New state trial lawyer president focused on citizen rights

The new president of the Indiana Trial Lawyers Association said he can’t imagine practicing law without the group’s support.

“There is no single thing you can do that will advance your practice more quickly, and will give you more support than joining,” said Jerry Garau, attorney at Garau Germano PC.

Garau said he has been practicing law since 1987 and the level of collaboration and advice offered by other trial lawyers have always proven to be a great help.

Over the years, he also has seen significant efforts in the Legislature to limit citizen access to the civil justice system by granting immunity or limiting responsibility for negligence committed by certain groups.

He said protecting that access will be a significant focus of his year as ITLA president.

What was the process of becoming president like?

I went on the executive committee, probably, I guess it was 10 years ago. And then you just move up from a member at large to the executive committee until you start filling offices. So it’s just kind of a steady progression once you’re appointed to the executive committee. Before I was appointed to the executive committee. I’d been active in the organization, had done a lot of work with the amicus committee doing briefs and things like that.

What are your plans for your year as president?

My primary plan is to defend the rights to a jury trial. That’s ITLA’s main functions. … And it’s kind of odd as a plaintiff’s lawyer to be on the defensive, but that’s what we are. We’re on the defensive against a lot of attacks on citizens’ rights to obtain or remedy in the civil justice system. It’s constantly under attack, particularly in the state. There are always special interests that are looking to get immunity or have limited responsibility when their negligence causes harm to individuals in the state. And we have to be constantly on guard and do our best to preserve that right. It’s enshrined in both Indiana state and the nation’s constitutions. And try to make sure that citizens when they are hurt by the negligence of others, have the right to remedy.

Any challenges you foresee in the year ahead?

Just the special interests that are going to try to limit the right of citizens to access the civil justice system. It’s a never-ending challenge, has been that way for several years. And in a way, I guess it’s a compliment to the plaintiffs’ bar. There wouldn’t be this strong effort to curtail citizens’ rights if we as an organization hadn’t been successful in pursuing remedies for our clients. And so I guess we should feel flattered that they’ve conceded they have difficulty beating us in the courtroom. And so now, they need to change the rules. The problem with that is that the system is a constitutional system. It is a constitutional right to have a remedy in the civil justice system. It’s the right protected by the Indiana constitution and the United States Constitution. Pretty much every attack on a plaintiff’s right to access to the civil justice system is, in effect, an attack on the Constitution. Our job is to make legislators aware of that and make citizens of the state that elect those legislators aware that these are attacks on the constitutions.

The Legislature passed several new tort-limiting laws this year. How will they affect the ITLA? 

In the past legislative session, there was a lot more that was proposed that didn’t succeed. There was the seatbelt bill that got through, but there were a lot of things that would have had far reaching impact and serious damage to the rights of the citizens of the state that were not successful. We anticipate that we’re going to see those again. We anticipate that we’re going to see, probably some things we haven’t even thought of. There’s just an onslaught of attacks on civil justice. And it’s going to be our job to work with the Legislature and convince the Legislature that these are rights that are constitutional rights. They are rights that are important to every citizen in the state of Indiana, and they’re rights that should be preserved and shouldn’t be thrown out for the sake of special interest or corporate entities whose primary goal is to avoid responsibility for their negligent conduct. It’s not going to be easy, but that’s what we expect to see. And that’s our job is to try to make sure those rights are preserved.

Who in the association inspires you? 

There are a lot of folks in the association that inspire me, not all of them have been in executive positions. You can’t be a plaintiff’s lawyer in Indiana and have success without relying on the works of other lawyers who have come ahead of you. I mean, that’s one of the great things about ITLA. And I think it’s unique to ITLA, how willing members are to share with you. We have a listserv, where folks can put out concerns, questions, whatever, (and) you can get input from folks all across the state—people who’ve done similar cases to those who have done a lot more of the cases than you have, who are always willing to share and to help someone. And I just don’t think that that happens in any other area of practice. I don’t think the level of cooperation among plaintiff’s lawyers is matched by any other group of attorneys practicing in the state of Indiana.

What level of collaboration do you have with leaders of other bar associations?

ITLA has a kind of focused mission, and we are cooperative with the other organizations, the DTCI, the Indiana State Bar Association, in issues where our interests parallel. Judicial selection, I think all of the bar associations have a keen interest in maintaining a merit based judicial selection process as opposed to an elected judicial selection process. And there are a number of other issues where we have similar interests. … For the most part, our focus is on the issues that are germane to our membership, and the people who members represent. When those interests overlap with the interests of other bar associations, we will work with them. But for the most part, we kind of try to stay laser focused on what we need to do to protect our membership and the people our members represent.

What has been the benefit of ITLA to your career?

Just having folks always available to help. Again, it’s just an unbelievable spirit of cooperation in this organization. People are always willing to help. Anyone who was doing plaintiffs work in the state of Indiana should happily pay their ITLA dues every year. They should. It is the best bang for the buck you can get in terms of helping your practice. The listserv is invaluable. The assistance of the amicus committee is invaluable. And the CLE, we haven’t even touched on that the continuing legal education programs that it puts on, I think are second to none. And there are just so many benefits to membership. That I just can’t even imagine having my practice without having ITLA.•