John Morgan's Journey for the People

OPENING DISCLAIMER Announcer VO: “The following is a paid advertisement for legal services sponsored by Morgan & Morgan.” PATRICIA STARK – INTRODUCTION TO SHOW Patricia Stark: Hi, I'm Patricia Stark. The world can be a scary and sometimes dangerous place. The good news is that when people get injured, physically, financially, or sometimes emotionally, there are those who have dedicated their lives and their careers to people in need. Lawyers who fight for what's right through the civil justice system to fight for the people. But with so many law firms out there, does the law firm you choose really make a difference? Today, we'll be meeting with some of the leaders of Morgan & Morgan, the country's largest plaintiffs' law firm. You've seen their ads, you've heard their story, and today, for the first time, we'll get a behind-the-scenes look with John Morgan himself. CLIENT MONTAGE #1 Robert Santuci: If I hadn’t gone with Morgan & Morgan, I wouldn’t have gotten the same result. Lisa Griffin: Morgan & Morgan really advocated for me. Lafayette Harris: These guys did what I couldn’t do on my own. Lynn Kroeker: We could have never handled this without Morgan & Morgan. Alfred Holly: My way of life now is so much better. Mike Renfroe: They treated us like friends and family. When that happens, you know you got the right lawyer. Madeline Azarian: Morgan & Morgan came in, got it done, and we closed the books, finally. Lafayette Harris: They are for the people because they were there for me. SEGMENT 1 – “NOBODY IS A NOBODY” / “AUTO CRASHES” Patricia Stark: Welcome. I'm here with John Morgan, the founder of Morgan and Morgan, America's largest injury law firm. Also with us is Matt Morgan. John, everyone hears your commercials and sees your messages for the different kinds of cases that your firm handles. And there are so many. In a little bit, we're going to talk about car crashes and what your firm does in that realm. But before we do, I want to ask about a message when you say that nobody is a nobody. What does that mean to you? John Morgan: One time I got a message from a man and he said, "John, I need your help, but you probably won't call me back because I'm just a nobody." And it was such jarring words, I'm a nobody. And I thought to myself that nobody is a nobody. Everybody is a king or a queen to somebody. I had a grandmother who had a sixth-grade education, but to me, she was the queen of the world. She was really a somebody. And so, I immediately called him back. And we represented him, and we had a great result because I really believe that nobody is ever a nobody. Patricia Stark: I think a lot of people feel that way, especially when they don't know who to turn to and they've had something happen to them that they haven't experienced before, and they have no one to advocate for them. They can definitely feel like a nobody at that moment. John Morgan: What happens is our clients get up every day and everything's fine. And before that day is over, everything's not fine, all the way from serious injury to a death. And when it happens, then in a matter of days, you have to make probably the most important decision of your life, which is who's going to navigate me through this? Who's going to protect me and who's going to protect my family? So, when people call us, we understand what they're going through. It's a shock. And the good thing about being through it so many times is we try to settle them, to reassure them, and to begin the process as seamlessly as we can. Patricia Stark: Matt, with millions of car crashes every year, one of the things that people I think are most concerned about is that they don't want to sue the driver after a car crash because maybe they think it's a moral reason or maybe they even know the person. What would you say to those people? Matt Morgan: Well, I think that's a really common misconception. And I tried cases all over the country, and after we try the cases, we get an opportunity to speak with the jurors. And the jurors often times are not told in a courtroom that the person who caused the injury had insurance. So, the jury is left thinking that this poor little old lady that struck our client from behind is going to be responsible for this multimillion-dollar judgment, which just isn't the case. What people should know is that most times, I’ll say, the at-fault party has insurance and that the insurance company is the one that's paying for the lawyers. The insurance company is the one that's going to be responsible for paying the judgment, but it is a common misconception out there that can in some circumstances lead to miscarriages of justice. Patricia Stark: Sometimes after a car accident, people can think that the accident was really just a ding or maybe that there's no dent or property damage even, or maybe that the pain will just go away. So, what do you say to those people? Matt Morgan: The most common type of injury that we see in a car crash case is a disc abnormality, which is caused by the crash. What happens is when you have a disc abnormality, that doesn't just go away. It hits on nerve roots, it hits on the cord, and ultimately can cause lifelong injuries and limitations and great difficulty for our clients for life. And so, at our firm, what I think we do a really good job of is not looking at the past three years of what the client has been through, but instead forecasting what the next 50 years are going to look like. There's a whole host of things that if we're doing our job correctly as attorneys advocating for the best interest of our clients, we're looking into the future in consultation with their doctors and experts and trying to say, if this is a forever injury, we need to know. We have an obligation to know what is to come in their future from an economic vantage point with their treatment. John Morgan: And what we do constantly in all cases is we have this mantra, forever is forever. And when we're representing you today, we look at your life expectancy, and the loss of enjoyment of life, the loss of income, the things you can never do again, and the pain and suffering. And when you look at it in that way, and that's why we were always talking about forever cases because forever is a long time. Forever is a lifetime. Patricia Stark: People don't have a crystal ball. No one can really know if this thing is going to haunt you for the rest of your life. It very well could, but how do you know that? Matt Morgan: As a firm, we have our vision statement, if you will. Our motto is to treat every client the way we would want to be treated, to evaluate every case the way we would want our case evaluated. If it were me that had pain in my neck that was going into my arm shooting like lightning bolts and was debilitating the quality of my life forever and it was going to get worse with time, what would I want? And our clients don't have a choice in this matter, but a skilled attorney is going to present the case in a way where the jury is going to understand what's been taken from our clients and really try to put in context what a full and fair result would be for a client that has to sustain that type of damage for life. Patricia Stark: Really quality of life is priceless. Matt Morgan: Yeah, exactly. It's everything. Patricia Stark: John, according to the Insurance Research Council study called Attorney Involvement in Auto Injury Claims, that people who hire a lawyer can recover three times more money than those who don't. I mean, Is that really true? And what do you say to those people who don't hire lawyers or maybe even worse, the wrong lawyer after their crash? John Morgan: What I would say is not only is it true; it's more than true. That's what the Insurance Council is saying. The Insurance Council is admitting, in their own words, that if you're represented by a lawyer, you will receive on average three times what you would receive if you negotiate yourself. Those were their words. And so, we've seen it time and time again where they've been offered a small amount of money before they hired a lawyer, and the amount we recover after the fact is not three times, it's 10 times, it's 20 times, it's 100 times. You got to remember the insurance company is in business to make money. To take in premiums and not pay you. It's not a personal thing, it's their business. Patricia Stark: Yes. Well, more with John Morgan right after this. But first, hear what these clients had to say about their experience with Morgan & Morgan! CLIENT MONTAGE #2 – AUTO ACCIDENTS Salvador R: My dad was just picking me up from school, was getting ready to go home. Unfortunately, tragedy struck. Lisa G: I was struck by an SUV. Pretty much T-boned. Howard W: I was rear-ended by a car probably doing about 50 to 55 miles an hour. My car caught on fire. I thought I was going to pass away. Salvador R: The whole right side of the body is just being struck by lightning. Lisa G: I met with this medical insurance adjuster, and I was completely insulted. Howard W: I needed help with the medical expenses and also in recovery from my vehicle and all the personal property that was inside my vehicle. Salvador R: My family hired Morgan & Morgan because they're not just a small company. They're the juggernaut. And a juggernaut that's on your side. Lisa G: Morgan & Morgan came highly recommended. And the very next day there was an investigator at my house. Howard W: I have known the Morgan's probably for over 30 years. They really listen and feel the needs of the people that they deal with. They understood what I was going through & they were there to help me each step of the way. Salvador R: Finally, my case is done. And not only that, it was in my favor. Lisa G: It was life-changing for me. With the restitution that I received, I have been able to reclaim my health. Just having Morgan & Morgan as my advocate really set me on the path to healing. Howard W: I believe people should choose a law firm that can help them get what they need to live their normal life. PATRICIA: If you or a loved one were injured as a result of a car crash, call Morgan & Morgan today. The call is free, and you don’t pay unless they recover for you. It’s hard to imagine that a crash that only takes seconds to occur can have such a long-lasting impact on a life. Morgan & Morgan has won millions of dollars for clients after car crashes because they know how devastating these injuries can be. If you or a loved one were injured as a result of a car crash, call Morgan & Morgan. SEGMENT 2 – “WORK INJURIES” Patricia Stark: Welcome back. I'm here with John and Dan Morgan of Morgan & Morgan. John, I want to talk a little bit about people who get hurt while at work. But before I get into that, could you share a little bit of information about the different kinds of people and from what walks of life call and hire Morgan & Morgan? John Morgan: Well, the truth of the matter is we have a lot of cases involving brain injuries, children at birth, tragically, all the way to people in nursing homes, where things happen in nursing homes that never should have happened. And people don't really realize the rights that patients have in nursing homes. They should not have malnutrition, dehydration. And so, we represent the spectrum from birth to the end of life. Patricia Stark: Dan, I want to talk about workers and protecting injured workers. Should an employee be worried about retaliation if they report their workers' compensation case? Dan Morgan: In most states, they don't have to worry about retaliation because there's protection at the state level. However, there's no federal law that does guarantee protection. So, it's good, if you are going to file a claim, to consult an attorney, to make sure that there are no retaliations that could happen to you. Retaliation could be anything from discrimination at the job, losing your job, changing your assignment, or even just having a hard time at work. Patricia Stark: One of the things that I hear a lot, and you can't really miss this, is that Morgan and Morgan is America's largest injury law firm with so many different types of practice groups. In fact, Reuters recently called your firm a giant. How do having different practice groups and your size help when it comes to injured workers and their cases? Are there ever situations where a worker can have different cases at once with your firm? Dan Morgan: There's a lot of times when that does happen, exactly that. When you call into our firm, our intake specialists screen for all types of cases. So, whether it was a workers' compensation was the main call for an injury in the workplace, it could be an auto accident-related. There could be a premise related to a Slip & Fall type of case. It could be a defective piece of machinery or a ladder where we would then send that to our product liability group. So, there are all types of times where you could have one case that turns into three cases. When that happens, you're dealing with three types of lawyers, all specialists in the field. Patricia Stark: John, what do you say to an injured worker that says that they'd rather go with a small firm because they don't want to just be a number? I mean, how would you respond to an injured worker or a worker that is the victim of, say, wage theft, thinking about which firm to hire? John Morgan: What I would say to that person, that client is that bigger is better. And let me tell you why. When you retain our firm, there are two things that happen. One, you're assigned to a lawyer who has a team around them. Sometimes, lawyers are in trial. Sometimes, lawyers are on vacation. The team is never gone. There's always a team of six people around one lawyer, paralegals, secretaries, legal assistants, investigators. The other thing that we do that I think differentiates us from everyone else is we have a department called Client Satisfaction. If for any reason, you're unhappy with the response or callbacks, you go to Client Satisfaction, and within the hour, your complaint is satisfied. What we've tried to do with our size is to then take that size, but shrink it into specialties, product liability, medical malpractice. You mentioned wage theft. Our employment practice does that. So, I believe that our size is our strength, and that's why I believe our clients have an advantage because of that size. Patricia Stark: Makes perfect sense. Thank you. Well, more with John Morgan right after this. But first, let's hear the story of a Morgan and Morgan client. Montgomery (Actual Client): I was a lineman and I was working in a manhole and we were cleaning up at the end of the day, I had to pull a pump up and when I bent over I felt my back pop. I didn't realize that at that moment, that was the end of my career. I worked for 35 years. I thought that after putting in all that time and everything that the company would take care of me. I didn't expect all the accusations that I got from workman's comp. I remember the way that lady treated me on the phone, the things she said that I was lying to them. That I shouldn't be hurting. How do they know how I feel? I knew I needed the big guns to go up against the big guns. Everything was taken care of by Morgan and Morgan. I never had to talk to workman's comp again. It’s been such a relief not to have to worry about anything anymore. Morgan & Morgan changed my life. Patricia Stark: If you or someone you know was injured on the job call Morgan & Morgan today. The call is free, the consultation is free and you don’t pay unless they recover for you. Morgan & Morgan has won millions of dollars for clients because they know how devastating these injuries can be. One of their injury attorneys is available to start working on your case. If you or someone you know was injured on the job call Morgan & Morgan. SEGMENT 3 – “PREMISE LIABILITY (SLIP & FALL)” Patricia Stark: Welcome back. I'm here with John and Matt Morgan of Morgan & Morgan. John, I'm sure that everyone knows and hears about your verdicts, cases where the client was offered nothing, and your firm getting millions for them. From car crash cases and premises liability cases, low ball offers changed into life-changing outcomes. I mean, that's incredible. So what do you think when people refer to cases negatively like "jackpot justice"? John Morgan: When I hear the words "jackpot justice" I become enraged. Those were words that were created by the Chamber of Commerce and the insurance industry. Two groups that wake up every day anti-consumer. They know that's a negative term, and they're trying to get into the heads of jurors with this concept of jackpot justice like it's a lottery win. It's the furthest thing from a lottery. When we go to trial, we're not there trying to get the jackpot. When we go to trial, what we're doing is trying to get back for our clients what was taken from them. Patricia Stark: You seem very proud about the number of cases that your firm takes to trial, more cases than any other law firm in America. Don't people just want a settlement to put what was likely a life-changing incident behind them for good? John Morgan: The fact that we try more cases every single year, year in, and year out than any law firm in America is by design because we know from the strength of those verdicts comes those early and fair settlements. If you're not trying cases and if you're not getting verdicts, the insurance companies—they know who you are. They know who has bullets in their gun. They know who has blanks in their gun. The proof is in the pudding, and the proof is, if you have a reputation for trying cases, getting gigantic verdicts, you're going to have a better chance of settling your case early and fairly. Patricia Stark: Makes sense. Matt, one of the areas that your firm has helped a huge number of clients in is I think in the tens of thousands are cases involving premises liability. Can you tell us a bit more about what that is and why do you think that clients call your firm for those kinds of cases? Matt Morgan: A premise liability case is essentially a case where you have a business establishment, for example, that allowed for a dangerous condition to exist on their property and then a consumer comes along and then gets injured. A couple of classic examples would be a slip and fall, a trip and fall, a negligent security case where you have a high crime area and you don't have a gate or you have a broken gate or you have faulty lighting, or a number of different cases. What we've done at our firm is made a commitment that if we're going to have premise liability cases, they're going to be handled by premises liability lawyers only. In this profession, a lot of times what happens is you'll have a lawyer that's handling car crash cases, they're handling premise liability cases, medical malpractice, they're a jack of all trades and a master of none. And so at our firm, our lawyers that handle premises liability cases only do that, and we have lawyers that are down to the actual business establishment, that if there's a chain, for example, all they handle are cases against that chain. And so at our firm, we've really laser-focused on these cases and I think it's made a tremendous impact on the results that we get our clients. John Morgan: And one thing it's important to point out is with premise liability cases, the burden is on us to prove our case. We have to prove that the establishment knew of the dangerous condition or should have known. The reason that's important for everyone listening is because you got to get on it right away. You got to get out there with our investigators. We have a team of them. Take pictures, take witness statements. There are recordings that go away after three days. Preserve all that evidence, because the burden is on you to prove your case, and if you let evidence disappear, if you let witnesses go missing, you're not going to be able to meet that burden. So that may be the most important thing, Matt, in a premise liability case. Matt Morgan: Of course. Patricia Stark: So that's why you have to take action so quickly. John Morgan: Immediately, because it disappears. These companies, they'll get rid of the tape because they don't want you to see the tape. We get a case like that, we send out what's called a spoliation letter, which means if they destroy that tape, all their defenses are gone. Very important. Matt Morgan: Happens all the time. Patricia Stark: Wow. Now, we've heard John talk about the fact that you handle each case type with a specific focus, and lawyers that handle one kind of case only focusing on that area. So, when you think about people who are injured, when they're out and about at a store or in a business, how important is it to have lawyers that really are just focused on that line of work and nothing else. Matt Morgan: It's everything because from the moment that we get that case, there's a whole host of things that we have to do right then and there, otherwise, the entire case is jeopardized. We have to send a spoliation of evidence letter out to the business establishment telling them don't destroy anything. Don't destroy the video that captured this event. Don't destroy the dangerous condition that existed. We have to get experts to the scene. We have to take measurements. We have to take witness statements. We have to build our case in the first 24 hours. If you don't have the evidence assembled and gathered and ready to roll in the first two weeks of a premise liability case, five months later down the road, that insurance company and the defense attorney, they're going to file a motion called a motion for summary judgment, and essentially what that means is they're going to kick you out of court because you don't have the evidence to back up your claims. And so we've put an enormous amount of focus on making sure that our premise liability cases are ready to hit the ground running the moment our clients call us. That way, when we're looking at five chess moves down the road, we try not to have a situation where the case is going to get dismissed, because if it does get dismissed, the client could be entitled to millions and millions of dollars, but they get zip and the insurance company and the businesses that had the dangerous condition, they get away scot-free all because the lawyer didn't do their job in the first 24 hours. Patricia Stark: Now my knee-jerk reaction to that is that what must happen all the time is someone either doesn't call a lawyer fast enough, or they call a lawyer that doesn't have a big enough staff to get somebody out there right away. Matt Morgan: Exactly. That's why the lawyer that you hire is so important. You have to hire a law firm that has the resources to spend money on an expert. It's thousands of dollars to get the expert out there to take measurements, to take footage. You have to have a war chest because you're going up against the biggest insurance companies in the world that have their own experts that are out on the scene before you get there. Patricia Stark: John, now you've talked about using cutting-edge technology and even started a company called Litify to help law firms use technology to get better results for clients and a better client experience. How does Morgan & Morgan use technology to deliver better service to your clients? John Morgan: One of the things that was thrust upon us was we had good software, but it really wasn't great. But what we think we needed for our clients was better software. We wanted software that would allow clients someday just to go inside the file themselves, without even calling us, to go inside the file and look around and see what's going on. I wanted automation and transparency. So, we built our own software called Litify, and we just built it for ourselves, but it became so popular that law firms from all over the country said, "Will you sell us Litify?" And at first, I was like, "Well, do I want to share?" But then I thought, rising tides, lift all boats. I want every client to have the benefit of what my clients have. So we turned it into a business and competitors of ours use Litify. We're okay with that because, at the end of the day, we're all in this together. We want those clients to have the best chance. Patricia Stark: And is that how you handle the millions of calls that you must get every year? John Morgan: Technology, especially in the 21st century has been key. When you call us on your cell phone, you dial #LAW, you're talking to us immediately, and then on your mobile app, we can get you represented right then and there. We can dispatch our investigators right then and there. You're represented within 30 minutes. Your case is active, live, and being investigated. And Litify and our mobile app and #LAW, and everything that goes with it is part of that technology and it gives our clients a leg up over everybody else. Patricia Stark: Very impressive. More with John Morgan right after this. But first, let's take a look at a first-hand story from a Morgan & Morgan client. Antonia (Actual Client): I went food shopping at the supermarket. It had rained a lot. As I'm stepping into the place, I just slipped, and went flying, and did a split like a ballerina, and came down really hard on my knee. I had excruciating pain in my knee. I went to the emergency room and that's where I found out that I had a broken kneecap. The next day, my sister came to my house to see me and she said, "You need to get Morgan & Morgan ... For the people. Morgan & Morgan didn't accept the offer from the insurance company because it was not what I deserved. And I asked my attorney, I said, "Why would they even offer me that?" And he said, "Because people take it." Then I realized, that's why I had a lawyer. He says, "We're not taking it. We're going to go all the way for what we sued for." And we went to trial, and the jury ruled in my favor. During my experience with Morgan & Morgan, I learned that they're not afraid to go to trial because they have a lot of resources to back up their attorneys. I would highly recommend them a hundred times over because they were totally awesome and they were on their game and they know what they are doing and they are totally professional. Patricia Stark: If you or someone you know was injured call Morgan & Morgan today. The call is free, the consultation is free and you don’t pay unless they recover for you. Morgan & Morgan has won millions of dollars for clients because they know how devastating these injuries can be. One of their injury attorneys is available to start working on your case. If you or someone you know was injured call Morgan & Morgan. SEGMENT 4 – “NO FEE UNLESS YOU WIN / CLOSE” Patricia Stark: John, I'm sure at the top of a lot of people's minds is what is the cost involved in here? What does it cost to work with Morgan and Morgan? John Morgan: A lot of people think, "Well, I can't afford a lawyer." The insurance industry has a lot of money. Corporations have a lot of money, but working folk don't, don't have that kind of money. Well, here's the good news. We are everyone's key to the courthouse. It costs you nothing. You don't pay us by the hour. We are only paid if we win—if we recover compensation for your injuries. Some of our cases, we spend hundreds of thousands of dollars just in cost. There've been cases that we've had, big cases, where we've had over a million dollars in costs. We advance your cost. We pay your cost. And the only time that you ever pay us is if we win your case. Patricia Stark: By now, you've seen, heard, and witnessed some really heartfelt stories from just a few of the thousands of clients that Morgan & Morgan has helped after a life-altering event. But they weren't alone, and neither are you. In your time of need, Morgan & Morgan can be there for you. Thanks for spending time with us today. John Morgan: As America’s largest injury firm, we have more offices, more lawyers, and more caring staff members than any other injury firm in the world. We’ve recovered Billions for our clients, and our team is able to sign you up digitally from the comfort of your own home - wherever you are, whatever you need. The time to bring a claim may be limited and there is no fee unless we recover on your behalf. There’s only one Morgan & Morgan For The People. Announcer VO: “The preceding was a paid advertisement for legal services sponsored by Morgan & Morgan.”