Greedy Trial Lawyer
Editorial Writer Leaves Planet To Wander In Tort Reform Fantasy Land
Category: In Your Face
Editorials rarely cause me to respond as strongly as I will about this misdirected missile fired by the Las Vegas Journal- Review. The editor ignores and misrepresents the facts of the a wrongful death case as they were decided by a jury and then mocks the damages assessed against a defendant/employer whose reckless misconduct caused the death of a good woman.
Let's start with a little of the editorial:
EDITORIAL: Chasing the deepest pocketsIn 2001, a drunken Darwin Ray Ellison took a Terrible Herbst truck and went cruising through downtown Las Vegas. Rosa Delegado, a 58-year-old grandmother, was stepping into her car on Fremont Street, her back turned to the careening vehicle, when the truck ran her over and killed her.
.... Mrs. Delegado's family decided to chase the deep pockets of Terrible Herbst's convenience store, gas station, auto maintenance and neighborhood gaming empire.
You see, Ellison was a temporary employee of Terrible Herbst. Although Ellison gave his bosses reason to believe he was a hard drinker away from work, his employer had no record of him abusing alcohol on the job. And during a civil trial in Clark County District Court this month, the company established that Ellison took the truck without permission on that fateful day in 2001.
Nonetheless, on Saturday, a jury ordered Terrible Herbst companies to pay Mrs. Delegado's family an astounding $4.1 million in compensatory damages and preposterously high $10 million in punitive damages.
Mr. Editor, did you fail to read other press accounts of the this trial in which there is testimony that strongly supports the fact that this particular temporary employee (and, in fact, all of the company's temporary employees) abused alcohol both on and off the job. I suspect that might be reckless behavior on the part of an eimployee. And, Mr. Editor, drunk employees will from time to time violate company rules - for example, I suspect they would sometimes drive off in a company truck without permission.
These awards should scare the living daylights out of anyone involved in business, from owners and investors down to middle managers and worker bees. Should you or your company be held liable if a negligent employee one day stole a company car and caused a fatal accident?
Mr. Editor, if you did not slant your question by the use of negligent employee the answer would be yes. I would like to see all employers scared when they employ drunkards with access to company vehicles. You see, innocent people can be killed while minding their own business miles away.
One day, jurors will ignore the dollar signs in the eyes of plaintiff's attorneys and realize that when they vote to enrich lawyers and their clients without good reason, they also cause irreparable damage to a community's long-term health. Insurance premiums rise, and companies have less capital to reinvest, expand or offer as compensation for employees. Employers also become more willing to investigate their workers' private lives, snooping for behavior they might judge risky.If this judgment isn't reversed or lowered on appeal, it will serve as a prime example of the need for tort reform and caps on noneconomic damages.
The Delegado family was irreparably harmed. But they should blame Ellison, not Terrible Herbst.
Mr. Editor, have you lost touch with the truth to such an extent that you can only parrot this gibberish? There was good reason for this verdict; you have simply decided to ignore it. Your own newspaper provided some of the terrible facts that you have failed to mention in your tirade:
Jeffrey Dearman, a manager for facilities for Terrible Herbst, testified in the courtroom of District Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez last week that Ellison and several other temporary workers were sent to the business through a temporary employment agency.On one occasion, Dearman said, Ellison showed up to work smelling of beer.
"Stale beer from the night before," Dearman said.
"How do you know it was from the night before?" Arin asked.
"I don't, I guess," Dearman said.
Dearman also said that on another occasion, Ellison and another temporary worker asked him for permission to drink beer at lunch. Despite this, Dearman said, Ellison was not fired, nor was he disciplined.
"All the temporary employees were wanting (to) drink," he said.
Dearman said that in yet another instance, he left Ellison and other temporary workers at a Terrible Herbst warehouse unsupervised. As he left, he felt the need to tell them not to drink alcohol.
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Comments
Terrible Herbst is a Terrible Company who lives up to it's name. They put the innocent people in a position to look like bad people. I was, in fact, in court. Your security needs a check. In my own opinion, you guys are lyers, and it's a shame that you can't just fess up to your wrong doing. If you all are people who love the community, you wouldn't be endangering the people in your community by having the wrong security. I'd like to let you know, you will not be getting any service from me!
Mr. Editor, did you not know that the security guards had let these drunk men drive before the incident.
Mr. Editor, I would like to see you print out the transcripts and read. How much is your mother or grandmother... cause we never put price on my grandmother! I don't think anyone would put their family in danger just to go into a companies pockets. If I really needed money, I would work for it, we were and are not, greedy people. You need to check yourself!
Posted by: Reina Delegado at January 21, 2006 03:28 PM