Injured in an Uber or Lyft? What Georgia Riders Should Know
In this episode of Peachtree Injury Talk, attorney Jordan Jewkes discusses the legal complexities surrounding accidents involving rideshare services like Uber and Lyft. He explains
Experts Unleashed with Joel Erway
In this episode of Experts Unleashed, Jordan Jewkes chats with Joel Erway to expose the insurance playbook. Early in his career, Jordan worked inside some of the world’s largest insurance companies, attending strategy meetings and learning how insurers think, operate, and work to minimize claims. But his values soon led him in a different direction. Now, he uses that inside knowledge to fight against them.
We discuss the three common tactics insurers use—deny, defend, and delay—and the fourth tactic that rarely gets talked about. Jordan also shares a powerful story about a jury of 12 people in a conservative Georgia county who listened to a human story and awarded a $1.9 million verdict. We explore why many injured clients don’t want to go to court; they simply want to be heard. Finally, Jordan reveals why his mom says his superpower is kindness—and how that has become his most effective tool in the courtroom.
| 00:00 |
Joel Erway: Hey, what's going on everybody? Welcome to another very special episode of Experts Unleashed, episode number 142. And in today's episode, I'm excited because I'm gonna be chatting with Jordan Jewkes, founder and managing attorney of the Jewkes Firm.
I'm excited to dive into our conversation here in just a moment. Now, Jordan is the founder and managing attorney of The Jewkes Firm, a results driven, personally injury law firm serving clients across Georgia. With nearly two decades of legal experience, Jordan has an insurance defense background to level the playing field for victims of car accidents, trucking crashes, slip and falls, wrongful death and medical malpractice. His clients benefit from a strategy driven approach that anticipates insurance tactics and aggressively pursues maximum compensation. His firm has obtained some of the highest results in the South Atlanta area. Jordan, welcome, my man. Excited to have you. |
| 01:05 | Jordan Jewkes: Joel, thank you so much. That was a nice introduction and I'm happy to be here. I'm looking forward to spending a few minutes talking with you. |
| 01:14 | Joel Erway: Well, I think your, you know, in your bio that I read, I think the one thing that really stands out is that you have an insurance defense background. Can you give us a little context about how that shapes the way that you approach your clients here today and their cases? |
| 01:30 |
Jordan Jewkes: Yeah, absolutely. And just, you know, by way a little bit of background. I went to law school in Atlanta and coming outta law school, most of the, you know, law firms that were recruiting me were the big insurance defense firms, big corporate law firms in Atlanta. And that's kind of a very natural. Thing that happens. You know, and so I ended up joining a law firm in Atlanta that mostly represented some of the largest insurance companies in the world. I won't name who they are specifically, but for sure you've heard about 'em and for sure, especially if you're from the Atlanta area, you'd be familiar with some of the clients that we represented and some of the biggest.
Most brand recognizable clients in the area. And so we, I spent the first couple years out of law school just representing these clients and most often, honestly in, in the workers' compensation context. So if someone got injured at work we would defend those claims. And so, there, there were some claims that were outside of the workers' comp. Con context, we call that the claims that I do mostly now, which is what we call liability or just regular personal injury claims. We did some of that but in any event yeah, so, so spent a couple of years daily communicating with the partners at that firm with strategizing on how to defend. Against claimants injury claims, right? People who are claiming an injury and trying to make an insurance claim and trying to strategize alongside and in lockstep with insurance adjusters and insurance representatives who, whose main goal was to minimize those claims was to not figure out how to not pay them out. So that's what I did for almost exclusively a couple years right outta law school. And you know, I learned personally pretty quickly. That that was fantastic experience for what I wanted to do, but my moral compass honestly did not quite align up with how the insurance company viewed and typically tried to handle these claims. And I found myself time and again wondering why the insurance company wouldn't just pay. And I viewed the claim as an honest claim. And sometimes we would advise, you know, by just very generally, we would tell, you know, the adjuster or write a memo and say, Hey, we think this is a legitimate claim. We probably need to pay it. And the response we more often than not got was, well, you have, you know, a very limited amount based on what you're recommending to actually pay this claim. In other words, they just, no matter the validity of the claim, we found that the insurance company, more often than not, I found that they were trying to deny the claim or minimize it. That's when my career, my sort of philosophy about what I wanted to do took a change and I started representing people that have been injured. |
| 04:37 |
Joel Erway: Was there a defining moment that you can remember where that light bulb moment? You know, that switch flipped in your mind of like, Hey, you know, I'm on the wrong side of the table here. Right. Is there anything that comes to your mind, like a specific instance that you can remember? I dunno if you can name a case.
We obviously don't keep all names, you know, you know, out of it. But like, is there a specific situation that caused that switch to flipping your mind? It's like, I need to go on the other side. |
| 05:06 |
Jordan Jewkes: I mean, I don't know that there was one case. I mean, I mean, honestly, Joel, there were a lot of cases where the insurance company had, I felt like a very honorable rule where we, I felt like we were doing a good job. There were several times where we uncovered legitimate fraud, you know, being attempted to be perpetrated in my opinion by claimants people who were claiming an injury.
But then they were out on the weekends doing very active things, working a second or third job, very active. And on those ones I felt, you know, we're, we have legitimate work. We really do need to defend this. And that was noble and the right thing to do in many occasions. But more often than not, we were representing, or fighting against people who were legitimately injured. And I know in, I can tell you one industry that we did represent was the roofing industry. So we represented a lot of roofers and sometimes the roofers who were injured were Hispanics. Low income people, I would say are generally disenfranchised and often didn't have lawyers to advocate for them and often had. Very serious injuries and they would fall off a roof and sometimes it was a broken leg. Sometimes it was much worse. And even on those cases where there was very clear they were injured while at work and were entitled to a sizable claim, the insurance company still very hard really encouraged us and pushed us to minimize those claims and to, you know, just try and undercut what should be a very very clear cut case into. Minimize this poor roofer's claim so that he couldn't provide for his family, really or even if he went back to work, he couldn't do the same job and the insurance company would push us to, to, lower those as low as they possibly can, when sometimes those are the very worst possible types of injuries you can suffer on a work site, you know, falling off a house and having multiple broken bones and not head injuries, and just really kind of terrible things. So, enough of those, honestly, Joel and I was like, this just isn't quite what I want to do long term. |
| 07:22 | Joel Erway: So when you made that decision to, to switch, did you start The Jewkes Firm right away or did you transition another way? What happened after that point? |
| 07:33 |
Jordan Jewkes: Yeah, so I started looking for other work to be a hundred percent honest. And you know, gosh, this was 15 years ago. But you know, I tend to think that everything you do in life is 50% skill and 50% luck. Right. And that's tends to be my own career choices have kind of followed that pattern.
But I am from the south side of Atlanta. I live just outside of a it kind of live in noon, Georgia, but I, there was a firm in Peachtree City, Georgia, which is, was 10, 15 minutes from my house at the time. That just so happened to be. A plaintiff's medical malpractice firm, and they were also looking to hire someone which was really kind of lucky at the time. And so right place, right time for me. And at the time I had been commuting an hour into Atlanta, you know, every day, which, and so, so it, from a lawyer's perspective, and there's many industries that do this. At the time when I was working for the insurance company, we were billing by the hour, right? You had to bill 2000 hours a a year you know, 180 hours a month, which may not seem like a ton of time, but when you add in your commute time. And the actual hours that you're working in a day, it's sometimes hard to meet that. And so, a lot of people get exhaustion from that. And I was one of those. And so I was kind of looking for something that, again, aligned a little bit more with my personal moral compass, but also that would give me a little bit more flexibility in the hours and in my day. And I was a you know, I was married, I was young and didn't have any kids yet but I had one on the way. And so I ended up, putting my resume into this this law firm in Peachtree City, Georgia that did about 75% medical malpractice and, you know, which is when you, you bring a lawsuit against a doctor, we also did a lot of more general car wreck you know, slip and fall type claims. And so I ended up putting a resume in and the associate that was doing most of the hiring. He liked something on my resume that was it was basically what we call mock trial or mock court work. So in law school, I had won a national championship doing mock trial works, where that's where you bring in all these all these schools compete on a fake case. And and it's judged by real judges. They're the real judges are sitting judges in Fulton and Atlanta and other areas. And they determine which school had the best advocates and tried this fake case the best. And so we had won a national championship doing that. And the associate at this firm in Peachtree City noticed that, 'cause he had also frankly, been to the same school and was on some of the same, you know. Kind of generational teams. And he reached back and said, Hey, the timing is good. You may have just, you know, hit a little bit of a jackpot here. And so he liked my resume. I, he was interested in my insurance defense background and of course my my mock trial experience. And that was a litigating firm, really, truly. And so I they welcomed me on board. That was I wanna say 2010 ish, 2011, maybe. And then started working for a firm. There again, doing 75% medical malpractice, but also really cutting my teeth on just your very basic rear end type car wrecks, slip and falls, dog bites, those types of things and really had some good experiences there. |
| 11:02 |
Joel Erway: You mentioned your moral compass, right? And how that has played a role in, you know, your background and who you serve here today. Gimme a little bit more context as to the lessons learned from being on the defense side, seeing some of these disenfranchised these disenfranchised plaintiffs who are just trying to really do the right thing.
Obviously there are, you know, there's fraud, but you know, how has your moral compass kind of shaped who you serve here today? |
| 11:38 |
Jordan Jewkes: Right. And if, I think that's a really good question, Joel and what I would say is more often than not it comes to down to people versus profits. And I guess I, lemme say this, I come from a large family. I'm one of 11 kids, you know, and so I kind of grew up having to be a little bit more scrappy and. And very often seen as sort of, I don't wanna, I don't wanna insult my parents at all because I had the best parents in the world growing up, but I was one of 11, and so I, I just had to fight a little bit sometimes to get noticed, if that makes sense. And so, I've always had a appreciation a little bit for the underdog and for the person that maybe doesn't have all the opportunities that maybe some others may.
And. I felt like on the insurance defense side, it was more often trying to preserve corporate profits and the bottom line on some ledger that ultimately ended up in New York or something and with some executive somewhere. And I felt like that was most often done at the expense of, of humans, right? And and at human expense, I would say. And I just that never fit, right? I mean, there are some circumstances where I said, yeah, this is the right thing where there's clearly fraud. And someone I think really wasn't injured. So when I, that started to, to really, you know, be difficult just internally for me and my mind and my heart and I didn't enjoy it and I couldn't get passionate about preserving corporate profits. That's really the best way I think I can describe it. And and even in valid cases, just minimizing, you know, the real harms and losses done to human beings. It was just tough for me. And often I'd sit across from these people representing the insurance company. I'd look at this and it was a mother and, you know, making a claim and she's a single mom, very valid claim. And that's just a hard thing to do. And I think it takes a certain amount of steel to be able to do that. And I didn't, I just, I didn't think that was something that I wanted to use my law degree and my skills, my God-given talents to do. And so I, my, my heart, my emotions I just aligned more with being able to connect with humans on a very human level. And I think that's really. Where I found a lot of success in my life. Now I, this is gonna sound really cheesy, Joel, but my my mom always says that my superpower is being kind to people. And so if you take like all the superpowers in the world, that's probably the worst one to have. I mean, like, you know, no cape, no, no strength, no super brains or anything. She just would always tell me, Hey, you're really nice to, to people. And usually it was in the context of people who are a little underprivileged. But that, that is I have to give my mom a ton of credit because I think that makes me a little bit more successful. Now just seeing people for who they are, not judging them and so that, that's where my personality and my strength is. I think it's just relating to people and helping tell their human story and how they've been affected. |
| 14:59 | Joel Erway: I think you've got a potential book in you when the title is, my mom says that I'm kind to people. |
| 15:05 | Jordan Jewkes: I don't think anyone would read it though. |
| 15:08 |
Joel Erway: Man. Okay. A couple things that I wanted to, that came to mind as I heard you telling, you know, telling those stories you know. I wanted to ask you is there a specific playbook that you see insurance companies run that you can now spot from a mile away or you know that it's going to happen, like as you're working with your clients now on the other side?
You know it. What are some of the things like if somebody is injured right now, what are some of the things that they should be aware of that you can say, Hey, listen, this is what we know they're going to be doing this, and just to raise their awareness level. Like what are some of those playbooks or tactics that they tend to use that you've gained from being on that other side? |
| 15:56 |
Jordan Jewkes: Yeah if you've, if you have been through an accident or a serious injury on your own, you'll see this. But one of the very first things well, I'll say it. It really comes down to what we call the three Ds. Deny, defend. Delay and that was a very real thing on the get go. I mean, we would sit down and attorney strategy meetings and review a whole book of new cases, a book of new files, and we would go over 'em with the partner at the big firm. And the as we would talk about and go over the firms and sometimes there were assignments being made to each attorney, Hey, you handled these three or these four. It was almost we would go over and it was our responsibility as associates to sort of, you know, bring the partner up to speed on these files that, that we'd initially come across and were sent over by the insurance company and without fail.
I mean, the first thing out of his, my mouth was or tended to be, oh, that claim is bs. You know, oh, this is bs we and then the next thing is, well, how do we defend that? And. More specifically to, to answer your question, Joel, it would be let's send them to Dr. A or Dr. B or Dr. C, who we knew were incredibly defense oriented, where they would see someone who was run over by a car and would say, oh that's a preexisting injury he's had. He didn't really, yeah, he may have been run over but didn't cause any injuries. And so we knew who those doctors were lined up. And you would, say, we'll send, we'll make sure that this injured roofer, you know, who's fallen off a roof and had broken legs, went to see this doctor, who would say, yeah, well, his legs were really fra frail and he would've broken 'em just walking down the street the next day no matter what. And it sounds comical, but, and you're like for an outsider person, you think, do doctors like that really exist? But a hundred percent there, there are doctors out there who love. The paycheck on from the insurance companies to do these medical exams over and over again and they love it so much. They will say whatever really the insurance company wants them to say. So, yeah, deny, defend, delay, that's a mantra you hear and see all the time. And then find the right doctor. So, so maybe you call it the four Ds. Is really the strategy you see. |
| 18:25 | Joel Erway: It is very sad. You know, I think it, you know, it can definitely shift your perspective and shift your view on certain industries in a very negative light. |
| 18:38 |
Jordan Jewkes: Yeah, you get jaded very quickly if you start to uncover some of what you, some of the shenanigans I'll just say and, you know, and Joel, honestly, they, there are lawyers on my side who try and find those doctors who've never seen someone who was not injured, right? Hey, they were an a fender bender, no paint scratches, yes, they need surgery.
How Get 'em surgery tomorrow. |
| 18:58 | Joel Erway: Yeah. |
| 19:00 | Jordan Jewkes: come on you wanna use fair Doctors are gonna call it how it is. And that's how we try and run our practice and be authentic with people anyway. But yeah, there's, there, there's, you can get jaded on both sides if you really need to or want to. |
| 19:15 |
Joel Erway: I think that's the perfect word, is jaded. And have you, what, when you started to feel those first senses of. Jade, did you have any sort of like, regret getting into this field, into this industry in general? Like you, you experienced like, oh, I, like, what did I get myself into? Like, is this, you kind of, you peeled behind the curtain and it's like, is this the Wizard of Oz?
Like, is this really what I'm getting myself into? Like, did you ever have those thoughts, those conversations? |
| 19:58 |
Jordan Jewkes: Oh yeah, I mean, when I was in law school was very difficult and you'd go to your classes and like any graduate program, I mean, I don't know that there was anything particularly special or grueling about law school. I, it was very difficult. You'd spend a lot of time in the library and studying with your. Groups and really trying to very competitive. Maybe that's what made it a little more grueling is it was not pass or fail. It was definitely you wanted to get a's in as many classes as you could, and if it meant you, you did better than your fellow, you know, students. They did a little worse. You, there was a system that almost rewarded that.
But I remember at the time, one of my brother-in-laws, he'd married my sister obviously, and he was in dental school, and I just thought, man, you know, yeah, maybe I took the wrong way out, but I yeah, I mean, certainly I had I remember very clearly sitting in my my desk in law school thinking one time. Man, I may have gone into in the wrong profession. My mom says I'm a really nice guy. I enjoy working with my hands. Maybe I should just quit law school and go to dental school. That was probably the low point of law school, I think midway through my first year. But certainly working with the insurance company there, there were some low points there. But I do remember there was a a case we took before a judge, and this was a there was a lot of times we had to go to court and argue some things in front of this judge and this was probably the talk about being jaded that there was this particular judge and I would never say what her name, say her name, but she you could tell her that the sky was blue all day long. We could go outside and look and say, oh yeah, we can all see that the sky was blue. And then she would make a ruling that said the sky was actually red. And Joel and working with someone like that, and judges in our industry, they hold all their cards, right? And the only way you can overcome them is by filing an appeal. And so I, I had just joined this firm in Peachtree City. You know, we had this fantastic client and I thought we had a fantastic case. My partner, the partner at the firm said, Jordan you take this case, it's yours, you know. Prove yourself, et cetera, et cetera. I thought he did a great job, and certainly we made this argument in front of the judge and she came around and said you know, the sky's red in our case. That was the ruling she made, and the partner at the time said, well. I, and I just said, I, there's no explanation for this. We can all go out and see that she's wrong on this. I mean, we can visually see. It's just she's read the facts and then she's almost made up her own facts. I don't know how else to describe it. So we went to the Court of Appeals. It took six months, another $10,000 in costs. It's expensive. I spent a lot of time in at the court of appeals and pouring over transcripts and court records. And then we wrote this long article, this long paper, and did all these little. What we call blue book citations and all these things, and like the worst research paper you've ever had to write, you know, and you know, the font had to be the right size. The line on each. Page had to be the right size and did all this thing, and it was immaculate. The court of appeals read it. They read the defense attorney's, you know, response to what I wrote, and they ruled in my favor and they said the judge got it wrong. Go back in front of this judge. And she's gonna argue, she's gonna, you know, basically said that, told the judge that I was right. And so we went back in front of the judge and she ruled the exact same way as she did the first time. And I just said, you know what? I'm done. And I said, I'm never bringing a case in front of this judge again. And and so we ended up settling the case for less than what we should have, but the. That, that was a point where I was like, you know what? I can do everything I can advocate as much as I can for my clients, but if the judge is gonna decides he or she's gonna rule against me, there's very little control I have over that. But at the same time, I will say that the silver lining to that Joel, is, that's really the only time that's ever happened in my career. And so coming on 20 years of doing this and litigating, most judges are actually really fair. They want to do the right thing, and in the face of good arguments and good facts, they'll do the right thing. And that's very reassuring. So that was really kind of an isolated event. |
| 24:03 | Joel Erway: Yeah. Well, that judge sounds like my 9-year-old son, and so that's why I was laughing because |
| 24:10 | Jordan Jewkes: And you know, I've got a 10-year-old son and I know exactly what you're talking about. |
| 24:14 |
Joel Erway: They're just so strong-willed, you can't convince him any other way. All right. Well, Jordan, is there, you know, we talked about the jaded side, right? But there's also the other side now where, you know, you do the right thing and you can, now that you are you're working with these clients against these insurance companies has there, tell me about a client where they were probably at the lowest point of their entire life.
They just experienced something horrific and it's just totally life altering. Life changing, lowest point of their life, you know? What was their situation and, you know, what was the resolution like? Where at the end of it you could really see, like, regardless of whatever the financial outcome was, but like you saw the downstream effect of what this, what your work really does for people. Do any stories come to mind? |
| 25:09 |
Jordan Jewkes: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I will tell you that's the best part of my job. I mean, day in and day out, it's exactly what you've just described and it's finding people really, they come to us at their lowest point and they say, I mean, so we represent people who've been injured and you know, through no fault of their own and typically in car wrecks or sometimes slip and falls and occasionally like a medical malpractice case, but usually it's pretty significant cases.
And they come to us in the exact scenario that you've just described. They've been pushed into the coron. There's an incredible inconvenience associated with a car wreck. You know, your car is destroyed, you can't get to work, you're having to go to the repair shop, you're having to run around, get Uber. I mean, you're. Your family's wondering how, you know, food's gonna put on their table. All these things are going on. And then you've got this physical pain that is associated with it all. And most people that have been in that process have no desire to hire an attorney. The hiring attorney's the last thing they wanna do 'cause they just don't wanna be litigious. And I get that's how most people will hear are in Georgia. So most people that I. Consult with that, come and reach out to me or in some type of similar situation. I will share an example of one that comes to mind that we recently resolved a case with. This was a gentleman who came to us several months after being in a car wreck. And he had been driving down, I wouldn't say a country road, but maybe a little bit of a more rural route here in Georgia. His, he was in a truck. He came to a complete stop and another truck behind him just didn't see him. And smashed in the back of him. And my client's truck looked like almost an accordion had hit it, you know? And to make matters worse, when he got hit, his head snapped back and actually shattered out the rear window or the real cab window of his truck. And, you know, the poor guy was, he didn't wanna claim he was injured. I think he was 65 at the time. He gets outta his car and he is like, Hey everyone, I'm fine. I'm fine. He had like blood and glass in, in the back of his head and everyone's looking at him like. Are you sure? Like, call the ambulance. And, but he goes from the scene saying, Hey, really, I'm fine. I'm okay. But long story short, six years later he'd have several injections, you know, a hundred thousand dollars worth of everything from chiropractic to pain injections and you know, a guy that would never, ever have wanted to be in that situation. Again, through no fault of his own, his life had changed, his wife. His wife says, you know, one of the very first times we sit down, she says, my, my husband's not the same guy like. He's a different person than when I'm married. And we've been married for 40 years. You know, he's more irritable. He started drinking, he started cursing like a sailor. This wasn't the guy I married. And so we had this element of not just the physical pain, but also the mental pain. And it was very real. His friends world on the same page. This, you know, this guy's not the same. And so we filed suit when the insurance company didn't wanna help the guy. I mean, they were basically offering the amount of his medical bills. Totally discounting the permanent nature of any of his injuries. Totally discounting the mental changes that his wife and even he had said. I know I miss events. I'm, my calendar's a mess because I can't remember anything. And the insurance company just didn't wanna pay him. And and so we ended up going to trial on that case. And you know, his doctors came, his chiropractor, he had a physiatrist come and who's a physical pain and medicine doctor to say, Hey, look, this is where the pain sources are coming from. This is what he had. He had a vertigo, which is sort of a spinning sensation in his ear or his in inner ear. And, it took six years to go to trial and we ended up trying the case in Butts County, which is a really. Very conservative county here in, in South Georgia. And the jury listened to him. They listened to the human story. They, he had all the credibility in the world. He is the nicest man in the world. And my my clients were very nervous going into that. And Joel, hey they were frankly wanted to settle it and they kept saying, Jordan, these 'cause the insurance company's offers started getting a little bit more and more as we crept closer to trial. And on the day of trial, they offered us a good amount of money. The clients, you know, were very tempted to take that. And I tried to tell 'em, you know, we've done a lot of work, we've researched this. We ended up going in front of the jury and the jury gave us just under a million, $2 million 1.9 million. And the money was great, but the change and the, my, my clients were ecstatic. And it wa the money wasn't, the money was a validation. That what they had been through was genuine and that the insurance company was wrong and that their life experiences were real. And that a jury of 12 people, even in a podunk town in Georgia, could see that and they could listen to and relate to my clients. And so at the end of it, they were just happy to have won. And the money side was fantastic but just to be able to say the jury listened to us. And our claims for the last six years have now been legitimized and we've not been faking this and this is real. And it really has changed our life. That's really sort of the penultimate experience that, that we have as trial lawyers to help people through that process. And that was a very rewarding one and probably the most recent one that, that I've really had, that was sizable. |
| 30:45 |
Joel Erway: Well, I want to, I wanna highlight something that you said, which I think is very. Revealing. You said that most people don't wanna litigate. Right. That's, they wanna avoid it. How often is that case when someone comes to you and they're like, Hey, you know, I'm really just kind of curious. Or, you know, maybe that's not the conversation that you have, but how often do you have those conversations where people are like, I.
I really don't want to go down this path. I just kind of want to forget it, or I just want to take whatever the, you know, whatever the easy scenario is. Like how often do you have those conversations or how often is that in the back of your client's minds or your pot potential client's minds? 'cause you know that they don't wanna litigate, like it seems like a lot of work. |
| 31:31 |
Jordan Jewkes: Yeah, I mean, I honestly, Joel, I'd say most of the time, I mean, I don't know many clients that come in saying, Hey we're gonna go. I'm not accepting ever an offer that they ever make. I don't, I have no intention of seeking offer. I just want to go straight to court. You know, that's actually exceedingly rare.
And so most clients that come in have been backed into a corner. They're reaching out of some sense of desperation to just have some level of closure. And usually they've talked to a friend or they've done a little research on Google, or maybe they've. They've looked up YouTube to find, you know, a podcast with someone talking about how to resolve it on their own. Like, how do I just. Get this monkey off my back. And so, you know, they talk to a friend or something and a friend or family member recommends a trusted attorney and they end up going to, to that attorney. And so that, that's usually the case is people are tired of being hassled. They're tired of the inconvenience and they really want closure with the pain. They want their pain to go away is a really big deal. And most of them will say, I mean, I would say 90% of them say on my very first visit. Because I always tell 'em like, Hey I can't ever guarantee you a recovery. I can't guarantee you a certain amount of money, but I'll tell you, I'll just I'll do everything I can in my power if I think you have a legitimate case to, to try and win it for you. And most of 'em at that point will say something to the effect of, the money isn't what I'm doing this for. I want closure. I wanna be heard, and the insurance company's not hearing me, so I need someone to get out there and tell my story. Who's not gonna back down? That's really what it comes down to. So most of 'em don't wanna go through the. The litigation process, they wanna just settle. They wanna go back to their jobs, they wanna go back to their families, to their kids' baseball games and put this thing behind them. |
| 33:20 |
Joel Erway: Yeah, I love it. I mean, I think it's very important to hear that because I think there's probably a lot of people that question like what they should be doing and which path is right for them. But no matter what, they're stuck with the injuries, they're stuck with the pain, they're stuck with that mental, emotional and physical disruption that's probably gonna be with them for life or the foreseeable future, depending on the severity.
Jordan, let me ask you this. After nearly two decades of doing this work, what do you believe about? Personal injury law now that you didn't believe maybe 10 years ago? How has your perspective started to shift over the last 10 years or so? |
| 33:58 |
Jordan Jewkes: Yeah, I mean, I, that's a really good question. And I think I would say that the most important thing that I can do as a lawyer is to lean into my clients and to tell their story as a human being. Ultimately, you know, obviously we go into our different careers to try and provide, right? And I've got a family, I've got four kids, you know, my oldest son's about to graduate from high school and go on to college and do all those things, and he's gonna be independent soon.
And I wanna set a good example for him professionally and financially and all those types of things. And obviously be, you know, be a good. Father but obviously we do things on a professional level for some monetary benefit. And to me that was my primary motivating factor for a long time. But I, in, in recent years, I've discovered that when you focus on the human being on the client and really truly try and meet their needs, that makes everything else worth it and makes everything else come together at the end. And every single one of my clients has a unique story. They are people who've endured things that I would never want to endure. They've been in situations that I never want, I would never want to, and more often than not, the insurance companies are they're just trying to save money. And when I'm lucky to be able to do what I do because. I go in front of a jury of 12 people, you know, citizens out of our local communities who more often than not, don't wanna be there, but are willing to be there, which is very noble and they are humans and they are willing to listen and to reward those who they find are credible. And so I love being able to just tell that. That person's story to be able to get the jury to relate to them. And when I'm able to do that, more often than not, we get the number or close to it that we're asking for. In other words, the money happens. I don't need to be so worried about the financial aspect of it because the story's been told and the jury more often than not, relates to that story. And it's maybe sound over simplistic, but that's what I think is really the key in what we do, is to focus on that human story, that human element. |
| 36:16 | Joel Erway: well, I think that comes out very naturally and very clearly just in this conversation about how much you do care and the the passion behind it. And so I know that my listeners will also hear that. |
| 36:29 | Jordan Jewkes: Yeah. Thank you, Joel. I really appreciate that. |
| 36:31 | Joel Erway: Yeah, of course. Jordan, how do your best clients usually find their way to your firm currently? |
| 36:37 |
Jordan Jewkes: You know, I mean, I don't know. I mean, how do I define a best client? I mean, I, I. I, I'll tell you what we do. We try and be involved in our community. We try and network with others that are good people, that are hardworking, that are trusted. And more often than not our, the clients they come in because we've gotten a good result for a former client or a family member and they refer to us personally. We, we've got good relationships with some of the chiropractors in the area who will refer folks to us. MOAs most often we try and be the person in our community that we wanna surround ourselves with someone who's trusted and work hard. And we're gonna be here for a while. We're all from Georgia, we're all from this area of Georgia.
And so just getting out and making ourselves known and doing really top tier service to our clients is in my opinion, always the best marketing. |
| 37:34 |
Joel Erway: Love it. Very cool. Alright, last question, Jordan, and then we will wrap up. I like to put my coaching hat on here. I've got about 15 years of coaching experience, but I like to ask this question 10 years from now. Okay. When someone says The Jewkes Firm. What do you want the first thing to be outta their mouth to be?
How do you wanna be known 10 years from now? |
| 37:54 |
Jordan Jewkes: Trusted without question. Folks that are gonna do what they say they're gonna do what they say and people that you can rely on. And, you know, whether it's whether your case is worth a million dollars or not. We're gonna treat the case like it's worth a million dollars.
So if you hire us, you're gonna be able to trust that we're gonna go to bat for you and work as hard as we can for you. Yeah, without question that we want to be the most trusted firm in the Atlanta area in South Atlanta. Certainly. |
| 38:26 |
Joel Erway: I love it. Well, Jordan, I've enjoyed this conversation. I thought it was very I thought it was very intriguing, very insightful, and very inspirational to know how you came from the other side of the table. Took that experience. Use your moral compass to guide you to the next stage. And now you can use that background and that you have been using that background and that experience to serve your clients in a respectable, trusted way.
So anything you wanna share before we, we wrap up, but where can people find you? |
| 38:57 |
Jordan Jewkes: Hey thank you, Joel. I really appreciate that. And again, thank you for having me. You know, you can find us at on the web at jewkes firm.com. J-E-W-K-E-S firm.com. And we're always happy to reach out and give free consultations. But yeah we're here in South Atlanta. We have three offices.
We love what we do. We love the communities that we serve, so yeah. Thank you. |
| 39:19 | Joel Erway: Excellent. Well, that'll wrap it up today for today's episode of Experts Unleashed. Make sure you go reach out. Reach out to Jordan. And tell him we found him on the show and we'll see you on the next episode. Take care. |
The Deny, Defend, Delay — A Former Insider Exposes the Insurance Playbook breaks down the tactics insurance companies use to minimize claims.
In episode 142 of the Experts Unleashed podcast, Jordan shares his journey from working on the insurance defense side early in his career to representing injured victims. His experience defending insurance companies gave him insight into their tactics—often denying, defending, delaying, and using defense-oriented doctors to minimize claims. However, his moral compass led him to switch sides and focus on advocating for injured people, especially vulnerable workers like roofers.
Jordan emphasizes his passion for connecting with clients on a human level and telling their unique stories to juries, which often results in fair compensation. He shares a recent notable trial where a client severely injured in a rear-end truck collision won nearly $2 million, validating the client’s pain and suffering beyond mere medical bills. Jordan explains that most clients prefer to avoid litigation but seek closure and recognition of their injury.
Over his nearly two decades of practice, Jordan’s perspective has evolved to prioritizing the human story over financial gain, trusting that telling this story well results in just outcomes. His firm relies heavily on community involvement and referrals by providing trusted, dedicated service. Looking ahead, Jordan hopes The Jewkes Firm will be known as the most trusted personal injury firm in South Atlanta for their unwavering commitment to clients. The episode offers insightful reflections on navigating the legal system and serving injured victims with integrity and compassion.
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