NOT IN THE UNION

Wayne is a toolmaker in Cleveland. Two weeks ago he was doing his job at a small industrial plant on the East Side, when he chipped his finger on a slab of metal that was in the wrong place at the right time. He immediately had to call for time off. The blood was flowing fast. Now, you have to understand that Wayne had only been with the company for a couple of months. He is not in the union. The only recourse he had was a personal injury attorney in Ohio. I had him go talk with my old friend Andy, who practices injury law in Parma. It’s a pretty long drive from the East Side, but Wayne said it was well worth it. They’re going after the tool works. Wayne made sure to quit the job first, on the advice of Andy. Andy also told him to check all papers carefully and make copies of every pay check they’d already issued him. The factory pays its employees every Friday, so there were nine checks that Wayne had to get copied already. The weird thing is that Andy has gone after this company before—and won. Several years ago, his first year in practice, a client came to him who did the same job Wayne was doing and reported that a loose board fell on his head, knocked him unconscious, and he had to spend a week and a half in critical condition at University Hospital. Once Andy got through, this man received well over a hundred thousand bucks. He couldn’t promise more than ten thou to Wayne, but Wayne said, whatever you can get me, pal.