Episode 53 with Ted Spaulding

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Today on Victim to Victory the personal injury playbook, we’re joined by Ted Spaulding, an Atlanta based trial attorney and founder of Spalding Injury Law. Since 2005, Ted has dedicated his career to fighting for justice, battling against insurance companies in the field of negligence and earning him numerous awards and recognition as one of Georgia’s top trial lawyers. Ted, welcome to the show.

Hey. Thanks so much. It’s great to be here.

Ted, what got you into personal injury law in the first place? Was there a particular moment or experience that made you focus on helping victims of negligence?

You know, actually, surprisingly, no. I kind of fell into it. When I first started law school, I was thinking I was going to do criminal law, and so started that path, and was looking for more experience, and started clerking with a personal injury law firm, just to try to get experience. And through doing that, I just kind of fell in love with it, you know, just fell in love with the practice, dealing with clients, trying to help them, being there for them, that sort of thing. It kind of just really aligned with what I liked to do, and what I liked about the concept, obviously, at that point of being a lawyer,

Is there any case in particular that really stands out to you, maybe one that greatly impacted how you approach your work today?

Oh, man, that’s a good question. There’s so many different ones. You know, the ones that stand out to me. Thank God there are few and far between, but they’re ones where folks have had other attorneys, and that hasn’t gone well for them. The experience wasn’t very good, and we were able to get in and really do the hard work, the real litigation, and kind of turn that case completely around. There’s, there’s a few of those that I can think of off the top of my head, and that gives me a lot of satisfaction.

You know, it’s not just the wins in court and those sorts of things, but the ones where you can really help someone they’re about to make a really big mistake with their case, and we were able to come in and kind of flip that around.

Yes, that’s one thing that a lot of people don’t realize, is that you really should go to an expert in the field, any attorney can handle a personal injury case, but you really need to do your due diligence and find the top lawyers in your particular field of practice, or if you’re injured in an automobile accident, you want to find a great negligence lawyer that specializes in personal injury. You don’t want to go to the Jack of all trades lawyer. You want to go to the guy or gal that specializes in that particular area.

Yes, and as you know, Lawrence, that’s the problem out there in the marketplace. And I’m sure you see it all the time in your practice. You get those phone calls and you find out — and this is no knock against these attorneys in the sense of them being general attorneys, or what their real field is, but you get criminal lawyers that then fall into a big personal injury case and they think, Oh, this will be just like a criminal case. No big deal. I can try cases, you know, not a problem.

And one in particular, man is what I’m thinking of is, is one like that. It was a big tractor trailer wreck, and literally, this lawyer was going to have the client settle for $100,000 on the case. Had him stop treatment. Wasn’t really focusing on the signs that there’s probably a herniated disc in here. Had him stop the treatment after shots. Let’s just end it, wrap it up, settle it. Thank God. The client was like something just doesn’t seem right. I’m hurting. I’m still haven’t, you know, gotten my injuries figured out, and this guy’s having me try to settle for 100, we just resolved that case, heading toward trial for $2 million.

He ended up having a surgery. He’s now doing a lot better. So, you know, it’s those types of cases, and I’m sure you’ve had ton of those as well, where, you know, you really feel good as a lawyer, actually doing really good work in things for someone to help them in their life. It’s a really neat feeling.

Yes, absolutely, and it’s, it’s typical where the insurance company is going to take advantage of the lawyer that they know doesn’t specialize in personal injury, because nine times out of 10, they’re going to under settle the case significantly because they don’t have a frame of reference, and they don’t have the confidence to build the case up and take it to trial to maximize the value of that case.

Yes and probably, as you’ve seen a lot of the times in those types of specialty cases, tractor trailer wrecks and those sorts of things. Some folks think, Oh, it’s just like any other car wreck, you know, no big deal. Gosh, if anything, it’s going to be easier because it’s this big company and they’re going to have plenty of insurance and those sorts of things. And they can, they can miss, as you know, they can miss some really important things to leverage, ultimately, the value of the case, much less the stuff on the this kind of thing with the injuries.

I mean, if you’re not doing this every day, you know, we, basically, I tell people, we play doctor, right? I mean, it’s like we play a doctor on TV. We know, almost as much as of a doctor, or at least someone who’s in med school, right? Because we see it all on paper, and we have to know it. And folks that don’t do it every day, you miss things like, Hey, this is sounding like it might be a herniated disc. We know what that may mean. We know what the treatment course ought to be. Hey, something’s seems to be odd here. Let’s get a second opinion, something of that nature. And it’s just those little things you want to think about if you don’t do it every day.

That’s very true. Now, you’ve been featured in media coverage, because you’ve been involved in a lot of high profile cases, for example, the Maui fires, the Titan submersible tragedy. So how do cases like these compare to the more everyday personal injury cases you handle?

Yes, obviously cases like those you know, are massive in the sense of, you know, both the tragedy involved, those are wrongful death cases, massive property damage, those sorts of things, those, thank God, are not around in volume, so you don’t have a ton of those types of cases as a practitioner. And again, thank God, right? I mean, it would be horrible if we were having these all the time, but they, they do come around. Unfortunately people make and companies make mistakes all the time that hurt people. It’s totally different, it’s a totally different animal, if you will, right? Especially when you’ve got something like the Maui fires, where you have hundreds of people, you have hundreds of plaintiffs. Now you’re talking class action versus everybody filing separately, all of those issues that go on, versus your standard.

I’ve been in a car wreck, it’s one individual, or it’s an individual plus a company that’s involved, that are the defendants. So it’s a it’s a completely different ant that you’re dealing with. Again, though, at the same time, at the end of the day, we’re still talking negligence, right? What was the underlying negligence? And oftentimes, as we’re starting to hear with the submersible one in particular, but Maui as well, it comes down to clear regulations, clear safety standards in the industry and things like that that someone or multiple people within a company or companies decide to not follow.

And unfortunately, it’s oftentimes surrounded by money, and it sounds like especially with the tightened one not doing certain things, classing the submersible and things like that. So it’s properly regulated and safety checked had to do with how expensive it was to do those things. So it’s, it’s a tragedy for sure.

It does come down to money. A lot of the times people will, you know, manufacturers and builders are dealing with actuarials and accountants who tell them, here’s where you could save a lot of money. And sometimes those companies are willing to take those chances at the risk of injuring others. And there has to be great attorneys like you out there that’s willing to put the time in, to take all those depositions, to do all that discovery, to find out what was the real cause, why did this particular product fail, or what caused this particular incident?

Yes, it’s a lot of work. And as you know, it’s a lot of work. It’s a lot of financial responsibility. What a lot of people out there don’t realize with personal injury lawyers, you know, we’re fronting the money and the expense to pursue these things. It’s very expensive with experts and the like. And you know, that creates a lot of stress and everything else on pursuing that case, not to get too much on a soapbox. And I know you agree with this, but that’s what kind of drives me crazy out there with our industry, in the perception, understandably, because of some of the marketing and those things that are out there.

You know, at the end of the day, personal injury lawyers are there to be the champions of the community and community members, and oftentimes the less fortunate, the people that don’t have an individual voice for these kinds of things, right?

You’ve got companies. You’ve got CEOs that are worth billions of dollars, that are making these decisions to skirt some of the safety rules and things like that, put their employees, put public at risk and unknowingly so. And it’s personal injury lawyers that get in there and risk their time and money to try to help these folks. And ultimately, it’s not all about money, and it isn’t for the victims either. It’s about accountability and those sorts of things.

And you know, kind of getting back to your first question, that’s part of what I fell in love with, the personal injury practice, it also sometimes, not every case. I mean, again, as we know, the big volume of practice are car wrecks and things like that. Because unfortunately, those things happen every day. But when you get something like a Titan case or a Maui case or something similar, that’s where you get to really do the lawyering, and you get to really be that personal injury lawyer, to try to be a champion for the community.

Going back to these typical auto wrecks, when people come into you after suffering an injury, what’s a common misunderstanding they have about the legal process, and how do you help clear that up for them?

You know, right now, what I’m seeing it’s a it’s a great question, because it’s kind of changed over time as I’m seeing it. Right now, what I find as the biggest misconception really two things. One is, every case is is worth a ton of money that — and it should be very fast. And I think both of those again, not to constantly be beating up on this type of marketing. But it’s frustrating.

They see all of this marketing on a daily basis that, again, is trying to grab attention and things like that. And I think it’s perpetuating this misconception out there that this is going to be fast, easy, and, you know, if you’re injured at all, that should be very simple, easy, easily proven. And therefore, you know, I should be compensated massively in every single case. And what I have to end up telling people is, one, it is not often times very fast. It takes time, especially if you’re really injured significantly so. And no, as you were saying earlier, fighting insurance companies and those sorts of things, it is not going to be just scribe a check. There’s a lot of proof involved. There could be liability, who’s at fault, kind of arguments. And so it’s really hard, and it seems like it’s getting harder every single day to explain to people, hey, you need to be in this for the long haul. Let your lawyer — you got to trust your lawyer, and that’s why you need to be vetting your lawyer.

I always encourage people, you know, hey, don’t just talk to me. Call three or four other people and make sure you’re picking the right person, I hope it’s me, but if it’s not, you’re at least comfortable with your lawyer, and then trust your lawyer.

So, what are some of the biggest challenges we’re touching upon the duration of the case they think is going to be easy, but what are some other challenges that the victims are going to face while they’re trying to get justice? And what does your team do to help them navigate through the process?

I think one of the biggest challenges, especially with the more severe injuries out there, is being able to get to all of the treatment with things that go on in your daily life, especially if you’re out of work and those sorts of things, then you’ve got the financial stress that’s involved with it. We find those to be some of the the biggest issues for clients long-term. And again, when you’re talking the bigger injury, you’re talking a year or two years, I’ve had three years of treatment. It’s not quick and easy and fast, and for someone to have to suffer through all that for years, that is probably the biggest difficulty for clients is getting kind of you’re just in the muck of the middle of that case, if you will, in dealing with all that pain and suffering and trying to get to treatment and trying to pay the bills and you’re out of work.

What we try to do is, first and foremost, just be there for the client. I mean, I can’t tell you how many times, and I’m sure you feel the same way, you end up as a lawyer, feeling almost like you’re a psychologist, just being there from time to time. I can’t tell you how many times, just having a 30 minute phone call with somebody and just letting them kind of vent, you know? And here’s my frustrations, here’s what I’m going through being there to talk with them. But then beyond that, the practical, you know, there’s a number of ways to try to help out. There’s not much you can do as a lawyer financially in the middle of the case, as you know. I mean, we can’t lend them money and things like that, but we can find other companies and things that might be able to do that.

One of the big things is help them avoid making financial mistakes, going out to finance companies and things like that, to get loans, as you know, because some of that can be loan-sharp rates and things like that, and saying, Hey, pause for a minute before you just go out and think this is free money to help you with rent this month. Realize what that means, and hey, we might have some other options we can look into or help you negotiate those things so they can try to make ends meet.

Well, it’s great to hear how your firm blends giving legal advice and also offers some emotional support as well as financial advice. It’s nice to hear that you’re treating the entire problem, not just the legal aspects of the wreck.

Yes. I mean, I really think it’s always been the way I’ve operated, and I get it sometimes that that might not be the most efficient thing from a business standpoint, but I think it’s the old school lawyering. You know, it’s why they call us counselors, right? You know, kind of the old school lawyering of you’re not only doing the legal work, but you’re there to help the client. And how, how best can you learn who the client is, to then be able to go advocate for them in front of 12 jurors, because you’re having to get up there, and basically, as you know, be that client, and now you’ve lived a little bit of it through their eyes by sitting there and talking with them, you know, over the years and understanding some of their struggles and personal things. I think overall, it helps tremendously.

Okay, you’re preaching to the choir, right? Actually, in my talks to various groups, I tell them the two most important things is the lawyer you choose and how well that lawyer knows their client. Because, as you’re saying, how else can you empathize with the client and then project that to a jury when you’re asking them to pay for the person’s pain, suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, lost wages. If you don’t understand the client, you really cannot present the case well to a jury.

Yes, and it’s going to come across, I mean, it does. And a lot of lawyers, hate to hear that, right? I just want to do my job. I just want to get in there. But no, when you’re a trial lawyer, it’s so much more. If you’re disjointed with it, and you haven’t done that background work, I really believe it comes through in your presentation. Because, as you know, that’s the hardest part of our job is to stand up there in front of 12 people, relay what this person has been through, that they’re the only ones that really know what they’ve been through, even their own spouses and kids and parents and everything else don’t know all of it, and then say you need to compensate this person. That’s the hardest thing as a personal injury trial lawyer to do.

I had a case one time where a woman was using a cane, significant low back injury with surgery, and I noticed that she had little stickers on hurricane I said, that’s cute. Who does that for you? And she said, my grandson. I said, why does he put stickers on your cane said, Well, they’re superheroes. Because he’s trying to turn me back into the superhero I used to be. That one in front of the jury and when you put the grandson on the stand and he says that, all sudden you get that collective —

Yes, I got chills right now.

And it creates so much more value to the case. And there’s always those little nuances that you can play upon to really let the jury understand what your clients going through. So, I’m glad you and I are on the same page with getting to know our clients, Ted. So, that’s probably one of the reasons you’re named one of the top trial lawyers in Georgia all the time. So, how do you stay ahead of the legal field that’s constantly changing, and how does that help you serve your clients more efficiently?

Yes, I mean, that’s obviously very tough, right? It is constantly changing. Now we’re going through a huge change with AI and everything else. I know that’s kind of like, Oh gosh, talking AI. Everybody’s talking AI right now, but I’m sure you’ve seen all the stuff and had had companies reach out to you. So, there is a big change, and probably for the good in some senses of it. But yes, it’s, as you know, it’s constantly staying up to date on tactics, trial tactics, things like that. As we know over the years, the jury pool changes.

You know, you get a different generation that comes into the jury pool. They like things differently. There’s different ways to present the case. You know, way back what, probably more than 10 years ago. You know, the big change was all jurors now, even on us, on the civil side, they want the CSI moment, you know, they want to see the evidence up on the screen, and those sorts of things you didn’t have to worry about that back in the 80s and 90s and everything else.

You know, there’s those kinds of seismic shifts. So really it’s, what you’re talking about is just staying on top of things, staying top of techniques. What Works to present your case as efficiently as possible.

Of course, now the big thing is, is trying to be able to try your case as quickly as possible, because jurors, their attention spans are even shorter than they were 10 years ago, which is problematic for us, right? Because the law is not something that you can just quickly present to them often times. And so, yes, just trying to keep up with ways that you can use technology or other things that are that are popping in the industry to help and then ultimately help your clients.

You’ve worked across Georgia and even at the federal level. So what trends are you seeing in personal injury law these days, and anything you think people should be aware of?

Look, I think the biggest thing right now, especially in Georgia, is tort reform is continuing to, in my opinion, rear its ugly head. We had a big tort reform shift back in 2005 in the state, centering mainly around medical malpractice cases, making it as difficult as possible to pursue those cases. Now, we’re seeing it with trucking cases in Georgia, where they have just passed a law to limit, pretty much get rid, of the ability to sue the insurance company under the direct action statute here in Georgia, which ultimately hurts, potentially hurts the value of the case. And so kind of getting on my political soapbox for a moment, it scares me that I don’t know that the general public understands what that means.

Limiting a plaintiff’s right to a jury trial, a fair jury trial is a big concern, and I think the public needs to know that those kinds of things are happening, and they’re happening in Georgia, and it’s these little nuanced things that public wouldn’t know it much matters that is happening here in Georgia to try to continually make it as hard as possible for a plaintiff to get an absolute fair shake in front of their peers in at jury trial.

You know that the insurance companies have a multi-billion dollar industry in which they can do a lot of commercials on Super Bowl Sunday and funny commercials to sway the public opinion and what the insurance companies as you know, all they care about are their stockholders. They don’t care about the people paying the premiums. They just care about their stockholders and making sure their stock goes up and that they’re a viable business, and they are a business. They don’t make money by paying claims. They make money by taking in premiums.

Oh, but Lawrence, that’s so wrong. I mean, you know, with this recent passage, it was to lower insurance rates for the public.

They’ve done a lot of that in New Jersey as well, in the insurance —

Yes, and you want a favor for the public.

Yes, and the insurance rates have never come down. They just keep going up and up and makes the it makes the defense bar and the insurance company stronger all the time.

Yes, it really does and it’s a shame, because it’s that kind of stuff I joke, but you know, that was the governor came out after he signed the bill, and you know. So, this will lower rates for the Mom and Pop, you know, trucking companies here in Georgia that are struggling to, you know, pay their premiums. And I’m like — Oh, come on, if people would just open their eyes and ears and look at it. You know, as you know, the trucking industry is booming. I mean thriving ever since the pandemic. There’s no issues with that. But that’s how they sold this bill, that no, it is helping the public when, no, it’s not. It’s meant to hurt the public.

We have some very strong lobbying committees and lobbyists out there that work. For the insurance companies, as you and I both know, and they’re going to do whatever they can, say, whatever they can, to reduce the payouts that they have to make, and the premiums are just going to keep going up, and they’re going to put more and more money in their pockets, instead of in the pockets of injured people.

As I told people, they’ll find another reason all of a sudden to not lower those rates, right? This gets passed and it’s like — Oh, yeah, now it’s not that, it’s something else, you’re right, the rates won’t come down because of it.

So, for someone who’s been in a wreck or has suffered an injury, what are the first steps they should take to protect their legal rights?

The first step, it’s cliche, but it is so true and vital, is call a lawyer, and call a good lawyer. Now, that’s prefaced with first deal with the situation. I’m not saying at the scene, call lawyer, God, please, I’ve gotten those phone calls. I’m sure you have, and I immediately tell them, hang up the phone, deal with the police, go to the hospital if that’s what you need, call me back tomorrow, kind of a thing, but within reason, call a lawyer just to ask questions and get some advice. Not to immediately hire them if you don’t feel like you need to after that conversation, but talk to a lawyer, because there are a lot of things that you don’t know that you need to do, or potentially need to do, depending on the case, that if you don’t do within a certain amount of time, you might lose some rights.

Here in Georgia in particular, I don’t know how it is in New Jersey, one that always scares me is, UM insurance. Georgia case law. so not statute, but case law has carved out that if you don’t put your insurer on notice of the potential of the bodily injury claim on the UM side, within 90 days, you lose your right to pursue UM. And folks don’t understand that. Heck, most people don’t even know what UM is. Sure you know how important UM can be. And so, that scares me. And it’s that kind of a thing where I’m like — Look, this is not a sales pitch. It’s not a, you know, you must call me right away, because I want to try to grab you as a client before I know whether you really have a case, but it’s so at least you can hear those kinds of things.

Hey, just do these bare minimum things. Reach out to your insurance company, you know, tell them about the wreck, make sure they’re on notice you are injured. There may be a possibility in the future that kind of a thing. Don’t talk to the liability insurance company. You’re not required to do a recorded statement in Georgia. You know, those sorts of things. They’re only trying to do it to get you on record early saying — Oh, no, you feel fine. You know that sort of thing. We got all kinds of stuff. I mean, we’ve got — I don’t know about you guys in New Jersey, but we’ve got hospitals lying to patients who are — they’re coming in on the stretcher, handing them an insurance card, and I’ve literally had people tell me they said it’s illegal for me to use my health insurance to pay for the ER visit for the sole reason, as you know, to go and file a hospital lien for the full amount of that treatment, because they know they’re coming in as a car wreck person.

And these folks don’t know what the heck that means and how that affects them down the road, and it means you may be paying out tens of thousands of dollars that you didn’t need to out of the settlement or verdict, and all these things are happening right at the beginning. And to know some of that stuff, regardless of whether you hire a lawyer, ultimately or not, is really important.

So beyond all that other stuff, go to the hospital, get checked out, all the things I think most people do know, just call a good lawyer,

And just that one’s into the next question, Ted, how do they find a good lawyer for a personal injury case? And not only, how do they find what quality should they look for, and what are some red flags that if they come up, you say, alright, this is not the right person for me?

Yes, very, very good question. And unfortunately, very, very difficult. I have this conversation with people all the time that call me. I think it’s almost impossible without hearing from lawyers like us answer this question for the general public to know, because everybody’s good at marketing now in this industry, you know, just going on a website alone, yes, it can give you some things, but everyone’s going to kind of look similar, you know, have some awards, have some verdicts. You know, those sorts of things have been out of law school for long enough that it looks like they would have experience.

I think one it’s interviewing. I think you learn a lot about someone by doing what you and I are doing right now. Just talk, hear what they’ve got to say, then some of the things that that would be red flags, as you’re asking would be, in my opinion, would be things like they’re trying to sell you. They’re trying to push you towards signing up with them immediately. They’re not really listening. They’re not really answering questions. They’re more focused on, all right, let me get you my paperwork. Let me get you my paperwork, or something like that or something like that. Or they’re trying to send someone out to meet with you, but it’s not the actual lawyer or something like that. That’s kind of a red flag, certainly, if they just show up.

I’ve heard so many stories. I’m sure you have too of some person shows up to the hospital room and hands a card says they’ll help you with your medical bills and that kind of thing. We call them runners. That’s a red flag. But with lawyers, you know, hey, I’ll get you to my doctor, you know, that sort of thing. I don’t like that. That kind of scares me. It makes me worry that is this really just a mill, you know, type of firm that’s just going to take every single case, that sort of thing. That’s what I’d be scared in talking with someone.

Because if they’re just taking every single case, they are not going to have the time to really care about your case. They’re just playing the law of averages. And it may work out and it may not, but I would be nervous about that if I was the client, knowing what I know of the industry, so I’d be careful of those sorts of things.

If you could give one piece of advice to somebody facing a personal injury case, what would it be?

Oh, wow, that’s a good one. One piece of advice, I would say, probably follow what your doctors tell you, and don’t do one bit of treatment more than you need, but don’t do one bit less than you need. I see a lot of clients that play doctor make their own decisions when it comes to certain things. And I think at the end of the day, a car wreck, whatever other personal injury is just like as if you’re going in and you’re sick. You’re going to listen to what your doctor says if you just went in and you had a cold or something like that, and they tell you do this or that, it’s no different, just because you have a personal injury case. That doesn’t change anything.

Listen to your doctor, take their advice, or at least hear why they think you need to do these certain things, and really think through it, because at the end of the day, the whole point of this exercise is for you to get all the treatment you need, nothing more, nothing less to try to get you back to where you were before this incident occurred.

Often times you can’t get back all the way to 100% but give yourself a shot to really fully, fully, as they say, recover.

And lastly, Ted, how can our listeners reach you?

So, for me, two ways you could go through our website, which is SpaldingInjuryLaw.com. We’ve got forms on there you can fill out. You can find our e-mail address, those sorts of things, obviously phone numbers on there, or just call us directly, which would be 470-695-9950,

Thank you, Mister Spalding. This was Ted Spaulding of the Spalding Injury Law Firm. Thank you for your time.

Thanks, Lawrence, it was great.

Thank you for tuning in to Victim to Victory the personal injury playbook. We hope you found today’s discussion insightful and helpful as you navigate the complex legal system, if you or someone you know suffered from a personal injury, don’t hesitate to reach out to us at 1-800-489-0004 our team is here to help take you from victim to victory. Remember, taking legal action after a personal injury is a critical step in protecting your rights and securing your future. So, don’t wait, make the call today and let us help you fight for the compensation you deserve. We’ll be back next week with more expert insights and information.

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