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Ask for Justice | Kardon Stolzman
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Ask for Justice | Kardon Stolzman
Start With Truth
The Right Room is a business and leadership podcast where founders and entrepreneurs share real stories, profit strategies, and practical lessons for building successful companies.
In this episode of The Right Room, Jane Parmel and Celeste DeCamps speak with Kardon Stolzman, co-founder of Stolzman and Kim, a personal injury law firm based in New York. Kardon shares the pivotal experiences that shaped his work, the strategy he uses to guide injured clients through overwhelming situations, and the key lessons people can apply when they are hurt, unsure of their rights, and reluctant to ask for legal help.
Kardon explains that most clients do not come to him eager to file a lawsuit. They come to him in pain, confused, and often worried about being seen as complainers. His role is to help them understand their options, explain the process in plain English, and help them begin asking for justice, not only in the form of compensation, but in finding out what actually happened.
This episode is about much more than personal injury law. It is about clarity under pressure, speaking in everyday language instead of jargon, and taking the right first steps when something serious has gone wrong.
What You’ll Learn:
✅ Why most injury clients start off reluctant and unsure
✅ How Kardon explains fault and damages in simple language
✅ Why plain English builds trust faster than legal jargon
✅ Why you do not need the full story before getting started
✅ How litigation can help uncover the truth
✅ What to do in the first hours and days after an injury
✅ Why getting medical attention quickly matters
✅ How contingency fees work in personal injury cases
Room Service:
If you or someone you know gets hurt, remember these first steps:
- Take pictures if you can
- Get medical attention as soon as possible
- Call a lawyer sooner rather than later
Kardon’s point is simple: you do not need to have every detail figured out before reaching out. Evidence fades, time passes, and the process gets harder when you wait.
About Our Guest:
Kardon Stolzman is a personal injury trial lawyer and co-founder of Coleman and Kim. He represents people in New York and New Jersey who have suffered serious injuries from negligence, including crashes, falls, construction injuries, medical malpractice, and other catastrophic events. He is known for explaining complex legal issues in clear language and helping clients understand both their rights and their next steps.
🌐 Website: askforjustice.com
📞 (212) 987-8777
📧 readyto@askforjustice.com
💼 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kstolzman/
About The Right Room Podcast:
The Right Room is a business and leadership podcast focused on growth, communication, entrepreneurship, and the strategies that help leaders navigate challenges and build stronger businesses.
Subscribe for new episodes weekly.
Hashtags:
#BusinessPodcast #Entrepreneurship #Leadership #BusinessGrowth #TheRightRoom #PersonalInjury #AskForJustice #TrialLaw #KnowYourRights
You don't know the full story. And I don't know it either, but I got to get started. And that's actually a big part of what asking for justice is about is you at least, hopefully, if things work out well, you're going to get justice in the term of monetary damages and making yourself whole. But at the very least, you're going to get the truth.
SPEAKER_01So Celeste, you ever hear those people that um constantly have an issue? They they they they always like a complainer. But then when something you know, like that the boy that cried wolf, everybody's always complaining, but then something really happens and they need help, they need and they don't know where to begin. They just maybe it's an incident at work, um, whether it's a physical incident or an emotional something that comes up. Ever happened in your, you know, years in in business with different companies that you were with?
SPEAKER_00Uh, I've actually been very fortunate, whether being an entrepreneur or having my own small business, uh I've actually been very, very lucky. But I do know speaking to other small businesses and entrepreneurs, and when I've told them you really should go see a lawyer about this, right away, it's an expense, it's a headache, it's time, energy, and is any of it worth it?
SPEAKER_01That's true, that's true. And and to be honest with you, if you don't ask, you don't know. So that brings us to welcoming everybody into the right room. This is where business owners and leaders walk in with questions and hopefully leave with clarity. I'm Jane Parmell.
SPEAKER_00And I'm Celeste Camps, and together we work on a story, a strategy, and a step.
SPEAKER_01That's right. It's the moment that mattered, the strategy that works, and one action that you can take this week, next couple of days, to help you get along in your business and in your career. So today we'd like to welcome in Carden Stoltzman. Welcome to the Write Room, Carden. Great to be here, guys. Thank you very much.
SPEAKER_00We're glad you're here.
SPEAKER_01Great. So you just started your own firm, right?
SPEAKER_02Yes, the law firm Stoltzman and Kim. Oh thank you. Yeah, we're a personal injury law firm based in New York. We represent clients in New York, New Jersey, uh, throughout the 50 states in some instances for people who have been injured. I represent people who have been injured from serious personal injuries from catastrophic events, and I helped them get the compensation that they deserve.
SPEAKER_00That's amazing. Uh, if you don't mind, let our audience know a little bit of your backstory. How did you end up doing this particular part of the law?
SPEAKER_02Sure. Well, um, when I finished college, I worked in politics in New York City and I did a lot of political organizing, some political campaigns. And I really enjoyed the constituent aspect of helping people get government to work for them, to solve problems, whether or not it was uh a landlord tenant issue or a transit issue or getting the garbage picked up or taxes or tolls or other big issues. Um, but over time I realized that that was not going to be the right career for me to work in politics. So I went to law school. And when I was finishing up with law school, I went to an old political mentor of mine. And I said, now I need a job. What do I do now? And he put me in touch with a law firm that represented plaintiffs who had very serious diseases, specifically one, lung cancer and mesothelioma from exposure to asbestos. I didn't even know how to spell any of those words, um, let alone know what they were or what those plaintiffs' legal rights were. But I ended up spending the next seven years of my practice dedicated to representing people who had cancer from toxic exposure to asbestos. Very, very meaningful work, very, very rewarding, also very difficult being with those families, lots of travel as well. Um, not to the best places in the world, just small towns throughout the East Coast and the Midwest, and even as far west as uh Washington, California. Uh, and I really enjoyed helping those families and holding corporations and manufacturers responsible for highly hazardous products that they put out on the market and helping those families make themselves whole. And then, oh, after about 10 years doing that, I switched my practice to focus just on negligence cases car crashes, trip and falls, slip and falls, construction injuries, medical malpractice, assault, things like that. Not so much in the toxic tort space, but more in the New York state negligence um arena. And so now my practice and has been for the last geez, 15 years, I would say, or something like that, 10 to 15. Um focusing on representing New Yorkers, folks from New Jersey, et cetera, on local cases of serious personal injuries. And that's what I do, and that's what me and my partner, Albert Kim, focus on day in and day out.
SPEAKER_01So you focus basically on on the the kind of everyday things that could happen to somebody, but your experience as a trial lawyer, you you are able to go after these, these whoever's in in who was ever responsible, you're able to really get what the person might need moving forward.
SPEAKER_02That's right. So a specialty of mine, besides just knowing how to represent people who've had various injuries from all sorts of injustices, is I've had a lot of experience bringing cases all the way to trial and talking to juries and convincing juries of the fault of the wrongdoer and convincing them about damages. So that has been a uh a next level part of my practice that I've honed over the last five to seven years, I would say, of really focusing on what it takes to get a jury to finish a case at the end. You know, when you get to trial, that's kind of when you find out all the things you wish you had done at the beginning of the case. Um, but once you become a seasoned trial attorney, you start to know how to get that done in advance, or at the very least, how to complete the case and how to explain a complex issue in a way that people can understand. I do my best to take the legal ease out of my issues. I talk about fault. I don't talk about liability, I talk about fault. I don't talk about so much damages as I talk about pain and suffering and lost wages and medical bills, things like that. So being able to use my skills in the courtroom, I find is a very transferable skill for when you start a case from day one, because you know all the elements that you're going to need.
SPEAKER_00Now, I know that of course there's confidentiality, and I'm not going to ask you to give us any names or any particulars that would compromise anybody. But do you have a story that you could tell us about a case? Maybe somebody who was maybe a little reluctant to come to you, not even sure if they had a case, and what you did to walk them through that?
SPEAKER_02Sure. Well, I don't need to, I think almost all my clients are like that. It's very rare that when someone calls me, do they say, hey, I'd like to file a lawsuit today? People, those are not usually the best clients, to be honest. Someone who wakes up in the morning wanting to file a lawsuit, it happens, but generally the people, when they call me, they have just been through a catastrophic event and suffered a traumatic injury and they're in pain. They're they don't know where to go. They literally don't know which doctor to see. Um, and they don't know what to do to protect themselves for their family, to put money in their pocket to pay for their medical bills or their lost wages or for their pain and suffering. So almost all of my clients are like, Well, do I have a case? Is this something that I should do? I don't know. I don't really like being uh, I don't like lawyers, I don't like arguing, I don't like complaining. And that's all reasonable instincts. Um, so when I meet them, I go over their options and I like to tell them listen, this is your choice. I think you have a case, and it makes sense that you're asking for justice for your case. Uh, so I think many of my clients answer your question, Celeste, show up or arrive in my inbox or on my phone on my phone with a level of reluctance because they don't know what to get what it's getting into, and they also don't know their rights, which makes sense. So that's why you speak to an expert, and that's where I step.
SPEAKER_01So you can so you can really guide them along the route of I mean, at listen every injury, every circumstance is different, but you can kind of guide them who to see, who to see first, what to do, is there a case, all of that. Um, and the fact that you said that you don't use the legal jargon, you kind of try to keep it to everyday language, I think that's really game-changing. Do you find that that helps endear you to your clients a little bit better? They they trust you more? I hope so.
SPEAKER_02Um I mean, to me, it just it's also, you know, I always when I meet a new attorney, I say you got to learn how to talk first to various levels of your case. And once you start to get better at learning those levels, you'll you'll be able to explain things better and better in any scenario. So the first is can you explain it to me right now? Can you tell me what happened? Um, and the second is then well, could you tell it to another attorney? Could you explain it to another attorney? Could you explain it to a judge? And then could you explain it to the jury? And the third, the jury sometimes is the most important. Many times it's the judge, but even judges like simple terms. Your fellow, your adversarial attorney, they like simple terms too. Insurance adjusters, they like simple terms also. You know, obviously, I know how I know the vocabulary of my trade. Um, so when I need to, but I think being able to speak in simple terms, it also just means that you understand it well. If you're just repeating jargon, that probably means you don't know what it means. So I I to me it's helpful. So I always tell my clients listen, your case consists of two things fault and damages. And we're gonna see which ones are strongest and which ones are weakest, and why I think your case is good or not good. And sometimes it's 50-50 or something like this, and you're never really sure. It's very rare that you get something that's both at the top, but it happens. And sometimes we don't know. That's a big thing, also. Actually, when a client comes to me, they don't know necessarily what happened. If you get hit by a car, you don't know what the other driver was doing. You can guess, maybe, but you like, well, they ran the red light. Oh, okay. Well, did they really run the red light? Are we sure? Or they cut you off. We don't know. Maybe the person fell asleep with the wheel, maybe the person wasn't paying attention. We don't know all of those facts because the wrongdoer generally does not get out of their car and say, Oh, that was my mistake because I did this, this, and this wrong. Yeah, exactly. I never thought of it that way. When you start your litigation, you don't know the full story. And I don't know it either, but I got to get started. And that's actually a big part of what asking for justice is about, is you at least, hopefully, if things work out well, you're gonna get justice in the term of monetary damages and making yourself whole. But at the very least, you're gonna get the truth, which you don't have the day that your case starts, the day of the incident. You don't have the truth as to how long that broken pothole was there, how long that sidewalk was broken, or um why they didn't put up a sign when they were mopping the floor outside the wet bathroom. You don't know. You don't know, and you don't know what their excuse is. Maybe they have one, maybe that you don't know how long that light was out. And then over time, and unfortunately, really the only way to generally find that is through litigation. So the very first step of asking for justice or the is getting the truth, and that's a very, very powerful thing uh for your process of recovery is just getting the truth. They just want to know what happened. Um, especially that actually happens a lot in medical malpractice, obviously. You know, we don't know what the doctor did wrong. I just know that today I went in, I was fine-ish, and now I'm worse. But I don't know what they did wrong. They certainly didn't tell me. So we don't find out until the case starts.
SPEAKER_01So when you have those other layers, the complexity of the situation, the circumstance could change, could be completely game-changing in how you have to handle the case.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, there's a whole process, right? So, and it's funny, I think you talked about this before. You know, a lot of my clients are concerned about being called the complainer or a whiner, right? And I get that. That's a human instinct, and that's a probably a pretty good human instinct for most of the things that we do in our day-to-day. But you should know that when you file a lawsuit, when I file your lawsuit on your behalf, it's called the legal document that I'm gonna submit to the courthouse, to the New York State Supreme Court, is called the complaint. By definition, you're a complainer. That's that's what the law calls you, with no disregard or no judgment on you. It's called a complaint for good reason. So you are now a complainant, you're a legal complainer. Does that make you a whiner? No, it just makes you a person with a claim. It's just a claim. And then we go through the discovery process, right? And that's when you learn about what actually happened. You get to tell your story, they get to find out that the other side gets to find out, well, what are you going to say when we go to trial? What's your story today? And that in and of itself can be very cathartic. Well, I was crossing the street and I was looking straight ahead. And next thing I know, a truck hit me or a car hit me. And as a result, I had to go to the hospital and I was in a lot of pain. I was very scared. And just being able to tell that whole story, for many people, that's a big part of justice right there. Obviously, the most important thing is the bottom line at the end. But so there's all those facets or those components of asking for justice from the very beginning until the very end that helps people feel whole.
SPEAKER_00Right. And what's really great is that you are at least laying it out for our audience that the strategy is in place, that they can trust you to walk them through the process, to at least let them know you have a valid case, you have a valid complaint, and then these are the steps moving forward. I think that's what is daunting and also what makes people a little reluctant to even start the process. So it's nice to hear it all laid out. But now, what would you tell somebody who isn't, you know, maybe they're afraid that there's going to be now repercussions for coming forward. You know, is how do you uh allay their fears with that?
SPEAKER_02Right. Well, that actually has happened to me on several accounts, uh several accounts. It tip it happens, for example, in uh when people get injured in their own building. You file a lawsuit against your condo board and your neighbors, and now next thing you know, they're all mad at you sometimes. I I told my uh recent client, I said, Well, what do you expect? They know they screwed up, and now you're calling them on it. So it's almost mathematic. That's they know they screwed up, they know you got hurt, they know someone didn't follow the rules on their watch, and now you're just asking for what you deserve. Like I said, it's very rare in this life, in any of our scenarios, I'm sure, where if you went up to someone and said, Hey, you screwed this up and you screwed this up, and now I have this thing and this thing happen, and now you have to do this to make everything right. It's very rare where someone says, Yes, I agree with everything you just said. Now let me give you the thing that you want.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_02That's true. It doesn't work that way. So, Celeste, answer your question. I tell them, Well, this is part of what getting justice is about. That's just the process. You have to ask for justice to get it. And sometimes, yeah, but believe me, that's part of the consequences, and you're gonna want to know what happened, you're gonna want to get justice at the end of the day.
SPEAKER_01So this brings us to perfect setup for part of the show that we do is called room service. And what it is basically is what we do is we ask for um, in this case, one step or or a series of steps. What's the first thing like somebody gets hurt? Uh whether it's on the job, uh, you know, walking the street, whatever you said, um, what should they do in the next 48 hours, day or two, or when they are physically able to do? What's the what are some of the steps that they can do first?
SPEAKER_02Sure.
SPEAKER_01Um, I'm glad you asked that, Jane.
SPEAKER_02So the first thing is at the scene, if you're physically capable, pictures help. If you're there, I mean, now everybody has a can has a phone. That used to be harder. Believe it or not, for our our younger audience, that used to be hard. Um, so if you're at the scene and you're physically able or someone's with you, if you can take pictures, always good. Um, and even if someone can go later on, either that night or later on for whatever it might be, if it's the car, if it's the location, pictures are a good start. Um this is in no order of priority, by the way. There's a handful of things. The second or a second thing is get medical attention as soon as possible. I tell all of my clients what's good for your body is 99% also good for your case. So getting medical attention immediately is gonna make my job easier, make no doubt.
SPEAKER_01Because now a lot of people hold off because they're afraid of that too. That's another layer of you know, expense and everything else.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely. And healthcare coverage is hard and expensive and daunting. But the sooner you can get medical treatment, whether or not it's the emergency room, a walk-in clinic, urgent care clinic, your pediatric, your doctor, your primary care, or any sort of pain facility, physical therapy type place. I prefer if you go, I recommend someone goes you go to the hospital. Whether or not that's it within the ambulance that comes to the scene or not, that's up to you. I know people get concerned about the price. Um, so I guess if you are concerned about cost and you don't want the ambulance to take you, and for some reason you think you can make it to the hospital on your own, go on your own. And even if you get home at the end of the incident, you made it home and you didn't think it was so bad when you got home, but the pain's not going away by the time you go to bed, call an Uber or your friend or your mom or somebody else and have them take you to the hospital immediately. First of all, you got to make sure you're okay. So you got to ask for that help too, right? Exactly. I know plenty of people don't like doctors, they don't like ambulances, they don't like hospitals, but you can't ignore your pain. And also from a practitioner standpoint, it's very helpful for me to show that your pain started from this incident. If we wait too long, it's going to make it harder and harder for me to prove what I know to be true, that this that your pain that you have right now started from that day. And then the third, I guess, would be to call a lawyer. Cases typically are better off the sooner rather than later. Evidence disappears, witnesses go by the wayside, things like that. And the longer your case lasts, it doesn't usually help. You want to be able to get things moving. Because unfortunately, in many instances, the wheels of justice grind slowly. So the sooner you get to me, the sooner I can get things started. Um, and then we can at least keep things moving that way.
SPEAKER_00I know there's been a lot of things. These are great tips, but I think also people are going to wonder uh what is the cost of going to a lawyer? Because what if maybe they don't really have a case and you can't prove that there was a real problem that you you understand what I'm saying. Absolutely. I'm so glad to ask.
SPEAKER_02Because guess what, everybody? The cost is nothing to you. When you hire me, a personal injury attorney in the state of New York, we charge on contingency only. So what that means is you don't have to cut us a check for $5,000 or $10,000. Dollar. There's no retainer fee. We don't bill you by the hour. I have friends on the other side, and they're always counting every six minutes they're looking over. I don't do that. I don't even know how. If someone asked to pay me by the hour, I wouldn't even, I don't even have a billing mechanism to know how to do that. So I only get paid when the client gets paid. At the end of the day, by either settlement or verdict, when we get the check, my firm takes our fee. In New York, that's typically one-third. And then we pay off expenses. Um, and then you get the rest. But at no point, and even if you fire me along the way, or if which I hope you don't do, um, or if you lose, I take the risk, I pay all the fees up front, medical bills that I have to collect, records that I have to get. I don't pay medical bills, I mean I have to get those records. Uh, filing fees, expert costs, things like that. My firm fronts all that risk. And if for some reason the case doesn't pan out, then I eat the risk, I eat the loss, which by the way, is a really good filter mechanism for how we choose to take our cases. Like if someone walked into my office and I just want, can you please be my lawyer? I think I've got a really good case. And I said, I don't, it's not worth it for me because I don't want to, first of all, I don't want to set you up for the expectation of it not working out. And be it's not worth, it's not good business.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_02So the answer, Celeste, is it costs you nothing.
SPEAKER_00That's great. And now can't do better than that. That's and I like that answer a lot. That's very, that's very reassuring for I think many people who again they've never been in that situation and they really don't know what the process is. But I do have another question for you. And because we are called the right room, what does it mean to you to be in the right room? What does that look like? What does that feel like? What is important to you?
SPEAKER_02Sure. Well, I guess for a business perspective, a great place for me to be is with other talented attorneys. Anytime I'm in a room with other talented attorneys, I'm learning from them, picking up, or I'm getting uh they're telling I'm getting validated on something I've done, or I like being with other talented attorneys. That's why I'm so so glad to work with my partner, Albert. He's a great attorney. So the right room for me is being with great attorneys. Um, I guess the second place I'd like to be is with a place, a place where somebody needs help. Uh, you know. Um, so I like being available to help somebody, to help put their case together, uh, to explain to them their rights and help them ask for justice.
SPEAKER_01Cool. I think so. I think that's a perfect answer. I mean, because that it really encapsulates everything that you're saying. And I I mean, listening to you and hearing the different things, um, the contingency is is game-changing for somebody that is apprehensive. Um, and having somebody that can speak to them again, you don't it doesn't sound to me like you talk at them, you talk to them, and you let them understand where they where they stand. And I mean that's perfect. Like you said, being in the right room with other talented attorneys, that the fact that you say you learn from them, you can be validated from them, that's what it's all about. So we thank you for that. That's really good.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely. You know, I enjoy kind of talking to my client. Another reason why I like explaining to my clients things in plain English is because sometimes they'll say back, no, no, no, that's not what happened. It was actually this. So now we're working together to solve to get more information. That wouldn't have happened if I just breezed through it with all my legal jargon. They wouldn't know what we're looking for. So we can kind of work together a little bit to collaborate because they were there, they know what happened, or hopefully they know at least part of what happened. So when you kind of you get more information that way when you're actually connecting.
SPEAKER_01Sounds good to me.
SPEAKER_00To me as well. Yeah, I know that anybody listening to you is going to want to know how to contact you. Now, of course, we're going to have all of your information in our notes. And I will let everybody know too that we are definitely going to have Cardon again because there is even more information that I know he'd like to share. We asked him specifically to keep it simple. But I would like to know for our audience what is your preferred way of being contacted?
SPEAKER_02The easiest is to go to my website, askforjustice.com.
SPEAKER_01Perfect name. Perfect name.
SPEAKER_02Just go to askforjustice.com. You'll find us.
SPEAKER_01That is great. Great. Well, Carden, I I thank you so much for enlightening us a little bit on and and at the very beginning, how this process um begins or or starts to move along. Um, and really allaying people's fears, I think, is probably uh one of your superpowers. Um, and it makes it easy to talk to you and easy. You're you're not one of those lawyers. So I just, you know, it sounds good. So we really appreciate you coming on today. And um, Celeste, you got anything else you want to ask him or you want to say?
SPEAKER_00Well, I think right now it's uh wonderful to have somebody come on and explain the process, give everybody a strategy, give them ideas of if they do find themselves on the other side of you know being hurt or being wronged where their reputation might be at stake or their health is at stake, to understand at least a few things to keep in mind that would help their case, whether or not they bring one or not. But I think it's good to remember to write down everything, take pictures of everything, and get as much information together to bring to a lawyer, which I think probably helps the process go that much smoother.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_00Cardin, thank you so much.
SPEAKER_02Let me just say one more thing though.
SPEAKER_00Sure.
SPEAKER_02If you don't have pictures and the police didn't come and you don't have a written report, call me anyway. Anyway, okay, call me anyway. Sometimes my clients, well, I don't know, I don't have blah blah blah. That's okay. I'm gonna send an investigator there. I'm gonna find something, I'm gonna put it together. So you're right, those are the things that I hoped you do. But if you haven't, don't beat yourself up. You don't have to be your own lawyer after you just got hurt. Just give me a call, www.asforjustice.com. It's pretty easy to find. And I'll help put the pieces together.
SPEAKER_01That's I was just gonna say to you, he's gonna put the pieces together. Better that you ask than not ask because you don't want to lose out, just like you said. And and the sooner the better. I think that's a that's a real great takeaway. Carden, thank you so much. I can't begin to thank you for taking time. I know you just launched the firm. Uh best of luck to you. We want to have you on again, like Celeste said. But thank you so much for showing up today and being in the right room with us.
SPEAKER_02Feel blessed to have been here. Thanks very much, guys.
SPEAKER_01All right, take care. Thank you.
