John Edwards is U.S. Senator from North Carolina and a candidate
for President. Like many relatively unknown aspirants, he has
elected to write a book introducing his candidacy.
Operating under the old writers’ workshop axiom to “write about
what you know,” Edwards in Four Trials (Simon &
Schuster, 256 pages, $24) recounts four civil cases in which he
represented grievously injured victims (or their survivors) in
winning million-dollar damage awards from large corporations or
government entities. It was these fees that also helped catapult
him to his surprise 1998 victory for U.S. Senator in his first
attempt at public office. The result is a book that reveals both
the strengths and weaknesses of his presidential bid.
Like many of the jurors who appear in these pages, the reader
first encounter these cases as just another example of why there
are “too many lawsuits in America” and ends by thinking “those
people got just what they deserved.” The first case involves an
aging bachelor alcoholic who suffered massive brain damage when his
doctor tried to accelerate a drug-based regimen to avert him from
alcohol. The second involves the daughter of a modest working-class
couple who suffered cerebral palsy when their obstetrician refused
to deliver her by caesarian section. The third involves a minister
and his wife who were killed in a collision with a commercial
tractor-trailer. The fourth involves a five-year-old girl whose
intestines were sucked out of her body when she became trapped on a
wading-pool drain.
Particularly in the second and fourth cases, Edwards reveals all
the admirable qualities of the plaintiff bar and the common
irresponsibilities and weaknesses of large corporate institutions.
The cerebral palsy case (which occurred in 1979) involved a highly
respected Greenville doctor who still had an old-fashioned aversion
for performing C-sections. Confronted with a feet-first breach
birth (the most dangerous kind), he ignored signs that the baby was
not receiving enough oxygen and allowed a difficult vaginal
delivery. The hospital then tricked the parents into signing a
release form before telling them their baby was severely injured.
The doctor settled quickly, but Edwards went on to sue the
hospital, a much more difficult task since it involved faulting the
nurses, who were popular figures in the community. Nevertheless he
won - leading to state reforms that made it easier for nurses to
appeal to higher hospital authorities when they believe the doctor
is making a mistake.
In the wading pool incident, the five-year-old girl lost 80
percent of her intestines and was condemned to a lifelong regimen
of feeding tubes when someone didn’t secure drain cover in the
shallow pool. The filtering pump system created a horrendous vacuum
that made it literally impossible for several adults to pry her
off. The pool owners and county inspectors quickly settled but the
manufacturer insisted the drain was without fault, claiming it had
only been misused by maintenance crews who did not screw the cover
into place.
Edwards uncovered a dozen other cases where children and adults
had suffered death or grievous injury by being trapped on the same
drains. He also showed that company manuals did not even mention
the need for securing with screws. Finally, he discovered corporate
correspondence indicating the company had long known the problem
but brushed aside safety concerns. “Doesn’t he know this kind of
thing should never be put in writing?” warned one memo.
Edwards tells these stories in an even tone that often belies
their wrenching emotions. Interwoven is an account of the senator’s
youth, in which he became the first of his strong family of mill
workers to attend college. His successful marriage and rising
career were thrown into stark relief in 1996, however, when his
beloved eldest son was killed in an auto accident.
The question that is left hanging in the air, unfortunately, is,
“What does any of this have to do with running for President?” Much
of the book reads like one of those warmhearted autobiographies of
movie stars. On the level of public discussion, not a single
national issue is every mentioned. Except for his desire to keep
the doors open to lawsuits, Edwards never feels compelled to
explain why he ran for Senator, let alone President.
Trial lawyers live in a world where condemning huge institutions
and extracting large sums of money helps people avoid human
tragedy. It only works up to a point. As one of Edwards’ clients
says after winning a huge judgment, “What do I do now?” What
happens when events move beyond the cozy confines of the courtroom
and into the big wide world, where there may be no well-insured
defendants to blame?
Edwards’ book brings to mind the slim volume written by another
obscure but ambitious U.S. Senator, John F. Kennedy. In
Profiles in Courage, Kennedy displayed an historical grasp
of public issues and an exquisite sense of irony about the
difficult decisions public officials must often make. It was a
foreshadowing of his Presidency.
Four Trials is a nice introduction to the world of a
trial lawyer. As a résumé for a presidential
candidate, however, it is a blank slate.
