Evolution of One Demanding B Part Three: Family Law to Personal Injury

Part One is here

Part Two is here

One Bite Is Not Enough

Having had a teeny taste of personal injury, I wanted more.  I was intrigued by the variety of problems and the opportunity to apply my ingenuity to solve them.

As the saying goes — be careful what you wish for.  The case I actually learned my trade in was an elevator injury matter.  The man who was injured put his hand out to open a freight elevator.  It had metal doors and opened vertically (as opposed to a passenger elevator, with the horizontal opening and the rubber pressure-sensitive bumpers).  The elevator pinched off the thumb and part of the index finger of his dominant hand.

My boss asked me to go and research the pertinent laws regarding inspection of an elevator in Arizona.  No, he had no idea where to begin looking or the entity responsible for such a thing.  The Internet was similarly clueless. I received all kinds of information on purchasing an elevator, or companies that would service an elevator, but nothing about which state entity was responsible for the inspection.

So the next time I was in an elevator, I took a close look at the inspection certificate, which led me to the phone number for the Arizona Department of Occupational Safety and Health.  Two phone calls later, I was on my way to review the manuals downtown.  I charmed my way into access to the rulebook, then made notes by hand when I couldn’t make a physical copy (even under the Fair Use Doctrine.  Yes, I cited that.  My life as a maker of things has given me a deep layperson’s understanding of copyright law.).

That incident was where I became hooked on personal injury practice.