Applicant's Attorneys are suffering from low self-esteem as a result of the
beating we took from the Terminator and his henchmen.
Most of us are waiting for the Calvary to come rescue us.
When is CAAA going to do this or that? CAAA is doing everything they can
do. Certainly CAAA is the leader but where is the rest of the army?
I've got some alarming news for you. WE ARE THE CALVARY!
It's like the allies defeat in France. It was a miracle that the entire army
didn't get wiped out.
They barely escaped devastation at Dunkirk. But they did live to fight
another day.
It took years to battle back but they did and as a result we are not living
under a Nazi regime.
If the allies could come back from that surely we can come back from SB 899.
This loss of self-esteem is unwarranted and detrimental to the just cause of
the injured worker.
Every applicant's attorney can remember a case where they know that but for
their efforts a righteous injured worker would not have received a just
result.
We know there are plenty of malingerers out there but we also know that
there are seriously injured workers who are getting jacked around by the
carriers.
What is the "zenith" of a defense attorney's career?
They uncovered a fraud and had them prosecuted. They won a case and saved an
insurance company a pocketful of money. They got paid 90% of their billable
hours. They won a contribution case and got one insurance company to pay
another insurance company.
When my kid asks me what do I do as an attorney I can say, with pride, that
I help the downtrodden.
"Johnny, I won a big case and deprived a half crippled person from getting
the back surgery they needed and saved the insurance company a whole bunch
of money."
No, I'll never do defense work I'd rather go back to house painting.
Don't get me wrong; I don't intend to berate the defense bar, there are
plenty of defense attorneys that I personally like. Most of them are good
people, not to mention, extremely skilled lawyers.
It's just that I can't imagine suffering the slings and arrows of practicing
law with the defense goal at the core of my job. Considering their
substantial skills it's a shame they waste them on the defense side.
Most applicants' attorneys hung out their shingle and started a business
from scratch. They put up their money and created a business that helps
injured and disabled people get medical care and basic benefits We have the
perseverance and guts to bet it all on a contingency that we will win the
case or not get paid. What can be nobler than that?
And it's not like most of our clients show appreciation for our efforts. I
learned a long time ago not expect gratitude. If it comes its welcome but I'
m sure all of us have done a great job for a client who berates our efforts.
Sometimes it's hard not to get jaded.
Its not like we don't have a choice. There are lots of areas of law that are
more lucrative.
But in the end nothing,(other than a large fee), beats the feeling of
victory in a cause, that we know, even if no one else does, was just.
So its time to toot our own horn and regain a sense of high self esteem. To
be proud to stick out your chest and say I'M AN APPLICANTS' ATTORNEY!
Perhaps our show of pride will be see by the masses of injured workers' and
give them back the Freedom and Dignity they lost when they were injured and
entered the inferno of the Workers' Compensation system.
Believe me I was guilty of apathy for years. But what has happened in this
Blitzkrieg by the foes of injured workers and applicants attorneys has
stirred my youthful passion when we, the baby boomers, thought we would
change the world with peace and love.
During the process and after the implementation of SB 899 I looked to CAAA
and asked what are they going to do about it? But somewhere along the line
I realized the question is:
WHAT AM I GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?
If I do not have the zeal to fight for my own beliefs, and more importantly,
my livelihood, then why should anyone hire me to fight for them?
So the anger, frustration, and guilt of my apathy built up until I felt like
Howard Beel. So here I am sticking my head out the window on
Workinjury.com and saying I'm mad, as hell and I won't take it anymore.
The tide is turning. The Governator's ratings are down. The nurses,
teachers, students, seniors, unions and Harvey Rosenfield are protesting
effectively . The democrat legislators are getting their nerve back. A few
injured workers are trying to organize. CAAA is on the attack. Andrea Hock
has not been confirmed. The well-funded trial attorneys are organizing and
preparing to fight. And never forget those few legislators who had the
courage to vote no to SB899.
Arnold's credibility is waning. As Lincoln said "you can fool some of the
people some of the time and some of the people all of the time, but you can't fool all the people all of the time".
Factions of the working class aren't fooled anymore. Arnold's jig is up. His
rhetoric that any thing or any one that does not support him is "special
interests" is starting to ring hollow with the voting public. Being a movie
star and calling yourself the people's governor only goes so far. In short,
the honeymoon is over.
We knew he wasn't the governor of the people before the rest. Workers
Compensation was his first head on the block.
It's our job to educate the working class public that he is not the governor
of the people. That protesting nurses and teachers are not the kind of
"special interests" that we should be against. And finally, though it's hard
to tell, we still have a majority of democrats in the legislature.
If we all fight hard enough maybe we can have a democrat as Governor in
2006.
Remember laws can be amended or repealed.
So my applicant attorney brethren its time to ask yourself:
WHAT AM I GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?
Your alternative is to ask yourself:
What other area of law will I practice?
To those who want to keep practicing comp., DO something.
Write an article, pass out handbills, fund CAAA, work for CAAA, make a
bumper sticker, put a sign in your window, take an ad out in the newspaper,
make up a button with our message, post a story of a case that you are proud
of on Workinjury.com, promote Workinjury.com., or burn yourself in protest
at the capital. Whatever you do small or large something is better than
nothing.
There is no question, we represent the moral high ground. We applicant
attorneys represent the victims of corporate greed. We are right, they are
wrong.
We have nothing to be ashamed of and no reason to be lacking self-esteem.
That's right Governor Schwarzenegger, we have a special interest and that
interest is the constitutional rights of three million injured workers. The
constitutional rights that you stripped from them at 3:08 in the morning
while they were sleeping.
In closing, I want to thank Peter Goldberger for doing his part in setting up
Workinjury.com and for giving me this forum and the chance to do my little
part.
- J. Geller
February 28, 2005
