Des Moines Personal Injury Attorney - An interview with Steve Lombardi
Q. Tell us about yourself and your practice.
A. I'm a 54 year-old husband, father, uncle and grandfather. My mother is 82 and still works two jobs. My father died of lung cancer when he was 36 and I was 12. I say these things not for sympathy, but that people will understand what has made me into becoming a personal injury lawyer. Earlier on, my family struggled with my father’s death and it took me 9 years to get through school. My mother always kept two cans of shrimp in the pantry to signal we were not destitute. To me as a youngster that can of shrimp meant hope. For me an education is what makes a difference to a family’s future; it is hope for a better future. My mother believed in an education and she never stopped encouraging me to seek a higher education level. I’m sure looking back it would have been easier for my mother to have me work but she encouraged me to do both, work and learn. For the past 29 years I’ve practiced personal injury law for both mothers and the dependent children. I believe they are always at a disadvantage when the husband/father who is the bread winner passes on while the children are still young. Women have an inherent disadvantage, because of who they are and how society perceives them.
Q. If a mom asked you to tell us what does personal injury mean what would you say?
A. Personal injury to a mom means the difference between a good life and just scraping by. It can mean the difference between being able to carry on economically as if the father/husband were still alive. It means you can go out and get a higher education to provide for your family in the future. Personal injury by someone else’s fault or means is the denial of hope. As a personal injury lawyer my goal for every widow or widower is the same; restore hope and make the future brighter.
Q. People have accidents every day, what separates a simple accident from one where a person should seek your firm’s assistance?
A. Serious personal injury cases transform a person’s life, and not in a good way. Serious personal injury includes someone dying, catastrophic injury, surgery, being hospitalized, brain damage, nerve damage, organ damage and other bodily injury that takes hope away from a family or knocks their life for a loop and off the normal economic track. That’s when my law firm can help to right the wrong.
Q. Do you offer free initial consultations?
A. Yes, we offer free initial consultations. When I started practicing law in 1981, I understood that my family had never used a lawyer. My father died without a will or life insurance. To me working people needed to know I would talk straight with them and not charge them just to find out if they have a case. Thus, our firm motto is, “Straight talk when you need it most.” We don’t charge you just to find out if you have a case. My goal is to tell you what you need to hear, not necessarily what you want to hear.
Q. What is the process to file a personal injury lawsuit?
A.The process is somewhat complicated, so I’ll not completely describe it here. But let’s just say the earlier you see a lawyer the better. Investigation is the key to a good lawsuit foundation. We like to do our own investigation of the accident that started the lawsuit. That way we know what there is and what isn’t there.
Q. What type of personal injury claims are there?
A. Too many types to describe really. But my previous answer to question number three does a good job of describing the types of injuries. We handle everything that has personal injury as a part of it. Our firm in the past has taken on everything from catastrophic injury to cheerleaders to wrong-side surgeries, other medical malpractice and legal malpractice actions. We handle car, truck, motorcycle, plane, train, skateboard, property defects and all types of personal injury type of work.
Q. How do legal fees work for most cases?
A. Ninety-nine point nine percent of the work I do is on a contingent fee basis; meaning we are paid at the end as a percentage of the recovery. With my history the contingent fee was a natural fit. I hated sending working people an hourly bill for services.
Q. From a legal standpoint what is the meaning of pain and suffering?
A. I've written extensively on the idea of non-economic damages, of which pain and suffering is. Damages for pain and suffering is really a falsify. You can't go out and buy a reduction of pain and suffering and it’s extremely difficult to quantify someone’s pain and suffering. But what pain and suffering damages does is allow a person or family that is suffering to buy the things they need that aren't covered by other allowable damages. In the end to the families, like my own who lose a father, pain and suffering damages buy things like school clothes, shoes, books, tuition, gas for the car, a car, rent or a mortgage payment, maybe once in a while an ice cream cone or a respite vacation. Pain and suffering damages allow relief when most needed.
Q. What happens if the person does not live in the state where his/her injury took place?
A. They still need to find effective representation. I live in Iowa but am licensed to practice law in Florida and in every federal court in the United States. I belong to a group called the Injuryboard.com; a group of lawyers from across the country that have banded together for the benefit of those injured. I have access to lawyers from across the country and together we assist with finding good lawyers who can help people injured while away from home. I do this on a regular basis.
