Dignity of Damages (for yourself)
It starts with an encouraging refresher for yourself: Clients don’t come to us to win a philosophical debate over who was right or wrong on the road that day. They come to us for a remedy. There is only one remedy under these circumstances, and that is money damages. There is nothing tawdry about it. It is civil justice the American way. Getting rightful remedies is my duty, it’s my calling, it’s my job! What kind of lawyer would I be if I allowed greedy insurance companies to dictate the terms of how much that remedy would be, or let them shame me into accepting discount justice?
What we do is honorable. We stand up for people who can’t stand up for themselves in this arena. It is our duty to stand tall, and standing tall means fighting for maximum justice. We strive for full justice, not because of this ugly notion of “jackpot justice” which insurance companies invented to make us feel bad about ourselves so they could stack more cash in their vaults, but because it is right and we fight for what is right, period.
At this point in the heart-to-heart I was having with myself, I crossed over into matters that needed to be shared with the jury, because they too have been subjected to the insurance companies’ greed-driven strategies to manipulate public opinion. I had to translate my awakening into an awaking for jurors who have been exposed to the same insurance industry mind games.
After discussing and filling in the amounts for economic damages on the verdict form, you move on to non-economic damages and begin the process of explaining why significant damages are warranted in this case. The first thing you need to do is elevate the American way of doing civil justice to its rightful place of respect. Every time I go through this process, it touches something in my soul. It acts as a reminder to me that I have spent my life doing something honorable, something that matters, something that needs to be done. I am reminded of words my wife has said to me in times when I was frustrated, “If not you, who?” These words tap into that call to action, “If not us, who?”
Likewise, it is a call of action to the jurors. It is a recognition that their service matters, that they are participating in something of profound importance, an opportunity to change a life for the better and right a wrong. It is a proud moment that will stay with them for the rest of their lives. Here are the words I use to share this reverent moment with the jury.
Dignity of Damages (for the jury)
In America, we don’t believe in eye for an eye justice, that’s barbaric. We also don’t believe in turning a blind eye to justice, because that’s no justice at all. We believe in righting wrongs, we believe in accountability, we believe in justice. So, how do we turn those beliefs into reality, into something concrete? We gather people from the community to sit in judgment and see to it that justice is done. The way we do civil justice in our country is to provide a remedy, and that
remedy is to place a value on what was taken in the way of health, recognizing the human cost, recognizing the impact on quality of life, recognizing this injury has taken her freedom to live without having to make endless choices of whether to do or not to do certain activities, knowing there will be a price to pay, keeping in mind it’s not about how much Mrs. Jones is going to get, it’s about how much was taken, what’s a fair value for what was lost in the way of health. Mrs. Jones would rather have her health back, but that’s not an option. Also, keep in mind this verdict for all time. We don’t come back in ten years, twenty years, thirty years and do updates. We get it right now, or we don’t get it right at all.