Remember the movie – Erin Brockovich? The film is a dramatization of the true story a woman of the same name, played by Julia Roberts, who bravely fought and defeated the energy corporation, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), in a lengthy legal battle over their dumping of extremely hazardous chemicals in California together with their attempts to intimidate property owners made severely ill by those same chemicals.
Fast forward to today…
It’s been widely reported that General Motors (GM) knew of a serious and dangerous defect in a number of their popular compact cars – a defect capable of causing catastrophic car accidents – and chose not to inform consumers. Hundreds of serious car accidents with many deaths resulted from their callous decision.
How do you think they treated consumers prior to their cover-up being discovered?
Believe it or not – in several cases, their legal team actually threatened and harassed families attempting to make recovery claims for the serious car accidents the company knew their cars were causing. Sound familiar?
Sadly, these are not isolated examples of abuse of corporate power… there are hundreds more.
Who suffers? Innocent families.
Our founders, Leon RisCassi and Bill Davis founded RisCassi & Davis at a time when injury victims had few rights. They did so with the conviction that men, women, and children injured through no fault of their own deserved protection.
And they led the fight in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s in Connecticut and nationwide to put legislation on the books that would give injured consumers rights. Rights in battles with corporations guilty of selling harmful, defective products, rights in battles with physicians guilty of gross medical malpractice, rights in wrongful death cases, car accidents, and so much more.
Did you know that in the 1950s and 1960s in Connecticut, the most a family could receive in a wrongful death case was $50,000? And that was only in the death of a man. A woman’s family was often lucky to receive one half that amount. And if a child was killed – as little as $10,000 was paid to the family of the deceased child. You were also barred from suing hospitals for negligence and could only use medical “experts” who lived in the same town as a physician being sued for malpractice. No outside experts were allowed.
Leon RisCassi and Bill Davis were pioneers, pioneers all of us at RisCassi & Davis are proud of. They saw terrible injustices and sought to make things right. Their fight on behalf of Connecticut families has made a real and lasting difference in the lives of thousands.
If you are ever injured through no fault of your own, call a qualified Connecticut personal injury lawyer. A knowledgeable and well trained personal injury lawyer can help you fight powerful corporate interests when you’ve been hurt, ensuring that you’re not harassed or abused and that your rights are protected.
For almost 60 years, the Connecticut personal injury attorneys at RisCassi & Davis have been working hard to protect our clients. Please contact us if we can help you.