Experience Counts!

The Law Office of John Bosco, PLLC has the "know how" to find satisfactory solutions to your legal problems. Our "know how" comes from experience. We have handled accident cases for more than three decades. In the course of these many years, we have learned the answers to your legal questions. Call us at 718-273-4046 in New York and 732-39BOSCO in New Jersey for a free consultation about your accident case. Get the benefit of our experience. We are the eye of the storm! We invite you to take shelter with us.

Who We Represent.

In this world, there are those who inflict injury and those who suffer injury. We do not represent those who inflict injury. We represent those who suffer injury. Our job is to restore the balance of justice when it is upset by the negligent infliction of injury, pain, suffering, disability, economic loss and death.

We are in the Justice Business.

The balance of justice is far from people's minds - until a tragedy happens that upsets it to their detriment. Feeling the sting of an injustice is the only sure way to get people to pay attention to the question of how justice gets done. To put it crudely: until you get skunked, justice is irrelevant. Justice, however, is not irrelevant to us. We are in the justice business. As trial lawyers, we are guardians of the balance of justice.

The Remedy FoR Injustice

What is the remedy when the negligent infliction of personal injury knocks the scales of justice out of balance? How is the balance restored?

Retaliation: Two wrongs make things right

When we were barbarians, balance was restored by retaliation - an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. You hurt me; I hurt you. One evil was exchanged for another evil. Two wrongs make things right.

The Principle of Proportionality

Notice that the injunction, "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" places a limit on retaliation. Retaliation must be proportional to the evil inflicted. Not less than an eye but not more than an eye. Not less than a tooth but not more than a tooth.

Retaliation comes into disfavor as a remedy FOR Injustice

As we matured and became civilized, the problem of the infliction of injury, death and other evils did not go away. Yet, retaliation became to be viewed as a barbaric solution to the problem of injustice.

Was there a better way to restore the balance of justice? Could society replace retaliation with something else?

The answer was 'yes'!

Restitution: cancel out a wrong with a right

In civilized societies, the innovation that improved our system of justice was to substitute restitution for retaliation. Retaliation was banned. Restitution took its place. Instead of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, the monetary equivalent of an eye and the monetary equivalent of a tooth replaced the eye and tooth themselves. Today, in our civilized society, restitution restores balance to justice. Instead of evil being exchanged for evil, the good that is restitution cancels out the evil of injury. It is still an eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth (See, Leviticus 24:20 , Exodus 21:24, Deuteronomy 19:21 ) but it is now only a monetary eye and a monetary tooth.

BRINGING THE SCALES OF JUSTICE BACK INTO BALANCE

Our society has substituted restitution for retaliation. Restitution or retaliation These are two very distinct systems of justice. Retaliation involves two wrongs making things right. Restitution involves a right cancelling out a wrong. Society cannot snap its fingers an undo the wrong that was done. To do justice, the choices are either retaliation or restitution. There is no other way.

Justice is the safety valve of Society

From age to age and from nation to nation, disputes arise. The energy of a dispute rages, boils and, whenever a society lacks a safety valve to vent it, explodes. The safety valve is a system of justice whose ministers are dedicated to the holy and noble goal of bringing justice back into balance. Without a safety valve, we would not be able to vent the exuberant energy of our disputes. Unvented, the energy of our disputes would explode, the fabric of society would be ripped apart and we would be hurled into the maelstrom of chaos. Restitution and restitution alone prevents our society from descending into the frightening darkness of retaliation.

THE INNOVATION OF INSURANCE

In civilized society, an innovation that accompanied the development of a system of justice based on restitution was Insurance. The insurance industry sells policies for a premium that come into play when a defendant inflicts injury upon another. Insurance pays the bill. In Court, censorship takes place. Trial lawyers are not allowed to tell jurors whether or not there is insurance covering a case. Nor are trial lawyers allowed to tell jurors the amount of insurance. However, cases usually do not get to trial unless there is insurance. In the more than thirty years that we have practiced law, all of the cases that have arrived at trial have had insurance. Therefore, the restitution that is awarded to an injured plaintiff does not come out of the pocket of the Defendant but out of the pocket of the Defendant's Insurance Company. With Insurance, the risk is spread amongst everyone so that justice can be done with the least pain

A Gentler System of Justice

Our system of justice is gentler today than yesterday. Retaliation is gone and restitution and insurance have replaced it.