Two Tulsa personal injury attorneys are going to court over contacting accident victims

Tuesday, November 8th 2005, 11:14 am

By: News On 6

Two Tulsa personal injury attorneys are headed for a showdown in Tulsa County district court. One claims the other is cheating accident victims out of necessary downtime after an accident.

News on 6 anchor Terry Hood says folks in Green Country will probably recognize the plaintiff in this case. Jeff Martin is known for his commercials featuring William Shatner. He says a competing firm is illegally getting accident information and soliciting victims while they should be recovering.

Martin's attorney says his client has uncovered evidence claiming employees from the Tulsa Beacon use their newspaper to get accident reports with victims' information.

Martin's lawsuit claims the Tulsa Beacon then funnels that information to the Bergman Personal Injury Law Firm, Bewley Chiropractic, and Trinity Restoration body shop.

Trinity Restoration's David Miller tells the News on 6, he had to fire a female employee because she was taking money for steering clients to other businesses, but he says that's all resolved and he doesn't know why he's included in the suit.

Jeff Martin's attorney says Martin wants to protect the public and keep all personal injury lawyers playing by the same rules. Paul DeMuro: "The concept of unfair competition has been around in Oklahoma since statehood. And it says, 'hey, we all ought to be playing by the rules of the game, and not the rules of the jungle.'"

The Tulsa Beacon's Charlie Biggs told the News on 6, he couldn't talk about the case. We made multiple calls to the other defendants at the Bergman Law Firm and Bewley Chiropractic, and were told they'd get back to us. So far, none have.

Both sides are preparing for a hearing in court Wednesday.