4 Dog Defense
By this time, the petrochemical
industry had perfected its 4 dog defense. It worked so well in these
toxic legacy cases that they are still using it with predictable
regularity in spill events. It works like this:
4 DOG DEFENSE
- My Dog Does Not Bite.
- My Dog Bites, But It Didn't Bite You.
- My Dog Bit You. But It Didn't Hurt You.
- My Dog Bit You And Hurt You, But It Wasn't My Fault
Here is the counter strategy to the 4
dog defense. If all victims and their lawyers used this approach then
the companies would have to change their behavior and policies while
dealing with the real issues.
1. Know the breed of dog - learn all of
the unique toxic characteristics and potential risks. Determine ways
to fingerprint the toxic substance such as the wavelengths of
fluorescence of the crude oil. Know the statistics about how often
it has caused harm.
2. Prove you were bitten - Prepare your
health history and be prepared to show your "before and after"
condition with pictures, if possible. Determine the exact nature of
exposure and use techniques to date the time of exposure even if you
have to dig up the waste pits and measure the radiation levels from
nuclear tests to nail down the time frame.
3. Proof of harm. Go to the doctor
immediately. Prepare your acute and chronic symptoms. Determine
your level of maximum exposure. Compare your symptoms with those in
this country and globally.
4. Risk / reward - Show the chances of
being injured. Compare damage with costs to avoid similar injury.
Prepare lists of all previous fines and violations for problems of a
similar nature.
While Big Oil is watching you waste all
your time and money in the usual ways, they always attack the
messenger. This means that before addressing the arguments, they
attack the credibility of witnesses (regardless of qualifications) to
introduce doubt. They know time is on their side and you will soon
run out of money.
The most important lessons are do not
be afraid, prepare a defense for every offensive tactic, and always
claim the moral high ground. Do not break the law to make your point
because then you will be viewed as just another criminal in a
never-ending parade of criminals.
Now that we have seen how the
petrochemical industry valued human life and how they responded to
the risk of cancer following years of toxic exposure, let’s look at
how Big Oil developed their ideas on short term exposure to massive
pollution events and what could have been done to counter their
defense.
