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ELG Accident Attorney in-studio - Sergio Escamilla
ELG Accident Attorney in-studio - Sergio Escamilla
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About this episode
Sergio Escamilla, a personal injury attorney, shares his journey from a challenging upbringing to becoming a successful lawyer. He discusses his passion for cars, particularly JDM models, and how his automotive interests intersect with his legal career. The conversation touches on the Gwyneth Paltrow skiing accident case, exploring themes of liability and comparative negligence. Escamilla emphasizes the importance of client relationships and the misconceptions surrounding personal injury law, while also reflecting on the balance between work and family life.
Topics:
personal injury law
car culture
Gwyneth Paltrow case
comparative negligence
JDM cars
client relationships
automotive interests
work-life balance
ep 172 - please don't forget to rate and review
Sergio Escamilla is the founder of ELG Accident Attorneys, a personal injury law firm with several locations throughout Phoenix Arizona. Sergio sits down with show host Jhae Pfenning to discuss the parallels of the Gwyneth Paltrow skiing case, and how those same factors are common in court cases with vehicular and other personal injury litigations. Sergio also shares what his life was like growing up and some of the differences between different types of attorneys. Hear Sergio's shocking truth about attorneys in the new Perception vs Reality segment.
ELG Accident Attorneys contact information:
Website: www.elgphx.com
Instagram: instagram.com/elg_phx/
Contact Hard Parking with Jhae Pfenning:
email: [email protected]
Website: www.Hardparkingpod.com
Become a supporter: www.patreon.com/hardparkingpodcast/
Instagram: instagram.com/jhaepfenning/
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Technical
Too Afraid to Ask
Car
Volkswagen Scirocco
"...d I ever since then I've had, it was a Volkswagen Scirocco that Electronics, bad breaks, bad, everything, ba..."
Car
Datsun 240Z
"...one when day, A I switched over and bought a 1973 240Z and I swapped out the carbs but some Weber's in t..."
Car
Porsche 918 Spyder
"...ring. Like that's new and less. You got a Porsche 918, not to get to car techie, but having owned the c..."
Car
Honda NSX
"...nly take it out on Sundays and when I get into my NSX, it's a freakin Honda, you know, I could drive it..."
Car
Lexus LFA
"...ss the a predator sometimes it seen that way. The LFA of course, you know, that's a phenomenal car is j..."
Select text to request an explanation
This is our parking brought to you by right hunting, right?
Toyota out of Scottsdale. Arizona.
As always I'm your host Jay quitting recording from my home office in Gilbert, Arizona coming up on today's show so he o escamilla came in studio is a personal injury lawyer.
This one thing about this, Cast is I bring people sometimes in around the car community and as I said on the last episode, sometimes it's difficult to describe.
What this podcast is is the non-automotive automotive podcast. So if it's your first time
listening, go ahead, hit subscribe, follow whatever it is. You have to hit because you're
going to enjoy the journey. But you know, the cars the cars
bring us together, but we don't just talk cars, so I get to learn about him. I get to learn where he's from,
how you grew up. Why he chose to become an
attorney? And then we talk about cars as
well a little bit incredible conversation had a good time.
So coming up after this short message from four-wheel online so he o escamilla j fitting here.
I want to tell you guys about for online for over a decade for all lines for bringing the best truck accessories and truck parts to enhance the appearance and performance of all.
Trucks and SUVs are dedicated to providing an extensive range of upgrades that will match any make or model.
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long line, or call them it. A one three, seven six, nine
two, four, five one. Again, that's four wheel online.
The number four wheel online. Sergio escamilla in studio.
Finally, Welcome to Hard parking.
I'm glad you're here today, we're going to talk about the Gwyneth Paltrow case, which I completely forgot about to you reminded me a couple weeks ago and kind of your journey.
First off. Welcome.
Thank you. So pleasure being here and just
admiring your studio. Very nice.
Thank you. I appreciate it.
I love it. When someone local wants to come
and Studio it, they people want. People want to be invited, they
don't want to volunteer, right? So you kind of volunteer for
both to talk about and so we're going to talk about what you do and but first question I have for you is talk to me about your car, talk to me about cars, like why are you interested in cars?
You know what your car story I guess.
Yeah. I think when I was 5 years old,
I got myself into cars when everybody was reading books.
I was looking at picture books of cars.
So cars was my thing. Since I was a little kid and I
enjoy them. Every car I've had, I've
modified I'd, you know, whatever car can afford.
I think, the first car I purchased I pushed it more than I drove it, unfortunately. That's how I learned about the
mechanics, right, and nothing against the, the German folks, but it was a German car. And I ever since then I've had,
it was a Volkswagen Scirocco that Electronics, bad breaks, bad, everything, bad suspension. So I got my hands dirty.
I was dirt poor, so I couldn't afford a mechanic so I had to figure out myself and it taught me a lot about cars and then one when day, A I switched over and bought a 1973 240Z and I swapped out the carbs but some Weber's in there and it rents so nice.
I never had to push that car was just an amazing car and that kind of led me on to the JDM products and ever since then I've owned a ton of JDM Cars and I appreciate the reliability.
And especially now being an attorney have to get from point A to point B flawlessly. So I like the reliability.
Where are you from? Originally from La.
My parents are immigrants from Mexico.
We lived in Hawaii, New Mexico for about four years before we moved over permanently to La. My first language was Spanish.
I remember going to kindergarten for the first time and my only exposure to English was cartoons back.
Then we couldn't change the language on TV, so it was only English. And I was so impressed by the
kindergarten kids because they spoke the TV language.
The cartoon language, Yeah, the TV language.
Yeah. So I was like, what is this and
where do they learn it? So yeah, well as your cartoon.
Oh man, back then. There was just you know, all the
Looney Tunes you know Fred Flintstone's the typical stuff back then. Yeah so that's interesting.
Life is different. I mean I don't want to say I'm
old but I'm old enough to know that first thing you do on Saturday mornings. You get up, you turn on the TV,
right? I mean, I don't even know if
they have Saturday morning cartoons anymore because we live in a Netflix world. We live on an iPad world.
YouTube YouTube and yes, the kids are.
That's all they care about, man. That's why I don't know.
What do they dream about? Where they aspire to have
because we can go back and say, okay, we were kids.
Everything wasn't as accessible as it is now.
So when you see that car or you see that car poster?
Mmm. You know you just you can't live
without it. You think about it all the time.
You can't just open up a device and look at it or go somewhere in watch videos of it. Yeah.
And that's true. That's true reminds me of when I
first saw the NSA Sex in high school or shortly after high school and my heart raced and I couldn't afford it.
But I knew that was beautiful car.
I'm staring at it right behind you and I'm a bit jealous.
Well known that car. The Macross one.
Yes. So when did you see your first
in a sex? Because you have one now and I
do yeah it's a 2nd gen it's a 2021.
I've always been a fan and as soon as a cure was promoting the New Gen again, my heart raced and Problem was the price when I think at the price point, they planned about 90,000 of the first advertisement in the first kind of rumors you here.
I'm like, okay, I'm in then I heard a buck ten like, okay, I can do that. They started getting up to book
25 and then, you know, we ended up wrexham ately around 160 170 and I said, I'm out and I ended up buying a Lexus RC F, and I enjoyed that car. Nice V8, naturally, aspirated,
that was fun. But later, I still had my own
NSX. Yeah.
Why the NSX? Because a lot of you have it's
an understood car, right? And when the reviews came out in
2017, a lot of people trash it, I would argue that because they didn't know how to drive it because that torque steering torque vectoring. Like that's new and less.
You got a Porsche 918, not to get to car techie, but having owned the car, like, you have and you've done stuff to it.
You know, why do you love the car so much?
Oh man, it's just incredibly reliable.
Use it as a daily. It could be Tuesday and I'm
driving it, or Thursday again. I appreciate all types of cars,
European supercars, beautiful cars.
But some of the folks that I talked to, they only take it out on Sundays and when I get into my NSX, it's a freakin Honda, you know, I could drive it anywhere anytime and it's very comfortable has all the Creature Comforts.
So it's a fun car. It gives me the power.
A fun experience. The reliability where I can
drive it every day. So I really appreciate that
component. Makes it fun.
You really busy. You have a couple different
things that you do. Probably not going to see you as
much on a car cruise or cars & Coffee and that's okay.
Have you ever been into those things or you just kind of one of the guys who likes enjoying your car and just like doing stuff and kind of separating yourself from the air quotes car culture? No no I appreciate the car
culture. And I have to hand, pick a
couple events to participate in. I also have a family and then I
work hard during the week and I own a couple businesses EOG accident attorneys here in Phoenix area.
In the Metro Phoenix area is one of them we have three offices throughout the valley so that kind of keeps me busy.
I supervise attorneys and whatnot.
So it's very challenging for me to tell my family and my girls I've been working hard all week and on the weekend.
See, I'm at a here. So, right.
That's why I have to hand pick. Take a few events and I'll show
up here and there, I love the car Community, the support has been overwhelming, Jay. You were gracious enough to be
at our grand opening for EOG, central office on Camelback, in seventh street. And you saw the support.
We got we had a lot of awesome. Yeah, we it was awesome very
family feeling. Oh thank you so much, I
appreciate that. It was designed that way and the
support we got from the car Community.
As soon as I picked up the phone.
I mean, you said, I think I have something going on.
Let me see if I could change it. You did.
You were there, Jeff bands. Another NSX owner.
He said I'll be there and I'm bringing a couple friends if you don't mind. Absolutely not.
So we had a great support and participation from the car community and I love everybody there.
What's a car that you've always wanted, that you haven't picked up and I would say, haven't couldn't afford because we couldn't afford shit, I'm the day.
Mmm. But what's a car that seems
unobtainium to you? Being a JDM guy.
I mean, I guess the a predator sometimes it seen that way.
The LFA of course, you know, that's a phenomenal car is just a little gonna kind of blew up here and pricing because there are so few of them. So you're going to have to spend
a million dollars or more, right?
It gets to that Stratosphere door.
It's like, even if I could, I probably wouldn't.
Yeah, I know and it's hard when you remember, when what it used to be. Yeah, you know, it's like the
first gen NSX people. Hit me up and I go hey should I
buy this one? It's a great deal, it's sixty
thousand dollars. It's got 150,000 miles on it.
So 92, I go. It's I said no I wouldn't
personally I wouldn't pay more than you know, 38 for it because I know what it's worth. Right.
Are just like yeah. And the other thing I enjoy is
driving. My car is I right, I buy him to
drive them not necessarily to park them.
So I like to enjoy them. And if you have a vehicle like
an elephant, it's going to end up in a little Museum or garage, right? You can't.
We put miles on them. So that Parts tricky.
Not a lot of them. Something happens to it.
It's all she wrote. I mean even your in a sex is
less than 3,000 of those. Mmm, that's true.
Yeah, so I've told people I'm kind of a little scared drive, my car a lot. Now you know, where is the old
one? It's like I had 130,000 miles on
it. It's a 97.
You know. Insurance doesn't cost.
Anything registration doesn't cost.
Anything parts are relatively plentiful?
Yeah. Because of vehicles been around
for you know 30 years Ears, you know, 31 32 years, as of 23, but you get into those next level like you're in C1 my nc-1.
It's just, it's harder. It's like more challenged me.
Let me find something else. You're absolutely right.
That's what's fun about the first gen is you can drive in put all kinds of miles. You want on it because at the
end of the day, you can just pop another engine in it and you're fine and you're starting over the Dominator starts over, so that makes it fun. Let's talk about this, this
Gwyneth Paltrow thing, and how it ties into what you do, your first. I have a cannot forget all that.
I have. I have some questions for you
regarding, what you do for profession, shoot.
So I'm in healthcare it. People hear that and they go,
oh, you know, you're not, that's not going anywhere.
You must be super smart. What do I do?
If my mouse doesn't work, you know, it's like, well, we're not all the same and I would imagine in the field that you're in, everyone assumes. You're all the same.
That's true. Know how.
He different disciplines really are there and there's probably fundamental that are the same. But once you start getting to
the advanced stages of the professional, what you do, you know what are some of the big misconceptions out there?
Well, one thing that's kind of misconstrued is that the attorney does all kinds of cases.
And in today's world, you really want to limit your your practice to a particular area because areas of law changed so much almost. Weekly almost monthly sometimes
it's day by day. We develop new strategies, I'm
in personal injury and that field, you know, there's new case law. There's new strategies, there's
new lien law that we have to be on top of.
So I really recommend folks, look for when they need an attorney, make sure you get somebody who's kind of in their Lane and not necessarily doing a little bit of everything.
There's, there's firms that if they do bankruptcy criminal family, Pi immigration. So when I get a call, I try to
refer people to a farm it out to someone who's in that area law that they need. But I don't try to take
everything, we just focus exclusively on personal injury because it changes so much. And that's a misconception.
I get calls from from family or friends.
And I'm like, I don't do contract law, I don't do criminal, I don't do family law, it's not that, I don't want to help. It's just, I'm not your right
resource, because I don't engage in that area every day, so that's something that's kind of a misconception out there that we know the law and every, every lane we drink.
Yeah, and then accident, right? I mean, my thought is okay.
You have a nice car, your do accident stuff right here, an accident attorney. That's right.
And then, I think the thought is, oh, car accident.
But it's not just car car, wrecks, and is it everything?
Yeah, when it comes to injured on the job, you know, some Our stuff. Like what all?
Yeah, accidents involve injuries.
So we focus is focus. Mostly is on the injury, the
car. It hurts me to say.
This is a car guy, but it's kind of insignificant because it's very resolvable a car has a fair market value, and you can hire 100 attorneys and that's not going to fluctuate very much.
So you get paid out on the car. Pretty easily, pretty fairly,
that's generally not now. No problem where we get involved
is when someone's injured, because of course, insurance companies, don't want to take the blame, you know, they want to blame something else and that's kind of where the, the Gwyneth Paltrow case here, connects with the car Community because of the liability, there's something in law called comparative negligence, and people don't know a lot about it. So I did want to educate maybe
your audience a little bit as to comparative negligence as well.
That's kind of what the jury. I was asked to resolve in the
Gwyneth Paltrow case and it's invariably important in car cases, as well. So, before we go on to this wine
attorney, when did you decide? This is what you wanted to do?
Oh, that's a good question. I guess part of it was growing
up and seeing how sometimes my parents were taken advantage of?
Because they're immigrants and whatnot.
There's that part. And then I grew up in a
not-so-good neighborhood. We had a helicopter Copter
assign to our neighborhood. We were patrolled by the Rampart
Division and LAPD which had its own issues later.
We found out and it was just a tough challenging neighborhood and I guess you weren't supposed to go to school.
That's at least. That's what I thought.
You know, you're just supposed to out there.
Get out there and hustle and whatnot.
So, at some point I figured out well, you know, that that's kind of a ticket out and stayed away from issues and was able to Graduate from a university. I went to Cal State Northridge
out in San Fernando Valley and once I was ready to graduate and I said why can't I take it to the next level?
And sometimes people say doctors and attorneys and I didn't have the science background to be a doctor.
I don't know if I could have been successful there but I started researching the attorney part and I said, I said, I could do this. Why can't I do this?
And then just started focusing on that.
And by some Stroke of Luck, got accepted to Leo.
Marymount law school in Los Angeles, graduated practiced in California. Did some work out there in
criminal family and then moved to Arizona and started doing personal injury, I didn't enjoy the other areas of law.
But when I found personal injury, I really enjoyed helping people and it was very rewarding, telling somebody you don't have to pay me. I'll be your attorney today.
And in fact, if I don't win your case, I don't get anything.
So let me hustle on your case. When your case, And then, you
know, once we get paid by an insurance company, all our cases are in contingency. I've never had a client, have to
write me a check, which is beautiful.
So, when I tell my accident victims, like, I'll represent you today. And at the end, I'll give you a
check. You know, that, that was
rewarding to me. That's nice.
Actually, I don't know. How is that common sort of, or
not that common, or yeah, it's pretty common in personal injury and that's why that's what really attracted me to it.
The Element, that's not common. Nowadays is the customer
service, and I really focus on customer service.
I really like talking to people and I enjoy that.
I train all our attorneys personally and the same and modern personal injury, law, firms.
All these guys that you see on every other exit on a billboard, they have What's called the intake specialist that actually take your case. They'll talk to you.
J and say hey what happened? And there was basically sign you
up. And you never really had time to
ask questions to an attorney. And to me that that seemed kind
of hurtful because at the end of the case, the client pays, an attorney fee, not an intake specialist fee.
Right? Right.
So they should have access to an attorney.
So, with distinguishes, our firm is we always are there for the client day, one. That's the most important day.
That's when you have the most important facts.
You can answer the clients questions.
They're scared. They're in pain sometimes.
And so we're there to guide them and the way I see it is if the attorney doesn't have that time to sit down with you and learn, get to know you learn your case. The first day, maybe that
attorney doesn't have time to work on your file.
That's the way I see it. How hard is it?
So, I would, I can only imagine this happens.
How hard is it to tell someone that their case is really isn't a case? It's challenging that happens
frequently because sometimes I look at the fact pattern and I have to tell him, well actually, it's your fault.
And you know at that point they need their insurance to protect them because they need defense attorney.
What I do is I prosecute civilly okay.
Yeah. And what I have to, you know,
kind of redirect them to call their insurance company.
That's why we pay insurance. I pay insurance to, and they'll
provide me with an attorney, even though I am a lawyer, because our kind of prepaid for that, in case there's that scenario. But it's a difficult
conversation to have, nobody wants to be told.
Well, you know, really plainly. It's your fault.
Right. But I do, I'm very Frank with my
customers because, you know, have to share that with them and the way it turns out, most of the time they're very appreciative because maybe there's a component, they didn't know. So I explain the law to them
explain maybe statutes the way the accident occurred.
And, you know what Jay? We do talk to those folks and
explain it to them, and I've gotten some amazing referrals.
They just remember that conversation, honesty, honesty, and, and And I was there, I was there as an attorney talking to them in the conference room or on the phone whatever it is, they appreciate that. They remember that and sometimes
I'm like their attorney for life and they trust us they refer friends and family and at the very least they know whoever they refer, they're going to get an honest assessment.
There's not a layer in the middle of decision-making Prosecuting versus defense is your profession.
One or the other I represent the plaintiff.
Basically I'm a plaintiff's attorney, right?
And then the other side of the aisle, there's defense attorneys that primarily work for the insurance companies and they try to break down that the victims case and say, oh, you are already injured, we didn't cause that it wasn't really our fault.
There's a comparative liability scenario.
So you weren't wearing your seatbelt, you know.
Well, that's what I mean. So, like this month you wouldn't
be on the prosecution and next month, you'd be on the defense.
That's correct. Jake, I exclusively work.
On plaintiffs cases. So all the victims all the
plaintiffs are my clients. I don't work for the insurance
companies. Yeah, going back to kind of your
Beginnings in kind of seeing that, you know, there's a better way, there's a way out there's a future to make your life and your parents life and the people around your life better.
How difficult was that in? That kind of environment.
You know, did you have to Shield yourself from people or people messing with you calling you names, you know, did you just not go out anymore? Was it tough to go back home?
Well, growing up, it was challenging, you know, it's a lot, the body of the, the ghetto, basically.
And what I did is, I kind of had a mouthpiece.
So I would talk to everybody and make friends with everybody.
So, sometimes, they'll be gangs on both sides and I talked to Everybody. I try not to have any enemies
and that kind of helped me be able to walk the streets and they debate. Yeah, there was a sleeve sleeve
surgery although he's you know, he's cool but it's not no it's not messing with him, he's cool, he's not threatening you know, so I just try to make friends so that that really kind of kept me moving. Now the challenging part was
given that background, then going into the professional environment. For example, when I went to law
school, I remember the introductions.
And I went, you know, you would have Introduce themselves where they went to school and their names and where they're from and Loyola Law School. Oddly enough is is in the
ghetto. It's in the Pico Union district
of Lan. The campus is designed by Frank
gehry. Designed the Disney Concert
Hall. The Guggenheim Museum,
world-famous architect. So the beautiful facility but
it's kind of like a fortress. There's only one way in security
have to show your card and what not?
And when we would go there I can walk around the neighborhood because That was my hood. You know, I was comfortable with
it. When people would only eat at
the cafeteria or or have to bring their lunch.
I'm like, see you guys. I'm gonna get tacos around the
corner. You want to join me.
It's my hood. So that that was kind of
different, but introductions were challenging to it.
Felt like we were kind of looked down upon, because I remember the introductions we would go like, hey, where are you from?
I went to Duke. You know, I went to this Ivy
League school, I went to Stanford.
I went to UCLA SC, Etc. Better, where'd you go else to
Northridge, but the thing that made me proud and I could hold my head up high is because I took the seat right next to you so that we kind of tied up the match their.
So when you get out of there like you graduate, you know, from law school, how does that work was, I'm completely ignorant person. I'm just a civilian, right?
Do you go to work for another firm to you?
You know, get your creds and then you Branch off and start your own thing. Like, how does that whole part
here? Smart, dude.
Jay I wouldn't, I wouldn't say that.
But yeah, there's a hundred different ways to handle it.
There's no one perfect formula. I at first, I thought I was
going to go work for the District Attorney's office.
I didn't make externship there especially being bilingual is a big asset, I ended up doing an externship at the East, Los Angeles, District Attorney's, branch office there.
So I kind of thought I was going to go that route but when I graduated, I actually, because of the court experience I received during Externship. I felt very uncomfortable, very
comfortable in court already. So I said, oh, just going to
open up my own firm and I know how to do criminal.
I had done another month summer during summer school, a stint at another firm where I literally learned some family law.
So I did, I already knew family law and I had learned courtroom work in criminal law. So I did family and Criminal on
my own being bilingual. I had a lot of clients of
course, and I was pretty good at it.
I just the problem was, I didn't enjoy it like family life felt like dr. Phil, 80% of the time and an
attorney 20% of the time, it was, it was rough on me and criminal, I was in court, it was quite intense, so I was always in court. So I would start my day at 3:00
at my office. Imagine seeing clients then
returning phone calls returning. Emails signing up new clients
and preparing the course the case work for the next day it was pretty challenging so I would get out pretty late at night. So when I moved to Arizona I
said I'm gonna Look at different things.
Hmm to do? Yeah.
Did you watch you seem? He's kind of smile and across
here because I guess I'm kind of listening to your experiences and wondering, especially because you want, you thought you'd go and work for the DEA. I can imagine myself in that
shoes, like hell yeah, I'm gonna be, you know, maybe one of those DEA guys are going TV, did you watch it?
A lot of the shows? Sure.
And it looked pretty cool and they give you a badge and they give you a gun and right man, that's cool.
And in my neighborhoods like, wow, I get to be someone so that kind of That kind of sounded fun and at the end of the day, is just a personal decision. I'm like, I don't need that.
I'm gonna I'm gonna do this on my own buddy so I went out and we were shows, oh, back then. Of course I mean, don't don't of
course. Absolutely.
That was fun. I mean, that's that's clone
order and Law and Order preeminent da show.
And you know, the investigating part was fun.
The funny thing is, it's always resolved in an hour and those cases, I mean, they take years, so So they tied up in a nice bow for you and wrap it up. And here's your presence.
Like what that doesn't happen that way so that part is, you know, kind of learning what I did in my externship law.
School was like well, it's kind of unbelievable at this point, but but they're still fun to watch.
Yeah. Are there the times when the
judge calls for recess? Because I, I've sat on a Case
before the jury duty for a couple weeks, but other than that, my only exposure like most of us is through TV and these shows that are great. Kind of fact and a lot of
friction during that break or you ever grabbing coffee and talking to the guy or gal on the other side and then you have to go back in the room and battle it out.
Yeah, most Journeys are very Pro, so we can actually Converse. And how's the family or, you
know, huh, how's NSX? You know, we can have those
conversations on the side and we know it's not personal and we go back in and do our job for the most part.
I find that I like that. It's pretty nice.
I think modern attorneys. Cognise that some of the older
School attorneys. They I think they're still
hooked on the movies and they think everything has to be antagonistic and we do we have to protect our clients right aggressively of course in court. That's our job, but once we step
out of that box, you know, I can shake your hand.
Right. We most attorneys do understand
that. So it's kind of a fraternity
because at the end of day it's just you guys.
Yeah, right. That's that's pretty cool.
So you said that You know, it's everything gets wrapped up in an hour on a TV show, right? Even if it's a long case, as
spins that extends to the next episode or continuation crossover. But yeah, it's still wrapped up
pretty quickly. But this, you know, bringing us
before Circle. This going to the Paltrow thing.
When you brought this up to me a couple weeks ago, I was like, now, I don't really pay attention to what's going on.
It's happen in 2016. This is 2,023 at the end of
March, which is a few weeks ago, it just got wrapped up.
It just got wrapped up, that's not an hour, that's not enough.
It's like three hours. Nope.
That's that's several seasons. I know.
And, for example, I just had a conversation with a client yesterday and I explained to him.
My goal is to settle your case out, and quite frankly about 95% of my cases will resolve in settlement negotiations without actually having to file. But he was asking about
litigation, and I was trying to explain, I'm trying to steer you for your own good. Even if you're my brother, my
cousin, my next door neighbor, I'm going to give you the same advice, and my advice is, let's do it.
Our best to keep you out of litigation and get you a maximize a settlement for you. Because I was explaining pre
covid. Courts were slow.
They were very slow post covid, they're super slow.
So right, I was trying to explain to him.
If we go the litigation route, you're talking about two to three years before any things resolved and and sometimes, you know, again just being frank with our with our clients and explaining that changes thing. So he appreciated that How long
did it take you to get used to doing what you do?
Are to imagine the first time first few times a little unnerving. Sure.
Yeah. I was learning my craft.
So yeah, the first few times was a little unnerving and asking a lot of questions and trying to be nosy and call up people.
I'm not shy. So I'll reach out and ask.
But once I started doing, and you see the same fact, patterns, you become comfortable in. I mean, To date.
I've done thousands of cases. I can't even count them or yeah.
So I've seen so many fact patterns like I'm very comfortable in my skin and I can guide, you know, any client with their questions. So that part feels pretty
rewarding. Again, as the owner of the law,
firm are the founding member owner.
I have to focus a lot on stuff like this and management administrative but the attorneys that work for me I look at them and say you know you Know how lucky you are.
You get to talk to everybody? You get to be in that conference
room. You get to deploy the strategies
to me. That's the fun part.
Yeah, so now it's to the point where it's fun, what percentage of, would you say of the stuff that your firm handles gets handled without having to actually go to court about 95%.
Yeah, about 95%, we do what's called pre-litigation work.
So we set up the foundation for the case or to police reports, photos Medical Records. Anything we need to prove up the
case and we try to do. That's why I like to be on the
case early. Sometimes people call me way at
the end of the case and there's only so much I can do my anime, my hands are kind of handcuffs because some mistakes have been made or the case wasn't set up properly.
So it's better to get on the case early set that strong foundation. And then what I do, is back the
insurance company into a corner where I know the value of the case. And they can't, you know, they
can't fool me. I've been doing this for so long
so I tell them hey here's here's the value.
Why are you going to pay your attorneys?
Twenty thousand dollars to take this to court plus, pay me, the value of the case, let's resolve something today.
And for the most part about 95% I would say about 95% of time, they agree with me and we're able to resolve it.
Now, those that maybe they're denying liability, or they have their same, you know, my clients really not hurt, even though I have records Expert to back it up and doctors and then I just go, go go file on them. Sometimes they make me lowball
offers, so that does happen and I try to talk to them and at least ask him, hey, what's going on?
And once I figure out there just playing games at that point, we have a good reputation here in the valley so most insurance companies know us. But if it's a off adjuster or an
off company, I just tell them. Yeah, of course, with the
permission of my client, we're Not going to counteroffer my counteroffer is a lawsuit. So just tell your guy.
We're going to have to see them here and expect service.
So that's how we handle those scenarios.
So let's get to those. Terry Sanderson is the guy who
tried to sue Gwyneth Paltrow the actress, over a skiing accident that happened in 2016. I don't know much about the case
from what I read, it's kind of a, he said she said he said that she ran into him and she said that he ran into her right?
And she asked for a dollar. Yes.
If she were to win, she was awarded, you know, no liability.
And so she was awarded her dollar.
It's saying that he could be on the hook for three hundred thousand dollars worth of ease and up to a million dollars.
What happened in this case, and how does it kind of relate to Everyday Life? Well, this is what we call in
law school. We study torts, this is what's
called it for it and a tort basically is T or t?
Yeah. T or t tortoise?
Yeah I remember the first day we discovered that we're like hey that's a torto the umbrella fell that's a tour.
Oh we didn't know that we didn't know the vernacular back then so we were so excited but it that that's the technical name and that's what we study in law school.
When you hear like personal injury or that kind of law falls under tort law, the umbrella of tort law and tort is basically an act or an Omission that gives rise to a Injury.
So if somebody injures you like, for example, I have every right to wave my hand, but I can't waive it by your face and hit you. I mean, then I committed a tort
could be a crime to. But, you know, you can't hurt
someone by again an act or omitting to do something.
Same thing with a car accident, I have to break, right?
I can't hit the guy in front of me as soon as I don't break and hit slam into him. I committed a tort and I guess
another, a Layman's Word for tort is like negligence you're negligent for something and there's there's for he elements to negligent. You owe somebody a Duty or Duty
not to do something and then you breached that Duty, somebody breach the defendant breaches that Duty and then you have someone who's actually injured we call that damages or has to be damages. And then we have to link the the
cause you have to have causation.
You have to have caused at the once you have those four elements in this case, Mr. Sanderson was saying Miss
Paltrow. You hit me.
You were responsible for this. And you're right it.
This case turned out to be a. He said, she said scenario.
But at the end, the judge asked the jury.
They give the jury instructions to make a ruling or decision and they ask the jury is when, if 100% responsible 0% or is mr.
Sanderson responsible for the accident?
Or is there a combination? Great.
That's what we call comparative liability and that comes into play. It did result where the jury
found that is Paltrow. They believe her story and she
had a lot of evidence that showed it and I guess she was skiing and the guy hit her. So they found him 100% at fault
even though he was the plaintiff, he was saying she hit me. I think the jury did a great job
sifting through the evidence and listening to the testimony.
I know he the mr. Terry Sanderson the plaintiff
here, you had one witness that basically said that he saw that she hit him but during his testimony and I'm glad the jury did not, you know take a breather or kind of ignore this but one thing that he said that was very important and I think the case turned on it was eat at some point.
He testified that he heard the crash and then turn around which calls into question. How did you see it if you heard
it first and then turn around, so So I think that was key, and they came back with a ruling that Gwyneth had 0% liability, and he was found a hundred percent at fault the way it kind of ties into the, the car situation to is a lot of people don't know this, but Arizona, I'm licensed in California.
California is the same. We carry comparative liability
laws, so there can be an assessment even though you think the accident, 100% The other person's fault, it could turn out to be 75 25 and that that's a possibility to deter turn out to be 50/50. For example, here in Arizona,
the left hand, Turner has a big burden, they have the onus to make sure that no traffic is coming.
An excuse can't be. Oh, well, the traffic light
turned yellow. I saw you coming, but it was
yellow. It's my turn.
So I'm going to make my left hand turn.
Now, when those Vehicles touch, they're always going to blame the lift and Turner we have a statute in place that the base Basically says that, however, if the person going straight, that didn't cause the accident, let's say they were speeding, I've had those types of cases where we had to hire an engineer to get the data from the car as like, oh well you were speeding, buddy. They wanted to catch that light
before it. Exactly, so we can assess.
Well, you were 20% liable. You were 30% liable.
So, in this scenario, the jury came back and said no, there was no comparative. It's 100% on one person but with
We have to be careful to and keep that in mind.
That's why, you know, you have to be mindful of your speed and mindful of the rules. Do you see a lot of fraudulent
claims that all parties are involved?
Yeah, sometimes well, I don't see it.
So much on happen, it happens. Yeah, absolutely.
And every now and again I'll get a funky case pattern and that's that's a nice day. A I decide what cases I want to
take. I don't really have to take a
case. There's no rule that says I have
to take the case because I spoke to you.
So I've had some questionable back patterns or yeah, things come up. That kind of make you question
and when that comes up, yeah, we're not shy, we just will take a big pass. Obviously, we run a clean shop,
right? And we want to help people that
really need the help your reputation.
Everything hell. Yeah.
Right absolutely. I'd imagine one or two bad
things could take a while to recover from.
Yeah, exactly, exactly. And it's kind of like taking a
pillow to a tall building and letting all the feathers go out and that's your reputation you know, once it goes out it's hard to collect it back. So that's very important
reputation is Big. We're very professional
obviously with our clients but also to me, it's very important to be professional with the other side as well.
Perception versus reality. This is something that I've
started asking professionals, who have sat in front of me, who get to deal with this people's perception of what you do versus the reality of what you do and it could be personal or professional. Like, for example early, I'm
like, oh well, all attorneys. Chase ambulances.
Yeah. You know they're greasy we're as
you work hard for the person so it's a let's say a perception versus reality. Well, I wow the The perception
is in personal injury. I mean, I'll speak to what I
know about right. Obviously, is that the attorneys
see clients as just money signs? And mmm.
Reality is, it happens? It happens quite a bit.
We're just talking about reputation in for me.
I want to see if I can help first.
I don't even worry about the, there's been cases where I reduce my fee sometimes instead of the traditional 33.
And a third, I reduce it to 20% I reduced it to 15%, sometimes even waive the fee, depending on the on the fact pattern.
So to me I mean that that that's full service and and I do it.
Of course I go bankrupt. If I didn't know all my cases I
can't do that. And I have to clean my teeth TV
person. Yeah, exactly.
Exactly. You have to pay your staff, have
to pay your rent or whatever. It is our computer platforms and
whatnot. Etc.
So you do it, when it's obviously the case calls for it and you can really go in and help someone.
And as I said earlier, sometimes those decisions maybe I make a few bucks less and it doesn't bother me because I sleep well, at night and that person just becomes a giant megaphone and they start telling everybody about how wonderful your services are. And my wife just reminded me
this This when I was in LA, I knew nothing about landlord tenant law, but I had a Rosy Glow.
My God. Yeah, don't call me an ass.
He asked me to help write and learn where to, I don't know my worst. Yeah, back then, I had a little
bit more free time to do some research and older lady came into my office. I don't even know how she found
me. I was like on the 12th floor of
a building and she walked in and had all these questions and I told her I would do my best to help her and I wrote a letter to her landlord and I think we got the issue resolved for her.
And of course, she's like I don't have any money, but I'll pay you make payments and and I waive the fee.
I said, no, no, thank you, we're good.
I just, I was just trying to help you, ma'am.
I just being respectful of her and maybe about two weeks later, a young lady walks in and brings me a blue Tiffany's box and Was a silver Tiffany's. It turned out to be a cardholder
and it was the daughter the daughter of the lady.
I was like wow that's really sweet I wasn't right doing it for that. I wasn't trying to get a nice
Tiffany's product out of it. But what's your address?
All right, a couple letters for exactly.
Exactly. Sometimes you have to do those
things and the reality is that not a lot of us do that sometimes. So it's something to be mindful
about. So you said back when you used
to have the time, you don't probably don't have a lot of time. Now, what do you do when you
have the time? Oh well, what do you do for fun?
What is your guilty pleasure? Okay, I used to play golf quite
a bit. I'm a hack not good but I did
enjoy it but once you have kids going back to a point I covered earlier I can't say well I worked hard all week.
I didn't see you guys. I'm out of here for a full day
daddy time, you know. So I kind of stopped playing but
a couple Couple weeks ago, my girls do have clubs and we went out on the golf course and man, that was so fun playing golf with them, teaching them. It wasn't competitive in any way
was just having a good time with my girl.
So so that to me, that's quality time.
It's just fun time and I don't ever want my daughters to say, my my dad was super successful. You know.
He was good. He smart, dude, he owned a law
firm but I never saw. Guys, I don't want my daughters
to be those kids so that to me I guess is my guilty prep pleasure, right now, that they're willing to spend time with me and staying out because he gets to a point.
There's those years I think we were all been in those years where it's like all right I don't even want to be seen with you. Yeah you know Marcelo and my
wife or some ourselves, my son, you know he was really all about her until we got to a certain age and it's like Mom can you drop me off here on the corner for the school type of deal, you know? And it broke her heart but I'm
like that's just how kids can Can be sometimes.
So your wife and daughters your job daughters?
Yes, two daughters. And I'm getting to that point
Jay. I'm getting to that point
because they're 15 and 16. So yeah.
So yeah, that happens sometimes. Yeah, so they're gone for the
weekend. What are you doing?
Oh man. Like right now, I'm I was at the
Clipper son's game. Nice.
Don't hate at me. Don't, don't hate me.
I've been a Clippers fan since probably from a lake.
Yeah, from Harry. You can be a Clippers fan at a
Lakers fan all my, when I live, In La, I was already a Clippers fan since 2000. I think it.
When I converted and converted it wasn't.
They were a doormat for the NBA everybody.
Stop their wine and took the win and left but they did have a lot of energy and there were a fun team and and back then you know just kind of starting as a lawyer man.
I could afford great seats again for great seats for the Lakers, that's for sure. Alright, so I've kind of became
a fan and I'm very loyal. So once I started in that route,
Out all my friends from l.a. would Razz me because, you know,
99 out of 100 people back then were Laker fans.
So I got razzed and now I called him is like, man, you guys haven't won a game against this in a while, right?
So as soon as Clippers lagers text, go out payments, come in, come this way to me all the bets we cash in, so it's fun.
So I love the son's when the suns are playing always rooting for them. When they play the Clippers, and
who do we get in the playoffs, the Clippers.
So that was tight. Honestly, I thought we would see
a lot of clipper t-shirts and jerseys in the arena.
My wife got a little intimidated now.
There was none, really, it was a half, we must have counted ten in the whole Arena. So at one point surprise being
so close. I know, I know especially with
all the California people, right.
That are here. Now I thought there would be
more at one point. She's like should I get a
jacket? I need to cover it up.
She's getting a little intimidated and I told her.
Okay, I'm I'm an underdog guy, so I'm always rooting for the underdog and I'm proud plus, you're in Phoenix, you're not in Chicago? Yes, you're not in Philly,
you're not where the fans are really bad.
Exactly, you know, I don't know if basketball is as bad as some of the other sports, but, you know, come football season.
You start seeing fist fights in the stands and stuff like that.
It's just like the weirdest thing.
Yeah, it's unfortunate because it's at the end of the game.
At the end of the day, it's a game and, you know, you enjoyed this I was going to be a winner and a loser and Some teams are going to be better, but I remember growing up in La, I never became a Raiders fan for that reason back when they were at the Coliseum, the early days beer bottles would be flying and unfortunate stuff. So it just got to the point
where a number one. I hated the team and number two,
I would never enjoy a football game.
You couldn't go in person because of the, you know, the bullying that went on with the fans and the fights and it wasn't rare to see knives and whatnot back.
Then, now, before metal detectors out, You think coming where you've come from growing up going through everything, you've gone through how great did it feel?
Or does it feel when you're able to finally afford those seats?
Well, I'm looking to my left and I have a Starbucks cup and to me, well, you must be doing. All right, I'm rolling Lola.
I'm balling. I love Starbucks.
So I remember when I was at Cal State Northridge, I would pick a day I like on Wednesday. I'm going to get one coffee.
Yeah. And you know, you're starving
student. So I really appreciate, you
know, the downside being hardened out and not having the wherewithal to get a taco, you know, I remember those days.
So, Appreciate it very much. I don't put my seats on
Instagram. I'm not posting like look where
I'm sitting and look where you're right.
I never do any of that. I just enjoy it.
Appreciate it and I'm thankful, you sound like you're very mindful of public perception but you kind of I knew I feel like you kind of have to be. Hmm.
So just to kind of you know, kind of hedge that statement.
You don't have to be, you don't have to be.
There's people that do what I do and they they kind of their the opposite and they're successful and you know it's what they enjoy and it's not who you are though.
No it's not. It's not it's not even.
Even in town. We have Billboards like
everybody else. Hmm, we don't have one at every
corner. We don't do that.
We just do it too. We don't want to pollute the
freeways, we do it to be relevant.
That's a that's it. But my Marketing Manager.
Who was here earlier when we first started.
I didn't know anything about Billboards or advertising.
That's why, you know, I hired him and he put my face on the billboard and he's like hey that's what attorneys do you have to do it so I didn't want to do it.
Yeah. But I did it and then I drove by
a couple and I felt very uncomfortable with like, wow, I don't want to see that about polluting the freeways so you call him back and go, can I take the cape off?
I did, I did. Did.
And what we did is we rebranded and now our billboard just say e OG accident attorneys, very clean, very creative, no faces, No, No mug shots, and I like it better that way.
It's not about the ego, it's not about, you know, being the best going back to the Quality, that's what I'm looking for.
And again, we just do it to stay relevant.
How much of your business do you think is referrals and word of mouth? Oh man, 90%, there you go, big
percent again, I could pull all the Billboards, all the advertising, we deliver radio little bit TV, whatever we do.
We could pull it today and I think I still be just as busy again. The idea is just stay relevant.
Some, unfortunately, some some of the advertising firms, they rely on it because it's not, it's more of a numbers game and signing up as many people as you can.
An having those intake Specialists that I spoke about earlier. And if they don't get great
results on a case, they just say, well see you later.
My phone's ringing in five minutes because I have another TV spot coming up. Yeah, so I call that kind of the
factory approach, right? Yeah.
That's not. You are you think you've you've
probably always have. You always kind of been this guy
or if you have you changed quite a bit from the 19 year, old version of yourself. I think, I think the course is
Name. Yeah, I think the core is the
same always had that wanted to help people.
And again, being the underdog, being the son of immigrants, kind of, you know, having to earn everything, I can appreciate that. You know, I slept on the living
room floor for years and years at my parents house because that's what we can afford. I couldn't get a bedroom, you
know, people walk in the door and I was like oh wait I'm sleeping right now. Get out of here right?
But um I that teaches you a lot, you know, I Don't change anything. It just it makes you who you are
and you either learn from it and grow or take it and you know use it to throw it back at people and I could never understand that. So so we'll get you out of here
on this. Last topic we had a conversation
on the phone a couple weeks ago and you like tequila I do.
Yeah. Absolutely.
What what's your go-to? There's probably I don't know if
there is one like for me there's a go to most of the other Liquors that I Like, there's not a go-to.
I just pretty much drink everything.
But what's your go-to? What do you think is actually
overrated? What's something that?
Maybe I should try. Okay.
The I know you're a Blanco represent 0 and a 0 or extra nilgai. Yeah.
Yeah. No.
I like the blanco. I like it.
Nice and clean and crisp. So Ima Blanco guy.
And I'll tell you this stay away from the celebrity Tequila's, most of those, most of those. If you there's a got the name, I
wrote it down here. That the Kela Matchmaker that.
I forget the app, there's an app called at the Kela Matchmaker.
They also have a website and you can always run a tequila through there. There's a number that's printed
on there and you can put that number in, and it will tell you the region ingredients, it'll give you ratings.
It'll give you a lot of information.
Good information about the tequila.
A lot of the celebrity Tequila's do use additives.
Mmm. And there's a lot of more
natural Tequila's without additives.
I like that less of a headache less of an issue the next day.
So they're cleaner or example, some brands that I sip them at all. They're just easy, they go down,
easy, you don't need a lime. You could throw away the line
with some of these like 42 Lessa.
Very good. Tequila very smooth for said
bottle, like it kind of has under the cap and it has almost looks like a pineapple which And oh yeah woman little basket thingy. I don't know what you're talking
about and I think I've had that downtown.
Yeah it kind of reminds me of the agave plant be harder to find. Yeah kind of the heart yes it is
hard to find. Sometimes they run out for the
price point or to articulate with you is good quality.
You don't have to spend a lot of money and it it had that to there's a place right down from your office.
We went to that has that it's a Mexican restaurant on The other side of the road on Camelback. Yes, I think it's either.
I think it's further down away from the 51 on the left side, okay? They have that ocho.
Mmm. Yeah, it's it's smooth tequila.
But for the most part, the celebrity ones.
If you look them up, they do have quite a bit of additive.
There are more expensive. So in the quality yeah some of
them and the qualities kind of not there and you might feel it the next day so be careful. Those are those are your go-to
so those are the three you like. Yeah and I mean one that
everybody seems to have only because it's so accessible and you know Patron is Easy owned by Paul Mitchell.
So you don't mind Patron II, don't mind it.
I it's I don't call it out, I don't grow it out.
It's only if the ones that if It's a limited selection.
Like I said, if you're at a place where they don't have a kind of an Eclectic bar, or a lot of Tequilas usually, they'll have that one, so it's not my go-to.
It's just like what's okay? No one's judging you.
No, I'm telling you, I'm telling the for me and they all match.
I guess it's not my go-to, I won't call it out.
If I have to take a shot I would rather just take Patron.
Yeah. Silver because it's smoother.
Yeah, it's not Jose, Cuervo Gold.
You know it's not going to put me on my butt.
Yeah I You know, I'm one of those guys.
I don't really need the lime. Everyone else grabs a lime, and
B, and lime takes a shot. I'm just like I just took the
shot. Yeah, that's when you know, it's
a good tequila to when you don't need any lime.
You don't need any salt. It just goes down, smooth.
You can take the shot, you can sip it and enjoy.
You, are you a shot or super guy?
I mostly shots. Mmm, when it comes to Tequila.
Yeah, I'll do the shots, but the thing I appreciate about Paul Mitchell, just Just I mean well Patron yeah owned by Paul Mitchell. He lived in Echo Park to which
is my old hood so he lived there in her apartment when he was a hairdresser. So I'm like man the guy from the
hood I mean he wasn't raised. That's just Paul Mitchell.
That's the same hehe. That's his Patron has his yes
and had no idea. Yeah the hair product he snuck
in very very early and Probably worth over a billion bucks because of that, say, that's got to be one of the more popular Tequila's out there and it's actually, in my opinion, not bad. Because I don't, I don't even
know if I can do I have to categorize it?
Now, as a celebrity, tequila, people ate, it's not sold as a celebrity, tequila like to Romania, whatever the rock stuff is. Yeah, we bought that because,
you know, my wife, like most women have a huge crush on him and are the Kendall Jackson or yes.
Amigos the girl. Clooney's, ya gotta be careful
with those but Paul Mitchell doesn't really associate his name though. Yeah, it's I don't, I wouldn't
classify it as a celebrity, tequila know, it's kind of behind the scenes. If you really research the
company you'll find out who the owner is well, Sergio Sergio Sergio. Nice job.
Right. Yes.
Yes, yes. Thank you for coming by.
Absolutely. How can people get a hold of?
You? Did they need to check the
Billboards. We have a more direct way,
that's funny. Social media where all over
social media Instagram, Facebook LG P HX.
You can look us up caller office, anytime 62-38 77 3600.
No voicemail. We're one of the few firms are
size that has zero voicemail. You call Life person's going to
talk to you. Nobody answers.
The line is busy. Somebody will have a I'll be
very pissed. Yeah, thanks yeah.
Thank you. Thanks for having me is a
pleasure love. Love your setup.
Love your show. Thank you.
I want to thank mr. Escamilla for coming over and
taking time to sit in my home studio in front of me.
Again, if this is your first time listening to the show, thank you so much for listening. You want to check out the
previous episode with the vice president of Jada Toys, Mike Jimenez, that was a fantastic conversation as well as always one of the great Han and right, Toyota for will online.com.
And so shop Wireless Services, all my interviews conversations are brought to you by self shot, by the way.
Can't forget our patreon business supporters, Qui Automotive out of my Garden Florida, Public, Instruction out of California, Michigan? Be how small Home Design,
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It is a virtual happy hour invite everybody who's watching and listening to join us. You do a show and tell we do
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It's just like meeting people up for happy hour.
But he's in Idaho and I'm in Arizona.
So, make sure you follow me and Instagram.
@J Finning, my name is in the show description.
Gonna position of the park as upgrade, you can join the patron for as little as four hours a month and get access to audio bonus audio as well. Show swag just dropped an
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That is not something that's going to be on the main show.
Not not at all. So there's 66 audio clips or
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When you email the show heartbreaking podcast at gmail.com going the heart parking violations Facebook
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Now it's dripping time. Ain't nobody got time for that.
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