Beliefs
- All
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Since the beginning of time, all successful civilizations have been governed by behavioral standards that everyone understood, embraced, and passed on to future generations. These behavioral standards were so well-known that they were taken for granted. Anyone who questioned the standards was considered a misdirected fool who lacked maturity, experience, and wisdom.
Her name is Meredith Golden. She’s 43 years old and lives in New York with her husband and two sons. She has a master’s degree in social work from New York University. According to a recent article in The New York Times, Golden is a professional dating app ghostwriter. The article provided the following summary of what services Golden offers to her clients:
After I published last week’s article about the 60th anniversary of the Barbie doll, my mom called me on my cell phone. I wasn’t available when she called, so she left a message. In the message, she said that she had read my article and that in addition to her concern about her daughters’ self-images being affected by the Barbie doll, she was also concerned that with the introduction of a teenage, sexualized version of a doll, there would never be a return to the days when young girls were encouraged to play with baby dolls.
While I was preparing to write this article, I went to YouTube and watched the opening theme of a weekly TV show that aired on NBC from 1966 to 1968. When the show began in 1966, I was nine years old. I’m referring to Tarzan, a TV show that I watched with my younger brothers every Friday night.
I ordinarily attend daily Mass at Sacred Heart Church in downtown Peoria. Last Monday (March 25), I saw my parents at noon Mass and talked to them after the Mass. My mom told me that it was the 58th anniversary of her consecration to the Mother of God. I knew that she had made her consecration years ago, but I was not aware of the actual date.
Last week, while I was at a local doctor’s office, one of the women who worked there surprised me by asking, “Are you the same Harry Williams who taught business law at Illinois Central College during the 1980s?” I looked at the woman and did not recognize her. I then answered, “Yes, were you in my class?” She replied, “Yes, and I really enjoyed that class.” We then had a short conversation about what she liked about the class.
As I walked out of the doctor’s office, my mind flashed back to the mid-1980s, when I taught Business Law at ICC. I spent a lot of time preparing for that class, but it was worth it. The young, fresh-faced students were captivated by the stories I told about my experience as a lawyer. To make the class more interesting, I intentionally wove stories throughout the material I presented to them. This made an otherwise boring class into an adventure into the inner workings of our justice system.
One of the things that I taught my students was the four basic elements that are required before a contract can be legally binding between two parties. The four elements are:
1. Offer – a promise to act or refrain from acting.
On December 12, 2018, Jessica Starr, a popular 35-year-old meteorologist at the Detroit, Michigan WJBK Fox television station, committed suicide.
Last month, Jessica’s husband, Dan Rose, and her mother, Carol Starr, were interviewed on the ABC television show, Good Morning America. Both Dan and Carol said that they believed that Jessica killed herself because of complications that were caused by laser surgery that she had on her eyes in October 2018.
During the interview, Dan stated, “She really knew something was not right within a matter of days. She started to complain of incredibly dry eyes. She had almost no night vision. She had starbursts that she was seeing during the day and at night.”
Carol stated that after the surgery, Jessica lost a significant amount of weight. “I kept saying, ‘Are you eating? Are you okay?’ She kept saying, ‘I’m not eating and I’m not sleeping, Mom. This is worrying me. I don’t think it’s going to get better,’” said Carol.
The surgery that Jessica went through was similar to Lasik eye surgery. The name of the surgery was SMILE, which is an acronym for “small incision lenticule extraction.” With SMILE, a laser is used to make a small opening on the eye to remove a layer of tissue. The removal of the tissue corrects nearsightedness by reshaping the cornea. SMILE surgery is supposed to be less invasive than Lasik.
During the weeks following her surgery, Jessica posted several video diaries on her Facebook page where she talked about complications she was having as a result of the surgery. One of her complaints was that the dryness in her eyes was so bad that she had to use eye drops every five minutes to lubricate her eyes.
When she died, Jessica left behind her husband and two children, a five-year-old and three-year-old.
After her death, Jessica’s family, friends, and coworkers were all in a state of shock. She had never talked about committing suicide. They later concluded that Jessica experienced extreme depression and anxiety about her chronically dry eyes, her lack of night vision, and the starbursts that she was seeing during her waking hours.
Whenever a person experiences chronic pain and/or suffering, there is a possibility that the person will lose hope for the future. This is something that I always talk about when I present an injured client’s case to a jury.
Here’s an example of what I ordinarily say to a jury when I have a client who is experiencing chronic pain and suffering:
The only other thing that I’m going to mention about pain and suffering before I move on is that both pain and suffering interrupt hope for the future. We were all created with a desire for hope.
Last week, I wrote about what I say to a jury to introduce them to the concept of placing a value on pain and suffering. I discussed how a dollar “value” was once placed on individual slaves, and how property that has been damaged is valued. I provided examples of how we value a damaged washer and dryer, a damaged vehicle, an injured racehorse, and a partially burned famous painting.
I ended by asking, “What happens when my body is damaged to such an extent that I am in pain all the time? What is that pain worth? And what if in addition to the pain that I’m having, I’m suffering? What is the suffering worth?”
As a general rule, jurors feel uncomfortable about awarding money for pain and suffering. For some, there are Christian principles they were taught that cause them to frown upon people who go to court to obtain money for an injury. For others, there are beliefs that find fault with going to court to obtain money for an injury. These principles and beliefs usually soften and change when a person or someone who the person loves is permanently injured because of another person’s negligence.
I specifically address these issues in my closing argument because it would be very risky for me to allow a jury to deliberate on the value of my client’s case without walking them through the reasons why our system of justice is the only fair and rational way to deal with a situation in which a person has been permanently injured as a result of another person’s negligence.
Before I move on to the topic of pain and suffering, I want to emphasize that everything I say to a jury in a closing argument must be backed up and supported by what the jury heard and learned from the witnesses and the documents that were introduced into evidence. It is rare that a jury of 12 people can be fooled. Their collective knowledge, skills, experiences, and memories of the evidence that was presented in the case usually lead them to collectively make the correct decision in a case.
With regard to the issue of pain and suffering, I have an analogy that I use in my closing arguments to help put my client’s pain and suffering into perspective for the jury. It goes something like this:
Sometimes I wish we had a device — maybe someday we will — that has two handles on one side and two handles on the other side. The device would be used to transfer pain from one person to another. My client, Jane, could walk up to the device and hold the handles and I could walk over and hold the handles on the other side. The device would have the ability to transfer Jane’s pain from her to me, so I could feel what she was experiencing.
Last week, I wrote about a client who was hit by a car while she was crossing the street, and another client who was hit by a car while she was walking on the side of the road. I explained that under Illinois law, the two women are entitled to reimbursement of their medical bills, lost wages for the time that they are unable to work, and other expenses that are related to their injuries. They are also entitled to receive compensation for their present and future pain and suffering. I also discussed the McDonald’s coffee case and explained the difficulty that lawyers have in presenting the topic of pain and suffering to a jury. Today, I’m going to discuss how I explain to a jury the “value” of a person’s pain and suffering.
For the purpose of this discussion, I’m going to provide you with some background information about a previous client — I’ll call her Jane — who had an injury to her low back as a result of a rear-end collision. For two years after the collision, Jane received treatment for her injuries, which included pain medication, physical therapy, chiropractic adjustments, and localized injections to alleviate the pain.
After two years of treatment, Jane was still suffering from pain in her back. She went to bed every night and woke up every morning with back pain. She also had problems climbing stairs in her house and was no longer able to lift her young grandchildren because of her back pain. She also experienced severe pain when she was intimate with her husband and experienced additional pain for at least three days after each time that she worked in her garden. Before the collision, Jane and her husband went on several road trips each year to different antique car shows where they would socialize with friends and check out all the cars that were on display.
Jane’s injury occurred while she was on her way to an Avanti’s restaurant. She was hit from behind by a City of Peoria truck while she was stopped on University Street, waiting to turn left into the parking lot of Avanti’s. Her left turn signal had been activated, and she was waiting for oncoming traffic to pass before she could make her turn. The driver of the truck was a city employee who was a decent guy who simply was not paying attention to what he was doing. He had turned to look at something that was occurring on the side of the road and when he refocused his attention on where it should have been, Jane had already stopped. He slammed on his brakes, but it was too late for him to stop without crashing into the rear of Jane’s vehicle.
Jane subsequently received extensive treatment for her back and while her condition improved, she never completely recovered. Despite the treatment that she received, she ended up having all the problems that I described above.
After I submitted Jane’s medical records and bills to the City of Peoria, the city refused to make a settlement offer. I had no choice but to file a lawsuit against the city on Jane’s behalf. After litigating the case for a couple of years, the city attorney who was assigned to the case made an insultingly low settlement offer. When I complained about how unreasonable the offer was, she told me that she had recommended a higher settlement amount to her boss, but he refused to authorize her to offer that amount to settle the case.
The case ended up going to trial in front of a jury of 12 people. After the evidence was presented to the jury in the form of testimony and documents, such as medical bills and pictures of the damaged vehicles, I had a chance to stand in front of the jury and make a closing argument. The jury ended up awarding a significant amount of money to my client — much more than what my client was willing to settle the case for before the trial.
Over the years, I’ve developed a very thorough presentation of what pain and suffering is and how the value should be placed on pain and suffering. When it’s time to discuss pain and suffering, I start out by asking a few simple questions:
How do we place a value on pain and suffering? What’s the value of a human being? What’s the loss in value of a person who is no longer able to do the things she was able to do before she was injured?