Better Call Saul...Or John: Former VP Nominee Edwards Returns to Ambulance Chasing

May 27th, 2014 9:51 AM

Trucking and Auto Accidents? Better Call John.
Drowning Accidents? Better Call John.
Defective or Unsafe Products? Better Call John.
Why? Because we at Edwards Kirby have a record of fighting for fairness and accountability.

Washington Examiner correspondent Byron York has written about John Edwards, the 2004 Democrat vice presidential nominee who came within just a few electoral votes away from being a heartbeat away from the presidency, returning to the love of his life, ambulance chasing. What is amusing is how tackily similar the Edwards' personal injury law firm, Edwards Kirby, is to the fictional Saul Goodman of the popular "Breaking Bad" television show. The blatant pitches for clients of both the Edwards Kirby and  the Saul Goodman websites appear to be almost the same. All that's lacking in the former are the garish yellow and red colors of the latter.

 

 

Here is York describing Saul Goodman's, I mean John Edwards', return to the ambulance chasing business:

Former Sen. John Edwards came within a few electoral votes of being vice president of the United States. But now, after a loss in the 2004 election, a brief run in 2008 ended by spectacular adultery and love-child scandal, a hung jury in a multiple-felony campaign-finance case, and the death of wife Elizabeth, Edwards has returned to the occupation in which he first made his name: the practice of personal injury law.

Edwards' new firm, Edwards Kirby, based in Raleigh with an office in Washington, is pursuing customers with all the zeal of a late-night, local-cable informercial. Its website -- call 1 (866) 409-2250 -- is dominated by the words: "…AND JUSTICE FOR ALL" and outlines the firm's expertise in personal injury litigation.

The Edwards law firm description of what they do sounds exactly like something Saul Goodman would say:

Whether your loss occurred on an operating table, a factory floor, at the workplace or on the highway, our wrongful death lawyers will explore every avenue of recovery. We have a history of securing record-setting verdicts and settlements in cases involving personal injury, including: Trucking and Auto Accidents; Wrongful Death and Catastrophic Injury; Drowning Accidents; Burn Injuries; Construction and Premise Liability; [and] Defective or Unsafe Products.

That's great if you live in North Carolina but if you are in New Mexico then I recommend you Better Call Saul at this not toll free number, (505) 503-4455. And his website is dominated by "WELCOME LAWBREAKERS." Actually, Saul Goodman's website could take a tip from the Edwards Kirby website with their self-promotion blast:

The homepage features a sidebar with the headline PROVEN RESULTS. The message is simple and clear: We win big money:

DROWNING/POOL ACCIDENTS

$30.9 MILLION decision for 5-year old girl injured by a pool drain pump.

CATASTROPHIC INJURIES

$23.3 MILLION verdict for child who suffered brain injuries at birth.

TRUCK/AUTO ACCIDENTS

$10.75 MILLION settlement for family of children injured/killed in truck accident.

BURN/ELECTROCUTION INJURIES

$4.1 MILLION verdict for burn injuries received while on the job.

CONSTRUCTION/PREMISE LIABILITY

$8 MILLION settlement for passerby killed during construction accident.

One advantage of Saul Goodman's website is that at least it spares us phony self-righteous piety in justifying its grab for big bucks although it does have a link to CHECK OUT SAUL'S PHILANTHROPIC CAUSES. In contrast, here is John Edwards explaining that what he is doing is really about fixing the "Two Americas":

It's not known how much Edwards will take home from the $13 million settlement in the brain damage case. But the fortunes of lawyers like him come from taking a big part — sometimes half — of multi-million dollar awards in jury trials. The bigger the award, the bigger Edwards' payday. But Edwards told the News-Observer that his work is consistent with the populist focus on poverty he emphasized in the "two Americas" message of his political campaigns.

"Two Americas — heartbreaking for me and a lot of people — is still alive and well," Edwards told the paper. "It’s not gotten better. There’s a lot that can be done….The courtroom allows [plaintiffs] to level the playing field."

Fans of Saul Goodman will be happy to note that there will soon be a "Better Call Saul" spinoff series. This could also open up another career for John Edwards as a technical adviser for the show.

Oh, and has anybody spotted an inflatable Statue of Liberty on the roof of the Edwards Kirby offices?