've done heating pads, I've taken ibuprofen. You know, I've done all these things in this whole time and he believed her and it was consistent with his findings. So he, he essentially closed that gap. And that's another good thing with dealing with a good doctor. He's conscious of that, absolutely right. So most people you go to your family law family doctor. You get a bug.

Speaker 2:

Anyway, I agree with you. I agree with you. So you know, for example, when I'm when I broke my foot and I'm stuck down, I mean my general impulse is I'm hurt so badly I'm going to gut it out. I don't know how to coordinate. You know, I'm dealing with so many other things. Maybe you're dealing with your wrecked car.

Speaker 1:

You're dealing with all these weird calls, you're dealing with your diagnosis getting back to what we were saying earlier about some of the differences between louisiana and and the areas you practice. Last night you were saying how cool it is that I have such a good relationship with the doctors. Yeah, and they understand exactly what we need and I never really I thought it was like that everywhere. So I'm really kind of humbled and fortunate that I'm able to have that communication, because that's so important right, being able to communicate with the medical providers. Some people may look at it in the negative.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, well, I love having a good relationship with the doctors. I want to make sure they're getting taken care of. I want to make sure the clients are getting taken care of and if someone needs help quickly, I really want that and you know it helps us. I think, in our personal lives too. I was actually last week. There was a non-client but somebody slip and fell and I'm not you know, I'm weirdly not very litigious, but, like you know, friends so someone close and just totally a lot of blood, a lot of blood, but they don't know what to do. It's late on a Sunday night. Who do you go see? You can go to sit in the ER and it could have been four or five hours, but you're not going to get the full stitching. You're going to get this, which you know You'll get a butcher job.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, exactly, bless the folks at the ER. They deal with a lot of stuff, but they do, as I'll tell you. They have to triage, they have to keep all of that moving, and also this person. There would have been other issues with them going to the ER. So I, you know, but I managed to call a doctor friend and said hey, here's a person, are you available? Called a couple doctors and got one. They were able to do it right away. Wow, and also I think it's much better health outcomes for this person. With the things, there was a lot of skin ripped off.

Speaker 1:

That guy. That's a really good guy to go in at for hours and fix him up.

Speaker 2:

So I went and said I could give my personal thanks to the doctor and I actually held the hand of the person Because it's scary, you know, and they couldn't do all the anesthesia that you normally do, but you get a good health. But now, you know, a week later they're so happy, he said knowing. Well, let me do this a different way. I think that sometimes we knew, like even when I broke my foot, I mean I knew chiropractors existed, I knew that primary care physicians existed and I was vaguely aware the podiatrists existed, but I don't think I even really knew, like, what a neurologist is or what they do, certainly not how any of those things were laid. You know who's going to coordinate all that stuff? No, you know, the primary care physician doesn't really want to. Usually the ER doctor definitely doesn't want to.

Speaker 1:

And coordinating between three different offices right. Yeah, is the MRI sent to the neurologist Is the neurologist on the same page with the primary. And you guys are coordinating I know we do. We help coordinate and schedule and it takes a lot of load off of the clients. Yeah, and really they're getting the best medical treatment possible.

Speaker 2:

I love that. You know we certainly do have a responsibility to make sure that the clients are getting the most for their money. Like you know, if there's Because we've heard enough about who's good, who's bad, who just wants to push you through and whatever I mean but we're really after the right medical outcome for them. So if they're going to pay $1,000, we want to make sure they're getting that $1,000 worth.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, Ted. Since the music's starting to pump up, let's wrap this thing up.

Speaker 2:

Are they playing us offstage? I think so, man. Are we getting the Showtime of the Apollo, the?

Speaker 1:

clown king, the clown king. So is there any message you have for any of our listeners out there? On Law, have Mercy about what it is you do, what I do, what we do.

Speaker 2:

I love leading with heart. I know you've got that. I try to. Even when it's bad business, I like go take on a crusade every once in a while, go make a difference, give that love, and I think that we share something there and that means a lot to me to be around other people who lead with heart. Yeah, man.

Speaker 1:

Well, it's a true pleasure. Maybe we should take a bite of this beignet.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, café du Monde out of this world.

Speaker 1:

What did you say earlier? Fried dough is sugars undefeated in cultures around the world.

Speaker 2:

Cheers undefeated.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, elephant, ears, funnel cakes, churros and beignets Scale of 1 to 10,. What do you think?

Speaker 2:

8.5 because it's a little humidity got to it, but it's very good. World famous Café du Monde.

Speaker 1:

Thank you, man, appreciate you. Thank you, hey. It would mean the world to me if you subscribe to the podcast and leave us a five-star review. It helps keep the show free and it helps us book better guests to provide more valuable content to you. None of the opinions expressed by my guests are that of my own, and nothing we talked about creates an attorney-client relationship or could be construed as legal advice. Hope you enjoy the show.

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