Attorney Andy Lewis has a clever strategy for drumming up business: He beats his opponents in court. Throughout his 37 years of representing people who have suffered injuries or property loss due to negligence, many of these defendants have at a later date asked him to represent them in a similar manner.
That can happen when one develops a reputation for winning tough cases. Lewis is known for taking lawsuits during which he or his experts discover critical facts that were not readily apparent and that result in a recovery for the victim.
A skilled storyteller who enjoys recounting the many steps it takes to win a case, Lewis offers a prime example:
“In the 1970s, a large building on the corner of Main and Market blew up. My client was renting it out as an office building, and early on a Sunday morning, it exploded,” he says.
The insurance company paid for the loss, but Lewis’ client said the building was worth more and wanted the difference. The insurance company was interested in recovering its money as well, and decided to front the money for an investigation. Lewis’ experts on the case said natural gas had migrated into the building from under the street, causing the explosion, so Lewis sued the gas company.
Naturally, the gas company claimed arson. Somehow, criminals had doused the building with gasoline and then set off the explosion, its lawyers said. The gas company’s experts even presented evidence that showed gasoline was present at the scene.
Not so fast, Lewis said. “The gas company had samples of the water its investigators had pumped out of the basement, and it had gasoline in it. After the fire, the place was full of water, and their investigators used portable gasoline-powered pumps to remove it. It’s hard to pour gas into a small tank without spilling a little,” Lewis said.
To show the gas company was at fault, Lewis launched an investigation which uncovered an interesting – and unnerving – fact: the gas company had installed the mains it was using in the late 1800s or early 1900s, when people used a manufactured fuel made from coal. Because that fuel was wet, the pipes were sealed with oakum, a fibrous material that expands when moist. Lewis’ investigators said the seals dried out and shrunk after the gas company switched to natural gas, allowing the gas to escape the mains.
Lewis then had to prove how the gas seeped into the building. “The road was paved, so the street held the gas underground. From there, it traveled through old conduits and pipes and into our building. All it took was an ignition source, and BOOM!” he says.
To prove his theory, Lewis convinced the street commissioner to let him drill holes in the pavement. When he did, he found the natural gas for which he was looking.
Surprise, surprise
While Lewis has handled all kinds of issues – including some serious business matters – most of his cases have involved complex medical or technical issues that required him to do a lot of digging and learn new things. For him, that’s part of the appeal of practicing law.
“It’s like putting together a puzzle; you have to make all of the pieces fit. You have to prove your version of what happened to the unanimous satisfaction of 12 jurors, and you have to deal with factual disputes. So you plan your presentation, organize your witnesses and present your case, and then wait for the jury,” he says.
Even after nearly four decades of trying cases in court, Lewis still gets nervous as the jury returns to announce the verdict. Although a confident attorney, surprises always occur, and juries can be unpredictable.
“Sometimes, witnesses will say things you wish they hadn’t said, or the expert on the other side will change his testimony, or you won’t get something important into evidence,” Lewis says.
But the unpredictable nature of juries gives Lewis the biggest cause for concern. He offers another prime example:
“Even though you can’t talk with the jurors, you can get a feel for what they’re thinking. Some of them won’t look at you, some of them will fold their arms and look crossly at you, and others will look at you approvingly and nod.
“I had one case in which a lady would make eye contact with me and smile, and toward the end of the case, she was winking at me. I thought I had her in the bag, but when the jury came back, it filed for the defense. Afterward, I eased over to her and asked her about the winking and the smiling, and she said she wanted me to know she knew it was a bad case,” Lewis says.
When Lewis does win, the satisfaction of seeing all of the pieces snap into place is still a thrill, especially when the results make a difference in the life of his client.
“A deep sense of personal accomplishment and satisfaction goes with taking on a difficult case, investigating the facts, developing the proof and proving to the satisfaction of the jury that your client was brain damaged or paralyzed as a result of carelessness, and with making sure he’s compensated sufficiently to make his life easier or better,” he says.
Sometimes, Lewis surprises the other side. An arson case he once argued shows how this has worked in his favor – to hilarious effect.
“I represented the insured, whose home burned down. If you have insurance, you’re entitled to recovery, as long as you didn’t set the fire, but the insurance company was saying he burned down his own house. And they didn’t need an eyewitness; all they had to do was prove he had the means, a motive and the opportunity.
“Right before trial, the other lawyer and I exchanged the list of witnesses. As he looked at the list, he said, ‘Bob Smith? You won’t call Bob Smith. You don’t have the nerve! He’s the son of the insured. He’s the one who set the fire.’”
Lewis told his opponent that Smith (not the man’s real name) would be out of town, to which the man replied, “You sorry sack of stuff! You’ve hid him out. Where is he?” Lewis said he didn’t know, which angered his opponent even more.
On the first day of the trial, Lewis made his opening statement to the jurors, telling them his client was innocent and there would be no evidence to prove otherwise. Then the other lawyer stood up to make his statement.
“He said, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, this case is simple. These people had their son burn down their house, and then this lawyer told him to leave town. So at every stage of this case, ask yourself where Bob Smith was. He was setting the house on fire.’
“Then the judge told me to call my first witness, and I said, ‘I’d like to call Bob Smith.’ I had him in the witness room. The other lawyer knew the case was over,” Lewis says, visibly relishing the memory.
Job No. 1
With 37 years of plaintiff’s work under his belt, Lewis has a lot to remember, but he’s able to recall the smallest details of the cases he’s argued, even though the list of the kinds of cases he’s handled is three pages long. He can also recall what he went through when he came to Chattanooga in 1975, fresh out of the University of Tennessee at Knoxville School of Law, to land his first job as an attorney.
“There were more lawyers looking for jobs than there were jobs. I was staying with my cousin, Hugh Garner, and using his office at Morgan, Garner & Wood as a base for going out to interview with other firms. No one was looking for lawyers, so after three days of lukewarm attention, I decided to go home. As I went into the office to tell the secretaries goodbye, one of them handed me a file and said, ‘Mr. Morgan says to take this and investigate it.’ It was a camping trailer explosion in Sylacauga, Ala.,” he says.
Lewis did well enough on the case to convince Morgan to give him another one. After a few more, Morgan told Lewis to figure out where his office would be.
CBA, TBA, ABA, etc.
In the beginning, most of the cases Lewis handled involved products liability issues. While serving as a member of a medical malpractice review board the governor of Tennessee appointed in the mid ’70s, he became convinced he could do a better job of arguing the cases than the lawyers of the clients whose cases he reviewed, so he shifted from products liability to medical malpractice.
Lewis is admitted to practice, and has practiced, in the state and federal courts in Tennessee and Georgia. He’s also admitted to and has practiced before the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals and the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. Lewis is a member or an associate of the American Board of Trial Advocates, the American Bar Association, the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, the Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association, the Tennessee Bar Association, the Chattanooga Bar Association, the Chattanooga Trial Lawyers Association, the Chattanooga Bar Foundation and the Inns of Court.
In addition he’s lectured or been a speaker at seminars produced by the Chattanooga Bar Association, the Chattanooga Trial Lawyers Association, the Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association and continuing legal education groups.
Personal details
Although Lewis has had a rich legal career, his work has not consumed his life, nor does it entirely define him. He’s been married to Janie Brown Lewis since 1977, and together, they have four children and two grandchildren. Lewis and his wife have lived in East Brainerd for 31 years. He is a member of Christ United Methodist Church. His leisure time activities include spending time with his family, hunting, fishing and boating.
With 37 years of trial work behind him, Lewis has earned the right to reminisce. And he’s learned to sum up his thoughts in a few words. “The practice of law has put me in contact with smart and interesting people. There have been disappointments and frustrations, but it’s been fun, exciting, challenging and rewarding,” he says.
He then offers one more choice story – the one about how he got into law school.
“You have to plan for law school well in advance. It takes about a year to take the Law School Admission Test and then wait for the results. But in June 1972, I decided I wanted to go to law school that fall, so I called the school and asked for the dean of admissions.
“He told me they weren’t taking applications for that term, and I said I didn’t want to wait. He said, ‘That’s too bad.’ So every day at lunch, I’d call him. Eventually, he said, ‘Don’t call me anymore.’ One day, they told me he’d been replaced. I said, ‘Great, let me talk with the new guy.’ So every day at lunch, I’d call him. And he said, ‘No, no, no.’
“One day in August, he said, ‘If you’ll stop bothering me, I’ll put you on the waiting list.’ I said ‘OK,’ and then I called him every day and asked where I was on the waiting list. At the end of August, he said, ‘You’re going to make it in. Now don’t ever call me again.’”
Lewis laughs and stops with that story. He needs to get back to the business of snapping puzzle pieces into place, so he turns on his computer and loads a microscopic picture of some human cells. The case is going to challenge him, and require him to learn new things and dig up facts that are not readily apparent.
For him, that’s part of the appeal.