"I awoke suddenly to the sound of the phone ringing. It was 2:00 a.m. I glanced at my husband's side of the bed and noticed that Dave wasn't there. He was usually home from work by 12:45 a.m. It was Hartford Hospital on the phone asking me if I was Mrs. David Smith of 152 Elm St. My pulse quickened.
Your husband has been involved in a very serious accident, a head-on collision. You must come to the hospital right away. He's in critical condition. And Mrs. Smith, do not come to the hospital alone. And do not speed. Do you understand what I am telling you?
When we got to the hospital I was escorted to the Chapel. The doctor came in and told me that Dave was brought there by LifeStar helicopter and had no vital signs. They tried for 20 minutes to revive him but he didn't make it.
I just looked at her and said 'You mean he's dead?' She said 'Yes, I am very sorry. Would you like to say good-bye to him? Dave was lying there with a white blanket over his body. He had a bandage over his left cheek and scrapes on his chin. His eyes were partly open and I could see those beautiful green eyes that I loved so much staring up at the ceiling with no life in them. I took his hand in mine. It was cold, but the longer I held it the warmer it got."
When Mrs. Smith came to the Haymond Law Firm her life was in shambles. Her husband and soul mate had been killed when a drunk driver, high on cocaine as well as alcohol, crossed the centerline and hit him head-on. Mr. Smith was returning home from 2nd shift at his place of employment and was listening to Bible studies on his car stereo.
He was survived by his wife and two small children. An Attorney of the Haymond Law Firm opened a Probate Estate and sent out an investigator to track the actions of the drunk driver. Witnesses were interviewed. A notebook of Mr. Smith's lifetime achievements was put together. An economist was hired to calculate a lifetime of lost wages.
Finally, the Haymond Law Firm brought suit against the drunk driver, the bar at which he had been drinking and Mr. & Mrs. Smith's underinsured motorist carrier. The maximum amount of each policy was recovered, and was structured in a way to provide a lifetime of payments for Mrs. Smith and her children.
As part of her recovery process, Mrs. Smith stood before the congregation at her local Baptist church and described in heart-wrenching detail how Jesus helped her cope with this grievous loss.
Members from the Haymond Law Firm attended church services with Mrs. Smith and grieved along with the congregation and family. Mrs. Smith ended her tragic story with an anecdote describing how her nine year old son, Brian, attempted to comfort her: "In the beginning I was crying a lot, especially at night. One night I found a letter under my door. It was from Brian, and he wrote 'Dear Mommy: Please stop crying. I know Daddy was a good person. Love, Brian.' Another time he said to me, 'I wish I had a trampoline and I would jump as high as I could and reach up into Heaven and bring Daddy home.'"
*Some names and details have been changed to protect confidentiality. While we can't guarantee the same results; we can assure you the same effort.