When it comes to representing accident victims, no one comes close to Texas attorney Joe Jamail. His track record of courtroom successes during the last 55 years is legendary – and his support for structured settlements is firm.
On January 17, 2008, Jamail will deliver the keynote address at the NSSTA Winter Regional Meeting where he will talk about structured settlements and tort law issues related to victims’ compensation.
“This is the most influential legal speaker NSSTA has ever hosted,” said Patti Nelson and Bill Tocchi, co-chairs of NSSTA’s education committee, which is assembling the meeting’s program. “Joe Jamail has been recommending structured settlements to his clients for more than a decade and he’s coming to Austin to tell us why.”
Voted “Trial Lawyer of the Century” by the California Trial Lawyers Association and called “the King of Torts” by The Washington Post, Joe Jamail may be the most successful plaintiff attorney in American history. He has been lead counsel in more than 200 personal injury cases in which recovery, either by verdict or settlement, was in excess of $1 million.
In 1986, he won the largest jury verdict in U.S. legal history of law, an $11.2 billion judgment against Texaco.
Jamail also tried three cases that resulted in manufacturer product recalls: the Remington 600 hunting rifle, the Honda All-Terrain 3-Wheel Vehicle, and the prescription drug Parlodel.
Jamail is the latest in a series of prominent plaintiff attorneys who have addressed the NSSTA. Other speakers have included Fayrell Furr, former president of the Southern Trial Lawyers Association, and Patrick Murphy, former president of the Nevada Trial Lawyers Association.
“Joe Jamail is absolutely committed to helping injured people get the justice they deserve,” said NSSTA member Robin Young-Ellis, who frequently works with Jamail. “He’s also committed to making sure their settlement money is always there, which is why he’s such a strong proponent of structured settlements.”
Jamail received his law degree from the University of Texas Law School in 1953.
What follows are excerpts from Lawyer, his 2003 autobiography (reprinted with permission)
“I told the jury, at the beginning of the Olin Robertson case, ‘If you can’t decide this case in the amount of $510,000 in thirty minutes, then you need to tell the judge that you need to go on home.’ You have to challenge the jury. This has been my war cry. It has the added virtue of being true.”
“The deputy and I walked into the Sears store and went upstairs to the manager’s office. He was startled and asked what we wanted. I said that we wanted the keys to the store and ordered him to get on the loudspeaker system and tell the customers to leave, as we were closing the doors.”
“I have been told since law school that the lawyer has to be objective, not get involved with the client emotionally. To that I say, nonsense! How can I not be involved? I have been involved all my life.”
The National Structured Settlements Trade Association is an organization of more than 600 licensed insurance brokers, insurance companies and other members who are involved in establishing structured settlements to resolve personal injury and workers’ compensation claims.
Source: National Structured Settlements Trade Association
