The "It's Not Fair" Podcast

The phone rings and it's the case. Catastrophic injury, clear liability, the kind of file that could change your practice. And it can — by making it, or by breaking it.

Because the same case that pays for the next five years is the one that can drain your operating account, eat two years of your time, and leave you settling for a fraction of its value because you ran out of runway before the defense did.

In Episode 5 of It's Not Fair, Justin Peterson and Masten Childers III sit down for an honest conversation about the case that looks like a winner on intake and quietly sinks a small firm. Between them they've taken the cases that built their practices — and watched good lawyers get buried by cases they never should have carried alone.

This one is for junior attorneys, solos, and small-to-mid firms doing plaintiff work: the lawyers who get the big case and have to decide, before they sign the fee agreement, whether they can actually carry it.

WHAT WE GET INTO

The trap — what makes a case look like a winner on intake and turn into the thing that sinks you, and what to actually look at before you take it on.

The real cost — what it takes to carry a catastrophic injury or medical malpractice case all the way, where the money runs out, and the number that surprises people.

The cost nobody budgets for — what one of these cases does to the rest of your practice while it eats your year.

Too late? — the lawyer who's eighteen months deep and realizing they're in over their head, and what their options actually are.

Carrying it without betting the firm — co-counsel, referral, financing, and how to decide which one fits.

The mistake good lawyers make over and over with these cases — the one worth hearing before you make it yourself.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Taking the big case isn't brave. Knowing whether you can carry it is the judgment that separates the lawyers who last from the ones who flame out on one case they loved too much to let go. There's no shame in a case being bigger than your firm — only in finding that out two years in, when your client is the one who pays for it.

If you've got one of those cases on your desk right now and you're not sure you can carry it alone, that's not a weakness. It's the smartest question you'll ask all year — and it's a conversation worth having before you sign, not after.

ABOUT THE SHOW

It's Not Fair is a podcast about the moments that determine outcomes before most people know the game's started — hosted by trial attorneys from Peterson Law and Whiteford. Catastrophic injury, medical malpractice, and the parts of the system that quietly decide who recovers and who doesn't.

Peterson Law: https://www.justinpetersonlaw.com

It's Not Fair is a podcast about the moments that determine outcomes before most people realize the game has started. Hosted by Justin Peterson and Masten Childers. New episodes monthly.

An attorney calls us about a case. The client got hit by a delivery driver, the injuries are serious, and the driver's policy is $50,000. The attorney has already told the client that's probably the ceiling.

By the time we finished, that case had four sources of recovery the referring attorney never knew existed. Same facts. Same client. Same injuries. The only difference was knowing where to look.

That gap — between what a case looks like on intake and what it's actually worth — is what this episode is about.

In Episode 4 of It's Not Fair, Masten Childers III is joined by Justin Peterson, Sarah Cooley, and Kaci Christopher for an honest conversation about the specific work that determines whether a serious injury case settles for a fraction of its value or for what it's actually worth. This one is for attorneys who handle injury cases and occasionally get the big, complicated one — the case that turns out to be worth far more than the first offer suggests, if someone knows how to prove it.

WHAT WE COVER

The coverage hunt. Policy limits are the floor, not the ceiling. Sarah Cooley walks through how she runs coverage investigation on a case — where she looks first, how she finds umbrella and excess layers most attorneys never see, when employer liability comes into play, how corporate ownership opens additional defendants, and when a client's own underinsured motorist coverage stacks. The recurring theme: nobody volunteers coverage information. Adjusters disclose what they're required to disclose and not one dollar more. If you don't know the second and third places to look, you'll never be told they exist.

Building the damages case. A client with $200,000 in medical bills does not have a $200,000 case. Depending on what gets proven, it could be a $400,000 case or a $6 million case. Justin Peterson breaks down the damages architecture that makes the difference — life care planners, economists, vocational experts, treating physicians versus retained experts, and day-in-the-life documentation — plus the honest math on what a full expert workup costs and what it returns.

The first 90 days. Kaci Christopher makes the early infrastructure visible: preservation letters, the records chase, scene and vehicle preservation, and what quietly disappears when a case comes in late. If you're handling one of these right now and you haven't sent preservation letters, that's the free thing to do this week. Everything after that gets expensive.

The referral relationship — straight answers. The three questions every attorney has about referring a case and nobody asks out loud: what happens to the fee, whether the referring attorney stays involved, and whether you lose the client. We answer all three directly, because vagueness here is exactly what stops good referrals from happening.

THE BOTTOM LINE

This isn't about whether you're a good lawyer. There are outstanding attorneys who settle cases for a fraction of what they're worth and never find out, because nobody ever tells them. The coverage was there. The damages were provable. But proving it takes a coverage investigation, real money in experts, and the willingness to try the case. If you don't have all three, the number you get is the number they offer you.

So when one of these calls comes in, ask one question before you evaluate anything else: do I actually know what this case is worth? If you're not certain, it's worth a conversation before you respond to that offer — not after.

ABOUT THE SHOW

It's Not Fair is a podcast about the moments that determine outcomes before most people know the game's started — hosted by trial attorneys from Peterson Law and Whiteford. Catastrophic injury, medical malpractice, and the parts of the system that quietly decide who recovers and who doesn't.

Peterson Law: https://www.justinpetersonlaw.com

If you've got a case on your desk and you're not sure what it's worth, reach out before you respond to that offer.

It's Not Fair is a podcast about the moments that determine outcomes before most people realize the game has started. Hosted by Justin Peterson and Masten Childers. New episodes monthly.

You get hit by someone who runs a red light. You're seriously injured. Hospital bills pile up. Your life is upended.

Then you find out the person who hit you only carries state minimum insurance — $25,000. And your medical bills are already over $100,000.

That's when you realize: your own insurance probably won't cover you either. Because most people don't have underinsured motorist coverage.

In Episode 3 of It's Not Fair, Justin Peterson sits down with Kellie Collins — Managing Partner at Peterson Law — to talk about the coverage most people don't have, don't understand, and desperately need.

TOPICS COVERED:

• What underinsured and uninsured motorist coverage actually is (and why you need it)
• Why state minimum insurance limits ($25,000) aren't enough to cover serious injuries
• The shocking percentage of drivers on the road with little to no insurance
• Real case examples: What happens when someone doesn't have UM/UIM coverage
• How much coverage you actually need (and how to figure it out)
• How to check your own insurance policy — and what to look for
• What UM/UIM coverage actually costs per month (spoiler: less than you think)
• Stacking vs. non-stacking coverage explained
• How UM/UIM claims actually work
• Why your own insurance company fights you on these claims
• When you need an attorney for a UM/UIM claim
• Why insurance companies make lowball offers

THE BOTTOM LINE:

One in four drivers has no insurance at all. Most of the rest carry only $25,000 in coverage — which doesn't even cover a week in the ICU.

If you get seriously injured by someone else, your only real protection is the coverage you bought to protect yourself from their irresponsibility.

This episode is a wake-up call. After listening, you'll understand exactly what your policy covers (or doesn't cover) — and what to do about it.

ABOUT THE GUESTS:

Justin Peterson is the Founding Partner of Peterson Law Office. He focuses on catastrophic injury, medical malpractice, and wrongful death cases. When he's not fighting hospitals and insurance companies, he's hosting It's Not Fair.

Kellie Collins is Managing Partner at Peterson Law. With 8 years of experience defending insurance companies before switching to the plaintiff side, she understands exactly how insurance companies operate — and how to fight back.

ABOUT IT'S NOT FAIR:

It's Not Fair is a podcast about catastrophic injury and insurance cases — and why the system is designed to protect institutions over people. Hosted by trial attorneys Justin Peterson and Masten Childers lll, each episode exposes the moments that determine outcomes before most people know the game's started.

New episodes drop monthly.

It's Not Fair is a podcast about the moments that determine outcomes before most people realize the game has started. Hosted by Justin Peterson and Masten Childers. New episodes monthly.

What happens when a hospital makes a catastrophic mistake?

There's a playbook that gets activated in the first 24 hours — risk management protocols, legal coordination, evidence preservation strategies. Most families have no idea it's happening. And most attorneys don't know what to look for.

In Episode 2 of It's Not Fair, host Masten Childers sits down with Adam Havens, Senior Counsel at Whiteford Taylor Preston, to discuss what happens when hospitals shift into institutional protection mode after a medical error.

In this episode, we cover:

What triggers the shift from cooperative to defensive (and how to recognize it)
The evidence that disappears in the first 48 hours if attorneys don't act immediately
Why resource asymmetry determines outcomes before cases even reach trial
When attorneys should recognize they're in over their heads and refer immediately
What it actually costs to properly litigate complex medical malpractice cases
The first-week playbook: what to do in the first 24 hours after taking a case

About the Guest:

Adam Havens is Senior Counsel at Whiteford Taylor Preston with over 20 years of experience in medical malpractice litigation. He has tried cases from both sides of the table — defending hospitals and representing patients — giving him unique insight into the institutional defense playbook.

About It's Not Fair:

It's Not Fair is a podcast about catastrophic injury and medical malpractice cases — and why the system is designed to protect institutions over people. Hosted by trial attorneys from Peterson Law, each episode exposes the moments that determine outcomes before most people know the game's started.

This episode is attorney-focused strategy. If you handle personal injury but get calls on medical malpractice cases, this conversation will show you exactly what separates attorneys who can handle this work from attorneys who can't.

Connect with Peterson Law and Whiteford:
Website: https://www.justinpetersonlaw.com
LinkedIn: Peterson Law
Facebook: @JustinPetersonLawKY
Instagram: @peterson_law_office

New episodes drop monthly..

It's Not Fair is a podcast about the moments that determine outcomes before most people realize the game has started. Hosted by Justin Peterson and Masten Childers. New episodes monthly.

In the first episode of It's Not Fair, trial attorneys Justin Peterson and Masten Childers lll discuss the moment they each realized the legal system doesn't work the way they thought it would. From the institutional tactics deployed in the first 72 hours after a catastrophic injury, to the invisible mistakes that permanently damage cases, to why powerful institutions have information advantages that most people never see — this conversation exposes how outcomes get decided long before anyone realizes the game has started.

This isn't legal education. This is insider knowledge about what actually happens when someone's life is destroyed and the other side has a playbook. No sales pitch. No verdict bragging. Just the conversation that needs to happen publicly.

It's Not Fair is a podcast about the moments that determine outcomes before most people realize the game has started. Hosted by Justin Peterson and Masten Childers. New episodes monthly.