A Quirk of the Calendar

So July 4th falls on a Thursday this year, which means essentially no one will be working on July 5, a Friday. Even though it's not a legal holiday, it might as well be.

Years ago, I used that quirk of the calendar to turn a small case into a huge one. I still feel good about it.

Our client sent her beautiful 4 year old girl out for an errand with her sister. The 4 year old's aunt put the child in the front seat --right under the visor sign that said "Don't put children in this seat."

The aunt ran a stop sign and T boned another vehicle. The airbag deployed. The little girl was left a quadriplegic. 

The two sisters, originally from Argentina, shared a duplex near the then Orange Bowl, now Marlins Park. The address for each of them ended in "Unit A" and "Unit B."

The negligent aunt had a $10 k liability policy with a major US insurer. Typically, when a carrier learns its insured has so little insurance, and caused such a huge loss, they pay right away. Luckily, corporate greed and incompetence prevented that.

The accident happened in early June. That year, July 4th was on a Thursday. I wrote a letter demanding that the insurer pay the $10K by Friday July 5th, thinking there was a chance the letter would sit on a desk during the long holiday weekend.

And guess what? Our office closed Friday July 5th. But on the Monday, I came in and went through the mail -- no check! So I filed an immediate lawsuit against the aunt -- with her understanding, of course.

I got a "good try, kid" call from an experience lawyer I'll call Dan Draper, since that's his name. He told me he knew I was trying to "set up" his insurance client, but it "wouldn't work."

I feigned naivete -- something I was very good at. I said I had no idea what he meant -- I was merely trying to get what our little 4 year old client deserved. We pressed on.

Several months later, the insurance company's big shot law firm from Sarasota took over. We mediated. They offered $150 k. Nah -- we turned it down, and pressed forward.

A month before trial, where we would have obtained a high 7 figure verdict for the girl, we mediated again, and the company offered a double 7 figure settlement.

I had a lengthy meeting with the child's main treating neurologist -- asking how long he expected the child to live. "Maybe months," he answered. The child was SO injured, infections would likely get her, despite good care.

Based on that, we took the settlement. Sure enough, the child, mercifully, died a few months later. The parents paid back the money insurance had paid out for their daughter, and got the net amount remaining.  It was tragic, of course.

But it was, if I don't say so myself, damn good lawyering. And every year July falls on a day NEAR the weekend, but not on it, I recall that case.

This year, we plan to drive to Key Largo with Norman, Deb, Jeff, and Lili. There's a great seafood place called the Lazy Lobster -- we've been there twice with Deb and Norman. Last time I had lionfish, which was delicious. I may have that again -- trusting the chef to keep the poison barbs out of the meal...

I've always love July 4th. As a kid, it meant the Mets were playing, there were fireworks, and my birthday was 2 weeks away.

Those three things still happen -- though I'm a Marlins fan now.

But as I'm celebrating America, I'll say a prayer for the parents of that little 4 year old. I'm sure they never got over that loss.