My Pennsylvania Personal Injury Attorney Reinforced the Value of Hope
The dictionary defines "hope" as the belief in a positive outcome relating to the events and circumstances in one's life. Hope implies a certain amount of despair; wanting, wishing, suffering or perseverance, believing that a better or positive outcome is possible even when there is some evidence leading to the contrary.
The term "false hope" refers to hope highly based on fantasy or an extremely unlikely outcome.
At the law firm of Reiff and Bily, our lawyers understand and respect the value of hope. It is our job to communicate the plaintiffs dreams and hopes to the insurance companies and ultimately to the juries who hear our cases. It is our job to prove that what the plaintiff is capable of doing or was capable of doing prior to an incident and identify the compensation necessary for the plaintiff to recognize the fulfillment of his dreams and goals. The lawyers of Reiff and Bily are not afraid to ask the insurance companies or juries to fully compensate plaintiffs for the loss of their dreams and hopes.
Hope was personified in Greek mythology as "Elpis". When Pandora opened Pandora's box, she let out all of the evils except one known as hope.
In law, damages refer to the money awarded to a claimant, also known as a plaintiff, following a successful claim in a civil action. Damages in personal injury or tort affairs are generally awarded to place the plaintiff in a position that he or she would not have been in had the tort or action not have taken place which put the person in the situation. Compensatory damages compensates the plaintiff for pain and suffering and loss of amenities and losses of hope. Examples of this include physical or emotional pain and suffering, loss of companionship, loss of consortium, disfigurement, loss of reputation, loss or impairment of mental or physical capacity, loss of life's pleasures, frustration, humiliation, degradation, and a non-inclusive list of other factors. This is not easily quantifiable and depends on the individual circumstances. We refer to it as, what is the value of hope? What is the value of the loss of a plaintiff’s loss of dreams and hopes that he had prior to the incident? We seek to recover full compensatory damages generally to place the plaintiff in a position in which he would have been had the offense or tort not taken place.
Today more than ever, the insurance companies and corporate defendants seem to be attacking the pathways to the courts for injured plaintiffs. In effect, they are stating that there is no value to hope. Interesting to note that many of these corporate executives or giants do not have a second or third thought when spending 60-70 million dollars or more on a piece of art or a vacation home in the Hamptons.
On May 15, 2007, a painting of contemporate by Mark Rothco sold for 72.8 million dollars, the highest paid ever for a work at a contemporary art auction. The very next night at Christie=s, a 1963 silk screen on canvas by Andy Wharhol went for 71.7 million dollars. Whether or not these prices paid or values are higher than they should be is irrelevant. Who knows how they scientifically convert this ethical or emotional premise into a monetary value, really not different than a monetary value to be placed on the loss of hope, which in my eyes, is more real or objective. What I do find astounding, however, is that the captains of industry who are purchasing this art are often times the ones running major corporations or insurance companies that refuse to pay the proper value of lost hope of a person now injured by a knowingly defective product or a clearly foreseeable accident. One must ask themselves, is the value of an Andy Wharhol silk screen that sold for 71.7 million dollars worth more than the loss of hope of a working man who is rendered a parapalegic and cannot provide for his family or live the balance of his life with his wife and children who knew him as a different person prior to an accident.
While the art world seems to have taken a great leap in value, according to recent auction reports, it appears that tort reform and peoples more limited access to the courts has taken a back seat. Recently, there has been an attack on lawyers and the courts by changing the rules applicable to injured and innocent victims. The most contentious area of tort, and the area in which tort reform advocates focus, is on personal injuries. The United States where juries decide cases and punitive damages are available, tort reform has become a contentious political issue, in particularly because of the alleged high cost of compensation. It is my feeling that lawyers are the silent policemen of society. We protect the hopes and the value of hope of innocent victims. How do you know if your household products or automobiles are defective and could be causing a potential injury to you or your family? How do you know if your medicines are doing more harm than good? How do you know if the toys you are purchasing are safe for your children?
Under current law, many defective and hazardous products remain on store shelves and medicine cabinets and around the houses of millions of Americans and you never know they are dangerous. Government and big corporations get away with keeping this information from us. They seal public records in court cases and try to keep everything a secret even when victims are successful in holding corporations accountable for defective and hazardous products, they are forced to enter into secrecy agreements which prevent them from informing other consumers of the injuries they defend. This practice of secrecy in tort reform is an example of how corporations can legally put profits over people. Politicians claim that lawsuit abuse destroys jobs, forces doctors out of business, and forces companies into bankruptcy. They want to deprive innocent and injured clients of the hope of the judicial system and the access to the courts dictated by our founding fathers in the United States Constitution.
Recently, I had the opportunity to exchange or debate this with a doctor who became a client who also was the unfortunate victim of Reiff and Bily.
