Lakey: Edwards "Saved My Daughter's Life"

[JohnLocke]

VIDEO: Sandy Lakey Introduces John Edwards
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyrWX9g9-VQ
----
Lakey: Edwards "Saved My Daughter's Life"
By Aaron Lewis--CBS News "From the Road" Blog
Friday, December 21, 2007
----
WEST DES MOINES, IOWA -- This afternoon's speech at Des Moines Area Community College was hyped up by aides as John Edwards's vision to "build a better future for our children so they can realize the American Dream." Instead we got the same stump speech we've been hearing the last couple of weeks.

Making introductory remarks today was Sandy Lakey, the mother of Valerie Lakey, who at the age of 5 in 1993 was disemboweled when she sat on a faulty pool drain. Edwards sued the manufacturers of the drain on the family’s behalf and won a $25 million decision.

"I know John because he saved my daughter's life," she told the audience.

She told the story of trying to seek out a lawyer to hold the company accountable for her daughter's injuries.

"The only words I wanted to hear were 'I can help Valerie,'" she said. "And then I met John Edwards. When he held my hands and looked in my eyes, I saw the compassion, honesty, and integrity that is John Edwards."

Valerie, now deep into her teens, also sat on stage but did not stand to speak.

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2007/12/21/politics/fromtheroad/entry3640518.shtml

[mmonk]

1. Yes.

The video is posted if anyone wants to watch her.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x78241

[JohnLocke]

2. Thanks. Posted the link in the original post.

:hi:

[mmonk]

8. .

:thumbsup:

[Joe the Revelator]

3. Trial Lawyers are not anyones friends

He got 20-30% of that 25 million dollars. Make no mistake, they do it for the fees.

Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike Edwards, I just dislike his profession.

[mmonk]

4. And what if he weren't there?

What if they didn't use a "trial" lawyer?

[Joe the Revelator]

5. Who knows, I know nothing about the company. I'm just saying that we shouldn't act like Edwards...

jumped in and pulled her out of the well. He made a nice payday for himself.

Little known fact. Most trial lawyers who get a verdict like that, will be willing to settle with the company (with an agreement not to appeal) because, A) they want their fee quicker and don't want to waste time in appeals, and B) they don't want to inflate expectations of future clients.

[1corona4u]

6. He turned down several settlement offers..and

He was going for 42 Million. But the Jury awarded them 25 million. I definitely not defending him, because he made a ton of money on it, but just stating the facts. I don't think he ever did any pro bono work though.....if he had, I'd probably have more respect for him.

[asdjrocky]

20. All of his work was pro bono, unless he won.

But you know that, don't you? Also, this pro bono argument was had on DU about a month ago, and we took some time proving Johns pro bono record. But you already know that, don't you?

Honestly, most Biden Supporters I meet are really decent people. It surprises me that you would repeat baseless rightwingnut attack points.

Biden is a lawyer, how much pro bono work has he done?

[mmonk]

7. Here's an interesting article from 2001 on this subject.

It discusses the dislike of trial lawyers that Republicans try to exploit. I remember when it happened very well. It was all over the local news. My opinion on the case of Lakey is that in addition to the settlement, the manufacturer decided to correct the problem. Many other Valeries out there have been spared her fate.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2001/0110.green.html

[sellitman]

15. Thanks for the link

The poster you were replying to has been the victim of a well oiled Right wing machine who even distorts the thinking of liberals.

[mmonk]

16. You're welcome. No problem.

I think the persuasive propaganda needs to be struck down.

[asdjrocky]

22. What a great article, thanks for the link. n/t

[mmonk]

9. I'll add she has her medical bills paid for life.

You won't get accountability from many of these corporations if the settlement is not punitive enough. You can't beat their high powered lawyers on retainer without someone worth the percentage of the settlement they ask. Without the large settlement, they will carry on without fixing the problem that caused the injury. The company knew of the safety issues and had done nothing up to that point even though serious injuries had already occurred prior to Valerie's.

[hlthe2b]

13. You seem to be missing a "little known fact (to you, at least"

No lawyer can "settle" without the consent of their client. No matter how much a lawyer MIGHT want to see a quick and fair settlement, all he/she can do is lay out the terms with the client, whose decision it is to accept or continue. If an attorney fails to fully disclose both the pros and cons of any such settlement agreement, they can be disbarred.

[Joe the Revelator]

18. You're naive if you think that a good lawyer can't "tell" his client to settle

If he can convince twelve people that they should give his client millions of dollars, he should have no problem convincing his own a client, a person who trusts him fully, so settle below their best interest.

[surfermaw]

25. But Edwards turned the company 100 thousand down

he had done his work, and knew this wasn't the first to bring complaints against the company, when this trial started again, many many North Carolina lawyers were in the court room, in fact as many as could get in to see Edwards win the case...

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

10. One of our constitutional rights is...

The right to petition the courts for redress of grievances. Now, I suppose you can do it yourself, but it has long been said that a person who represents themself in court has a fool for a client. That;s probably right as well. This repuke and Chamber of Commerce injected meme about "trial lawyers" is one of the most inaccurate going. For the average jamoke, it's akin to walking into a Federal Prison, buck naked and pulling a red wagon with a 55 gallon kit drum of Crisco behind you: it's just asking for a good larroping.

Another point: my friend, The Country Lawyer, tells me that personal injury lawyers are the hardest working lawyers out there. Hands down.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

11. The litigation costs can be staggering.

Several people here who think plaintiffs' lawyers are all shysters know not whereof they speak.


The lawyer has to make sure he has a good case before he takes it. He has to pay ALL litigation costs -- depositions, research, filing fees, expert witnesses' depositions and appearances in court, even appellate transcripts if appealed by him -- and they can run into many thousands of dollars.


If he loses the case, he is OUT all that money. He has to make sure he has a good solid case. Otherwise he is gambling and loses. Any fool can file a case against anyone else, and there is a remedy for frivolous lawsuits. It's called an Order for Summary Judgment. The defendants file a Motion for Summary Judgment, which means there are no issues of fact or law -- basically no case. Judge grants the motion, the case is dismissed with prejudice, which means it cannot be refiled.


That would happen in a case with a bad fact situation, pre-existing conditions or vague symptoms like "whiplash".



Plaintiff's lawyers and their staffs and other legal personnel work far harder than you will ever know. I've worked in the legal field my entire working life. I worked so hard for so long that I had to stop because of the stress and what it was doing to me.


Defense lawyers work hard too, but nobody gripes about their insurance payments going to pay the company lawyers. The consumer never thinks about one of the reasons their insurance costs are so high.

"Tort reform" and "lawsuit abuse" are just buzzwords to get people riled up. Republicans, such as Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, rail about "lawsuit abuse" but he has been seriously injured (he is in a wheelchair) and a tree fell on him while jogging and he sued the homeowner whose property the tree was on. So he has a case of "do as I say, not as I do".

There are several things that can be done to stop frivolous lawsuits. One is the lawyer's judgment in the first place, as to whether or not to take the case. He doesn't want to run up expenses and then lose all that money he spent up front. The other, which I mentioned previously, is summary judgment.

I worked as a court reporter for nearly 20 years and saw literally thousands of hearings and trials and could figure out good cases from bad cases, and who was likely to win because the facts were on their side, pretty quickly. It was quite rare that I saw a case where the facts were so evenly divided that I couldn't figure out how the judge would rule. I also have a law degree I earned at night while working at the courthouse in the daytime and also typing transcripts on weekends.

So learn about what you're talking about. The right to sue in an appropriate court when one has been wronged civilly (a tort action) is one of our basic legal rights. And if someone is extremely disabled through some other person or institution's negligence, that defendant should be held accountable. Money is the only thing that will get their attention and make them change. It's the only thing they understand.


And if the person is disabled, as in the above paragraph, sues, and the jury awards him nothing, he or she then becomes a burden on the taxpayers, who did NOT cause the injury. That is not fair.

[Joe the Revelator]

17. Personal Injury Lawyers are Corrupt

I work with them all day every day. My opinion is pretty much set on this subject.

[waiting for hope]

21. Then I pray you are never injured

by a company's willful neglect - what John Edwards did for that family should be commended.

[hlthe2b]

12. And without trial lawyers like Edwards, corporations would NEVER

be held accountable, she would have gotten NOTHING (and might well have died by now, as per her Father's words). It is the very fact that awards are high that sends the message to mega billion$ corporations.

[MadMaddie]

19. Unfortunately if there were not people like him in his chosen

profession corporations would get away with faulty products and kill more Americans.

If it were you or me or a family member who suffered a debilitating injury, do you want some shcill that will not put up a good fight against the corporation or would you want John Edwards who will fight them to the end?

It takes money and time to fight these corporations, are these lawyers not supposed to get paid after battles that take years?

Don't get me wrong there are a lot of bad lawyers who will sue for bullshit but most if not all of of John Edwards cases were legitimate.

[surfermaw]

26. Mad Mattie, like you I think we may have some refurbs on this board,

[MadMaddie]

28. Yep but no surprise.....they mistake us for the 30% neocon sheep

who can't think their way out of a uturn....

[Cha]

23. You should't broad brush 'em

then. I know they have a bad rep but I believe Edwards really did help Valerie and yeah..I wouldn't mind paying someone their share to get due compensation.

[ShaneGR]

24. Good luck with that thinking

When someone in your family gets hurt or otherwise screwed over by some big company, what will you do then? Jump up and down?

[JohnLocke]

14. Kick

[Catchawave]

27. From a 2001 article:

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2001/0110.green.html

<snip>

....The defining case in Edwards' legal career wrapped up that same year. In 1993, a five-year-old girl named Valerie Lakey had been playing in a Wake County, N.C., wading pool when she became caught in an uncovered drain so forcefully that the suction pulled out most of her intestines. She survived but for the rest of her life will need to be hooked up to feeding tubes for 12 hours each night. Edwards filed suit on the Lakeys' behalf against Sta-Rite Industries, the Wisconsin corporation that manufactured the drain. Attorneys describe his handling of the case as a virtuoso example of a trial layer bringing a negligent corporation to heel. Sta-Rite offered the Lakeys $100,000 to settle the case. Edwards passed. Before trial, he discovered that 12 other children had suffered similar injuries from Sta-Rite drains. The company raised its offer to $1.25 million. Two weeks into the trial, they upped the figure to $8.5 million. Edwards declined the offer and asked for their insurance policy limit of $22.5 million. The day before the trial resumed from Christmas break, Sta-Rite countered with $17.5 million. Again, Edwards said no. On January 10, 1997, lawyers from across the state packed the courtroom to hear Edwards' closing argument, "the most impressive legal performance I have ever seen," recalls Dayton. Three days later, the jury found Sta-Rite guilty and liable for $25 million in economic damages (by state law, punitive damages could have tripled that amount). The company immediately settled for $25 million, the largest verdict in state history. For their part, Edwards and Kirby earned the Association of Trial Lawyers of America's national award for public service....
<snip>

[JohnLocke]

29. Kick

[Stop Cornyn]

30. Great story.