As lawyers, our jobs seem simple: hold accountable for the appropriate amount those responsible for hurting one of us. The right-sized settlement or verdict is our goal, for everyone responsible. But actually doing that is often complicated by those who hide the truth, seek to blame others, and refuse to be responsible.

On a hot summer day in Texas, a man working for a company gets in his work truck, a white Ford F-150, to go to a job and check on the job’s progress. He heads across town on a couple of highways, exits, and turns onto a road with a 40 mph speed limit. He crests a hill. The light at the bottom of the hill turns yellow and then red.