The most frequently invoked underdog story, that of David and Goliath, occurred thousands of years ago. Yet, in a courtroom, the same theme plays out all too often — especially when it comes to personal injury cases.
The Goliath is a corporation or insurance company; David is the average worker. Stephen Z. Williamson, who is “of counsel” to Elliot Ifraimoff and Associates, is fighting for the Davids.
“I got involved in this area of the law because I wanted to help and represent regular people,” said Williamson, who obtained a record-setting verdict of more than $117 million — one of the largest verdicts in New York State history in a non-medical malpractice injury case. “I wanted to be fighting for the regular, hardworking New Yorkers, helping them stand up to big corporations when wrongs are committed.”
Of course, when facing big corporations in a courtroom, there are plenty of Goliathan challenges. For starters, they have endless resources and can afford a team of lawyers to defend the cases.
“They wage a war of attrition against our clients,” he said. “They try to wear them down and grind them down over years.”
When corporations are not playing a war of attrition, they try to settle the cases — on the cheap. “They want to resolve the cases for pennies on the dollar; they offer discount justice that barely accounts for our clients’ losses.”
It happens all too frequently, said Steve, and when the case goes to trial, the insurance companies typically refuse to accept responsibility, often saying that the injuries sustained in the trauma are really related to pre-existing health problems or age.
Steve said that in these types of cases his approach is to be open and honest about the issues in the case, acknowledging that the client is an older person who, like most older people, does have a medical history with typical ailments.
“But they were doing okay,” said Steve. “They were living life. They were independent, and they were happy, and they were able to do their activities — not like a healthy 25-year-old but they were living life in a good, full and complete way.”
And then bang! — a work-related incident occurs and everything changes. “And not only did they go from being independent to not independent, from being free of any pain to living a life with chronic pain. But because they were older, and because they already had some problems, they were less able to bounce back from the trauma. And, so, the accident took a situation that wasn’t great and made it much, much worse.” Steve said that jurors understand this and usually respond favorably.
There are other defense tactics. Typically, lawyers for the insurance company will put forward a narrative that their client can’t be trusted. “They will blame our client either for causing the accident or their injuries or both,” he said. “They try to tap into the ugly stereotypes about personal injury cases — that most cases are exaggerated for purposes of getting money, that the claims are false, that the plaintiff can’t be trusted, and that the lawyers are unscrupulous.”
Insurance companies spend lots of money to create and perpetuate this stereotype. “For decades, they’ve spent huge sums of money peddling these stereotypes because they know that these false caricatures benefit them. Jurors all across America walk into courthouses suspicious of injury cases, making it harder for injury victims to obtain justice.”
This only makes Steve and his team more committed to getting their clients justice no matter the obstacles. One of the cornerstones of their philosophy is to make sure that their clients receive what they describe as “full justice” for all their losses.
“We strive to get them full justice for all of the harm done to them, from the time of the accident to the time of trial, but also for their future losses – their future suffering, future medical expenses, lost wages that will occur in the future, all of it.” he said. “We explain to our clients that once their case is resolved, it is over forever, they can never reopen their case, even if things take a turn for the worse. And so, when our clients have permanent injuries with ongoing impacts, we do our best to ensure that the resolution provides for all their losses up to the present and for the rest of their lives.”
Steve gets satisfaction from knowing that he is helping to make the justice system fairer for regular, middle class New Yorkers. “When we represent a bus driver or a teacher, we work very hard to ensure they get treated the same way as a rich person would,” he said. “Maybe the lost wages are measured differently. But in terms of the human element, in terms of the impact on them and their family, we believe the treatment, the experience, and, ultimately, the result should be the same.”
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