LEX FUGIT

LADDER INSURANCE COMPANY AD

I ran a blog back in the late 2000s-mid 2010s, when I was a plaintiff PI attorney.  I took it off line in 2015, though I have access to scaled down versions of some of the old posts. 

I remember that the blog had many post categories, including "Tasteless Attorney Ads", "Great (in the sarcastic sense) Insurance Company Ads" and a separate category for bad political ads.  

I don't keep track of such things so much anymore.   A comparison of those vintage ads to the present collection of inaccurate, tasteless and offensive garbage on various media platforms would be like comparing My Little Margie to Squid Game.  But, one TV ad has caught my attention and deserves mention.

Ladder Insurance Company is a carrier I had never heard of until I saw an ad a couple of weeks ago.  A screen cap is shown above, shows the punchline to, "Life insurance so good.....:

they're gonna want you dead."

Looking at the commercial again, I don't think the son cared if there was any financial incentive for taking a pop at the old man.

And if that side-splitter was not enough, there's this at the end:

 

"BUT SERIOUSLY:  INTENTIONALLY KILLING A POLICYHOLDER WILL VOID ALL LIFE INSURANCE BENEFITS."

 

 

Hilarious as that line may be, it is false....or at least it had better be.  Hopefully, should the policyholder be intentionally killed by anyone other than a beneficiary, the policy would pay?  Not as arguably funny that way.  But, I am sure it is all explained in the policy's fine print, which isn't quite as humorous as the commercial and isn't really all that important, except to the insurance company, at such time as your beneficiaries have the temerity to make a claim on the policy you paid for.

I am sure the theory behind funny insurance commercials is to get you to run to the computer and log on to the company's site, even if the commercial doesn't mention anything about insurance.  My favorite commercials are those with the counselor trying to prevent new homeowners from becoming their parents.  Not quite so funny after I realized that I am now at the age of the parents the homeowners don't want to become.  Whatever.  I also realized that after seeing the commercials dozens of times, I could not remember the name of the insurance company.  I took special note the next time, and realized it was Progressive.  I didn't run to the computer to sign up.

AUTO CORRECT-STOOL WEINER

(Note:  This photo, with the same resolution, was taken from Mr. Weiner's firm website-which proves that a slick media footprint is not a requirement for success-ed.)

I still remember a few depositions from early in my career, where the testimony was taken down by a court reporter using a pencil and steno pad.

The first Dictaphone I encountered (but was not allowed to use), was at the first firm I worked at.  My boss's dictation was recorded on to a "belt" shown in the picture at the bottom of this post.  I continue to have no idea how it worked.

In the mid-80s I worked at a high-powered plaintiff PI firm of 13 attorneys.  We had a dedicated "Word Processing Department" comprised of 2 machines.  All secretaries had Selectric typewriters.  No computers.

 When I started as a law clerk, I wrote out my pleadings for later typing by the secretary.  Over the years I progressed to full size cassettes, micro cassettes, and digital Dictaphones.  During the last 5 years of my litigating career, I created my pleadings using voice recognition software.  I started using voice as I was taking more time in proofreading transcription than I spent dictating in the first place.  The assistant I shared with another attorney apparently felt that she was merely creating a first draft, and so long as words got on paper, I could fix it.  And she must have disabled spell check and grammar check as well.  Maybe they cut down on her typing speed.

Once learned, voice recognition worked well for me.  I could prepare finished documents in real time.  In the olden days, my transcription had been delayed as long as three weeks.  And, with the headset on, I looked like an air traffic controller.

The bad thing about voice recognition software is, that while it can't misspell a word-which is nice, it can use the wrong word, spelled correctly.  Sort of its own version of auto correct.

Auto correct errors were hard to find, sometimes, especially if i was in a rush, and was quickly reading what I expected to see rather than what was actually on the screen before me.  During my defense career, there were a lot of long reports to the adjusters, and, well....mistakes were made.  I never liked reviewing one of my Case Evaluation summaries before the hearing and noticing a howler or two I missed before it was filed.