Life Lessons from Attorney Harvey Kulawitz

Join us for an enriching edition of Hot Takes as we sit down with Harvey Kulawitz, a highly successful attorney with over 45 years of experience and a personal friend of our host. Harvey shares profound life lessons that have shaped his journey, including poignant stories from his early days, his transition into personal injury law, and heartfelt advice on family, career, and the simple pleasures of life. Plus, get Harvey's perspective on work-life balance, the importance of marriage, and his hot takes on everyday nuisances and larger societal issues. Don't miss this insightful conversation that promises to leave you inspired.

00:00 Welcome and Introduction of Special Guest
01:52 Remembering a friend: A Tribute
03:09 Tea Talk and Personal Preferences
03:42 Harvey's Early Life and Musical Journey
07:03 Choosing a Career in Law
10:43 Impact of World War II and Family History
14:33 Starting a Legal Career and Personal Stories
18:44 Transition to Personal Injury Law
27:42 Family Life and Personal Reflections
31:19 Hobbies and Interests: Music and More
33:09 Hot Take: E-Bikes vs. Regular Bikes
34:47 E-Bikes: A Double-Edged Sword
36:57 Gas Prices and Environmental Incentives
38:12 Electric Vehicles: The Future and the Past
40:47 Hot Takes on Modern Annoyances
51:49 The Importance of Respect and Listening
57:00 Life Lessons and Final Thoughts

Creators and Guests

Host

Jim Baker

Author of "The Adventure Begins When The Plan Falls Apart" Converting a Crisis into Company Success, Jim is a husband and father of 4, Baker has spent the last 30 years in the business world as an entrepreneur, investor, and advisor. He had a successful exit in 2014 after owning and managing a CRO and functional services company, Ockham, specializing in Oncology. During that time prior to exit, Baker grew ASG and then Ockham both organically and through M&A. Over time Baker has experience in acquiring and selling companies, working with investment bankers, private equity, and mezzanine debt funding. In addition, has vast experience in business branding and managing and leading people. After the sale to Chiltern International, Baker started Sumus Development Group, an advisory business focused on operational excellence, exit strategy and marketing. In addition, Baker is an active investor in the business community.

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25 Hot Takes - Harvey Kulawitz
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[00:00:00]

Jim Baker: Hello everybody, and welcome to another edition of hot Takes, your Go-to Online Tea Store. Today I am honored and privileged to have a very special guest, a very special friend who, pea Pie doesn't know this, but for the past 35 or so years in business, um, there are phrases, there are things that he told me back in my twenties that still resonate with me today and have carried me through business and through life [00:01:00] in general. His name is Harvey Kitz. He is an attorney. He has his own practice. He's been very successful in Ridgefield, Connecticut for the past, well, what, almost close to 30, 40 years now.

Um, 45. And he's a phenomenal family man, um, and passionate about his life and his work. And so I'm very happy to have Harvey with us today.

So how are you doing today?

Harvey Kulawitz: I'm doing fine. First thanks. Thank you so much for having me on the show. I'm, I'm really honored. Um, you asked how I'm doing today. A friend of mine, my good friend I had mentioned to you on when we spoke, he passed away two two nights ago. So we're all kind of rattled 'cause we loved him. I loved him.

But that's life. I mean, but it's, it's a huge loss to, to myself and everybody in the community. A huge loss. Yeah.

Jim Baker: Yeah, I know he meant a lot to you and why don't you tell us a little bit about him?

Harvey Kulawitz: His name was Jimmy Ow. G-R-A-S-H-O-W. Look him [00:02:00] up online. He was a phenomenal person. Just a, a sweetheart of a man, loving, kind, caring, sharing, smart as a whip and an unbelievable artist. And. Some of his work through the years is, is depicted on by album covers that he did for Jetro Toll, for the Yardbirds pieces of art that he had to show at the Met in New York City.

I mean, he accomplished, accomplished, accomplished beyond you know, imagination really. And then was a phenomenal teacher. Um, loved teaching. He taught every summer and I believe in Colorado, but all over the country. And he would teach kids age five and, and he'd teach people in their eighties. I mean, he loved teaching and he great family man.

And funny, as funny as hell, if I could say hell on your

show. Funny. And everybody who knew him and, and just, we, we just love him dearly. So [00:03:00] it's a big loss. But thanks for asking about him. Thank you.

Jim Baker: Well, thanks for telling us about him. He sounded like a phenomenal human being, and prayers will be with

him.

Harvey Kulawitz: you.

Jim Baker: So before we do every this, all these podcasts, I always pour myself a little special tea. So today's a little sweet tea, black tea that I, I enjoy. Um, just wanna ask you a quick question. I mean, do you drink tea?

Harvey Kulawitz: I'm really not a tea drinker. I'm a coffee drinker. Sorry. I know you're about tea, but my wife drinks tea all the time. All the time.

Jim Baker: All right, so, well, I'll send her some tea after this

episode.

Harvey Kulawitz: some tea.

Jim Baker: So tell us a little bit about yourself. Um, you know, how you got started growing up, all that kind of stuff.

Harvey Kulawitz: Well, born in Brooklyn 72 and a half years ago. Brooklyn Boy, and my parents moved out from Brooklyn when I was only three years old, but I still remember the day that we moved, they [00:04:00] moved to Long Island, which at that point was it was all potato farms. And all the communities were first being built.

'cause this was in the wake of World War ii, like when Levittown was going up, all of Long Island was potato farms. And so we, we lived in, one of the first neighborhoods happened that we moved to a town called Roosevelt, long Island. Howard Stern was a year behind me in elementary school,

but we, no, I didn't know him, but we moved a few years later to a town called Baldwin, which was nearby.

And I grew up in Baldwin and I have friends today, friends today that, that I was friends with back in grade school. And I played in a rock and roll band. You know, we, we were, we had, we had a great garage band. We used to do gigs and played at, played concerts and parties and, I mean, we were good. We were really, really good.

And you know, lemme give a quick shout out to the guys in the band R and Paul and Gent and we're still friends and, you know, so it [00:05:00] was a big part of my life. Um.

Jim Baker: just outta curiosity, describe what, what you looked like back then. I assume you had a lot more hair

Harvey Kulawitz: I was a hippie. I was a hippie. I, I was a classic hippie. And that was, that was my mindset. I was a big Beatles fan, still a, still a big Beatles fan. Beatles. And, and the Birds and the Beach Boys, and, I mean, just major, my whole life was about music. It was about music. And we used to ride our bicycles. We didn't have, we didn't drive yet.

We would ride our bicycles to the music store, like in the next town to, and then pool our money to buy a $16 piece of equipment, you know, and then ride home on our bicycles, be so excited about getting this little mixer or whatever it was. And great memories. And then at our 40th high school reunion, they called us and they said, Hey, will you guys play?

And we hadn't played in like 30 something years. And we'd, we didn't even practice. We just did a set list through online. And there was another band playing. They took a [00:06:00] break. They said, we'd like to have this. Band from, from our high school named Jam come up and play and we just knocked it outta the park.

It was like in the movies, it was great.

So

Jim Baker: So

Billy Joel cut his teeth in Long Island too, right?

Harvey Kulawitz: I can't believe you, you mentioned Billy Joel. Billy Joel then was known as Billy Joe, and he played in a band called The Hassles. No one has heard, very few people heard of the Hassles. They sold like six albums. I have one. And we would see them, they played at our high school in the Commons. You know, they would get like a thousand dollars a night for the band and we would get like $200 a night for the whole band.

Yeah. So but yes, he's from Long Island and hailed from Long Island. And then when I was in college, I heard one day on the radio Piano Man by Billy Joel, and I said, oh my God, he made it, he made it. And I had no idea how high he was gonna make it. I mean, he's essentially on the same level as The Beatles, [00:07:00] you know.

So amazing.

Jim Baker: So you got this obviously passion and love for music, and you go through high school, you're into college, and then what got you into law?

Harvey Kulawitz: You know, I was in 11th grade. It's, it's funny a teacher, a social studies teacher, Mr. Nurenberg called me up after class and he said, you know, you ever think about being a lawyer? So I don't know what he heard or saw. I said, you know, no. You know, we weren't, we didn't, we didn't have helicopter parents back then, you know, and I'll tell you a funny story in a second about that.

I said, okay, you know, I'll think about that. So it was always in my mind. And then I had a cousin about seven or eight years older than me who did go to law school, who did very well. And I, I kind of, in a sense, followed in his footsteps. Um, and, and I really enjoyed it. I, I gotta tell you, I, I, law school's a love hate thing.

But, but overall, [00:08:00] I, I really, you know, enjoyed it the studying and, and that, you know, that's what happened. I enjoy helping people. Um, so I enjoy what I do. I'm still working. I, and I, I really like, I I said I, I do enjoy it.

Jim Baker: So, where'd you go to undergrad and then where'd you go to law school?

Harvey Kulawitz: So I went to Syracuse undergrad and I was in the business school and I did one semester in Amsterdam, which was, um, very impactful on my life. 'cause I was 19. What happened was my roommate said to me, Hey, let's apply to the program in Amsterdam. So I said, great. So we applied and first I said, I don't want to go, but okay, so, so we applied.

I get in and he doesn't get in. So I wind up going to Amsterdam without him. And he was, he's still angry about that, that he didn't get in. So, anyway, um, in Amsterdam I lived with a Dutch family and I was 19 years old and I didn't realize. It's something we never spoke about, the impact [00:09:00] of World War ii.

They lived it every day. This is about 19 71, 72. So World War II was only ended 25 years before that. 25 years. So they were telling me how the Nazis were in their little little apartment, little flat that they had in Amsterdam and, and all the damage and destruction that was done to their city and their country.

And I, I remember, 'cause growing up, world War II to us were TV shows like Hogan's Heroes, you know, and Mikhail's Navy. I mean, it was just, oh, that looks like it was fun, though. I knew it wasn't fun. 'cause my father was in the Army and most of my friends' dads, their, their fathers were in the military and in active combat.

You know, my father, it, it impacted his life. He always spoke about the army. But World War living in Amsterdam really brought home the impact of World War ii to me.

Jim Baker: And with your father, was he, um, in Europe or Japan, or was [00:10:00] he

Harvey Kulawitz: He was in the Philippines. He was in the Philippines in the, in the infantry. And then he, he contracted dysentery and he was very sick. And then later they asked anybody here, musicians. And he was a really good musician and they selected him and put him in the army band. He said it saved his life, saved his life.

And that is largely responsible for my direction in music. And now my own kids in music, my oldest daughter in particular, they're all good musicians, but she went on to become professional. And so it's funny how life, how life impacts you that way and it kind of rolls along and things that happened 50 years ago are still going on in your family now, you know.

Jim Baker: Now when over in Amsterdam, I mean obviously you, you relive the war in some senses with, through the family. And what things in particular did you pick up that impacted you for the rest of your

Harvey Kulawitz: Wow. Um, [00:11:00] well first of all, I lost a lot of family in, in the war, which I learned later on. My great grandparents were, were murdered in the war. In fact, they're, they are depicted in the Holocaust Museum in Berlin. But even as a kid, we didn't discuss these things. It was, it just like, it was so fresh. We were the first generation after the war and it just wasn't discussed.

I remember we lived in a neighborhood where people actually had numbers on their arms 'cause they were in the concentration camps. But you just, you just didn't discuss it. It really wasn't until the movie you know, Schindler, um, Schindler's List that I remember sitting there and just shaking. And then I contact, I was in, I was practicing here in Ridgefield and I contacted the school system and I said, I want to pay for the school to the high school to see this movie.

And they, and they did that, which was wonderful. But um, yeah, it's just, it's, it's, there's so many, [00:12:00] so many aspects, so many things like that. Yeah.

Jim Baker: And you know, growing up back then, obviously it's a different time now where we have to. I guess lead with our feelings and talk about the past and everything else. And back then it was your dad in particular, in that generation. They fought, they moved on, they

Harvey Kulawitz: That's it. It wasn't, it wasn't even discussed. It wasn't discussed. It wasn't, and I, like every one of my uncles had a lot of uncles, everyone was in the military, in the Navy, the army, air Force, everyone, all of my friends. Same thing. Same thing. And they were in active duty service in World War ii. So it was really, and, and these were the, these were the guys that were coming home.

That had the veterans benefits for the first time and the, and the VA loans, you know, and housing like, like I said, was just going up. And houses were reasonably priced and cars reasonably priced. And the country went through a major boom when these guys came home and the girlfriends were waiting for them, starting families, building homes, schools it.[00:13:00]

So that's what I remember seeing as a kid. I remember our neighborhood, just imagine seeing dozens and dozens of houses under construction. So we would ride our bikes down there and play in the, in the new construction when the contractors weren't there. But, and this was all over and it, all the towns. I remember seeing this.

It was a pretty

Jim Baker: up right around the time of Vietnam. Correct.

Harvey Kulawitz: Exactly,

exactly.

Jim Baker: you, went to college and that got your deferral.

Harvey Kulawitz: No, no. I just, we, we had a lottery system when I was in college and so I got a very high number. And it's funny, my roommate, he got a very low number and he got his number. It was number 20, and he said, Yahoo. And I said, Yahoo. Hey man, you're, you're going to Vietnam. What are you talking about? You know?

And um, he wound up because he had a problem with his eyes and ultimately they, he got, you know four F or whatever. And he, he didn't go into the army, but it was a, it was a [00:14:00] very, um, troubling time. Not unlike different than what's going on now, but it was a very unsettling time in America. I remember as a kid Robert Kennedy being assassinated, Martin Luther King being assassinated.

Malcolm X, who I didn't even know who he was, but it was scary. Who's Malcolm X and why was he assassinated? All, it was like assassination was a norm. And now look what just happened last week.

You

Jim Baker: I do want to cover that with you later on.

Um, so after Syracuse, you end up going to

Harvey Kulawitz: I went to law school in Philadelphia, temple, temple Law School. Yeah. Um, and was three years in Philly. Really, really liked Philly. And, and then I went then I had jobs in New York, and then I decided to go to Connecticut, New York at that time, in 1979 or so. It was not a good town. It was crumbling. If you remember.

There was that headline about, you [00:15:00] know, somebody to New York, you know, dropped dead or something was horrible. Um, and I remember the city then it was rough 42nd Street, central Park. I mean, you couldn't really even just hang out in the city. So I decided I'm gonna go to Connecticut. Um, and little by little got established and, and the rest is, is here we are.

Jim Baker: Yeah. And how did you pick Richfield, by the way?

Harvey Kulawitz: It was just circumstances that I started in Bridgeport and then through an uncle of mine, he said, you know, one of my friend's sons, one of my friend's sons, and you know, the, you know who it is is looking for a young lawyer to join him 'cause he's so busy. So we met and that night we spoke for like three hours and really hit it off.

And he's a, he's a great guy. And he said, look, I want you to start, you know, Monday. Had he not said that, had he said, you know, think about it for a week or two or think about it for a week. Typically somebody, he [00:16:00] didn't say that. I may have just gone back to New York at that point. I don't know. But that's what happened.

It changed my whole life and it, it was a great, it was a great decision and you know.

Jim Baker: Yeah. So you came into my life, um, I think a year prior. My father was a, um, wonderful human being, but he, everything was a fight. Um, whether he was arguing with a referee or, you know, whatever it was, it was always, always something going on. And he had purchased a a lawnmower from the local hardware store and evidently some of the accessories or the mower itself didn't work.

And he tried, I think he tried reasoning with the owner and it, he was unsuccessful and he ended up hiring you. And, um, he ended up having a successful outcome. And then about a year or so later he was diagnosed with lung cancer and he passed away suddenly. And, um, at the time my [00:17:00] mom still had a, my brother was still in high school and the, I was outta college and I actually started working with him for about a year.

And, um, my mom was working and I had two other siblings that were. One was actually outta college too, and the other one was in in school as well. And he had a life insurance policy that he had let lapse. He stopped paying the premiums on it, you know, six or so months before he had passed away.

And through you and through the insurance agent, um, which was somewhat unusual. Um, we were able to get that death benefit, you know, paid, you know, to my mom. Um, which in hindsight now you look back on it and you thought that money, which I believe you know, was somewhere around $600,000, seemed like it was a king's ransom back then.

And now it probably wouldn't last you more than about, you know, three or four months. And but through your credit, through your efforts and everything else, um, you then became my attorney, um, as [00:18:00] I, you know, began my entrepreneurship career. And, um it was, I don't God brought us together and, and you did a great thing for my family and. And I remember going through some stuff with some employees and you know, one thing you always told me is, whatever you do, don't ever give away equity. You know, it needs to be paid for, it needs to be earned. And I literally say that today to anybody who asked me for advice. You know, that's probably the first thing I tell them. So, um, yeah. So we came together and, um, and then I think you, you know, did this business thing for a while. This, you know, what I would call general practice, but mostly contract, you know, law, et cetera. And then you decided to get into a personal injury business. why'd you make that switch?

Harvey Kulawitz: Um, when, when I started as a young lawyer in, in Ridgefield. We would just take really anything. We just wanted to do business and we wanted our name to grow, and [00:19:00] we wanted, and we were young and we just wanted to know all the areas of the law, how else are you gonna know them unless you practiced them, really.

And then one area that I really detested was divorce law. I mean, hated it. Um, and I told, you know, my then partner, I said, we can't do this anymore. It, it's just, it's eating me alive. I hate it. People would women show up in the office with a black guy. I mean, come on, fighting with another lawyer about someone else's kids.

It's horrific. It shouldn't even be law, you know? So I handled a few injury cases and I did very well with them. And I said, you know what? This is where I want to concentrate. Um, and that's what happened. That's what happened, because now I wasn't looking to some guy's savings account for, for money, you know which is what divorce lawyers do, or looking to their retirement for whatever it is.

I, that's. I was now, I had people with a substantial amount of money available to the people who were, in [00:20:00] my opinion, entitled to it if they were seriously injured, or look at what happened in your father's case where they weren't paying. And we, we proved that the effects of the cancer is what prevented him from making the decision to, to pay his premiums.

If I remember, he was getting lost on the train and things. He couldn't find his way home, and we were showing his decision making was, was off.

Jim Baker: Yeah.

Harvey Kulawitz: they were, they were a good company and they stepped up. They stepped up to the plate, you know?

Jim Baker: Yeah, because unbeknownst to us at the time, he was originally diagnosed with lung cancer, but had already had metastas to

his head, and he had, you know, four brain tumors. And, you know, back then it was obviously a tragedy that he went so fast because he never really had a chance to say goodbye. But in hindsight, seeing all the people, you know, s suffer, you know, these long term debilitating endings, sometimes it, it actually was a blessing that he, he, he went so fast.

Harvey Kulawitz: Yeah,

Jim Baker: So so you get into the [00:21:00] personal injury piece of it, and then you have to extricate yourself from your, your law partner. I know you were friends as well, so kind of walk us through that. How did that go?

Harvey Kulawitz: well, you know, that's rough. I mean, anytime a business breaks up or a partnership breaks up, it's rough. And it was rough. And, um, I always say my, my former partner was a, is a great guy and was a great lawyer, but things changed. My practice changed substantially. His practice changed substantially and they just.

To operate under the same roof. Just didn't, it didn't make sense. So we had 20 good years together and then the last 25, which is hard for me to believe I've been, been out on my own completely. You know, it goes like that. I mean, it's crazy.

Jim Baker: How do you determine what cases to take and what cases not to take?

Harvey Kulawitz: That's a great question. Um, I'm always very cognizant of damage [00:22:00] control and I have two son-in-laws now that are both lawyers who do what I do. One's in New York and New Jersey and one's in Connecticut. And I, they know how I feel about damage control. You have to, you have to really have radar to make sure you want to have this client, because these cases go on a minimum of a year, sometimes two years and longer.

And you want to have somebody who you can trust because some people have gotten through me that way. And then I find out in court later that they were lying. And then I've wasted a lot of time. So you have to have good radar. And then you have to believe in their case, have to believe in their case.

And when, when those elements come together, I take the case and I will work on it diligently and do everything, everything that's necessary to, to get a good result for the, for whoever my client is. And in the last few years, I've been able to take [00:23:00] fewer cases, but stronger cases that I want to pursue.

And then there are other law firms who will be happy to take the, these cases that I don't want to take right now for whatever reason, or even my son-in-laws will take these, their, these cases. So that's how, that's how it works. But I'm very, very careful on what cases I take in.

Jim Baker: When you mentioned damage control, what do you mean by that?

Harvey Kulawitz: I mean that the, the person, the client, I have to be comfortable with the client that they're honest with me that they're not exaggerating, that they're. Truthful about their past history, we need people who are honest [00:24:00] I know you go through a, probably a diligence process with your potential clients, but do you have like a secret sauce or a, sense, so to speak, that detects whether or not you're gonna move forward with that client? In most cases.

Um, the, the thing that I, that I, that I do have, and people who have been prac have been practicing as long as I have in this field. A client comes in and we could pretty much see and. Entirely what's gonna go on for the next year, year and a half, two years? We could, we, we see it, [00:25:00] we feel it. We know it, and what they're gonna have to do and what's gonna help them.

And, and, but we know we have to go through the process now. So, but that comes with experience. You can't, that, that's just from handling so many cases I've handled in the thousands of cases, just of injury cases and things tend to, you see the patterns and things repeat and, and you could, I, I call from that facts that they can use to help them in their own case or to be able to steer them that this can happen or this can happen.

And I had a previous case where this happened so they could learn from that and get the benefit of that.

Jim Baker: Yeah, I think from my experience with you, and again it was when I was younger, but what I loved about you is when you're brutally honest, you didn't just give me what I wanted to hear you, you told me what I didn't want to hear sometimes and, but I always felt that you were like my older brother, you were in the corner with me and as a result. [00:26:00] For me at least, I didn't wanna let you down. I didn't want to, you know, not be 100% truthful with you. Um, and so I, I'm, you're probably too humble to admit it, but I think that's your secret sauce probably in, in a lot of situations where, you know, people trust you and they don't then want to disappoint you going forward.

Harvey Kulawitz: Yeah. Well thank you. Thank you for that. I wanna say what I remember about that case and working with you is your mother was now a widow and you were so young and you were the head of the family. You were the head of the family and it was like, oh my God, what do, what do I do now? You are going into your father's business, you had a lot on your shoulders.

And, and it reminded me, and we never spoke about this before, but I'm tell you now, that my dad was about 19 or 20 years old when his father died and he had to jump into the business. My father wanted to be a chemical engineer. He loved science. He was really good at it. And then he had to jump into a [00:27:00] book binding pamphlet, book binding business in Lower Manhattan.

He didn't know anything about it, but people liked his father so much. His name was Harry, who I'm named. After that, even the competitors came in and taught my father. His name was Jack, how, how this business works. So he did ev Why did he do that? he want?

He had to support his mother and his younger sister. You were in a real si a similar situation at that age. And he did.

Jim Baker: Yeah. Well thank you for that. And I think sometimes when you're too young, you probably don't know the totality of the situation. Um, but you just go forward and you know, if you have people in your corner and I knew you were in my corner, then it, it became easier to do that.

Harvey Kulawitz: yeah

Jim Baker: The, at the same time, you're being successful as an attorney.

You're also being successful in your family life. So describe your family to us.

Harvey Kulawitz: I have a wonderful, wonderful wife who's like, blessing from God. That's how I look at it. Seriously. we have [00:28:00] three great kids who are all married. Our son just got married like two weeks ago on Block Island. Our daughters have great husbands. We love, I love my son-in-laws guys.

Elliot Dan, I love you guys, and I think that's important to tell people you love 'em, and we say it all the time. And to my new daughter-in-law, Annmarie love you. And our kids love them and our grandkids. I mean, what makes my day now more than anything, seeing my grandkids, just seeing my grandkids, sitting down, reading a book, talking to 'em, playing the piano with them, whatever I do, that's my life.

That they're my life. That's why I'm working. It's just you know, I enjoy working, but I continue to work for, for my family.

Jim Baker: Sure. I think also too, and you hit it before, and I feel the same way. I, and I said this in my daughter's weddings, that there's no greater, I think, institution than marriage. Um, I mean, it's. [00:29:00] I couldn't have done what I did without a supporting wife who was a phenomenal mom. Um, and she's also probably like your wife when you're going off the rails, she puts you back on the

rails.

Uh, some, sometimes not in a nice way, but she puts you back

on the

rails. And,

Harvey Kulawitz: Yeah, no

Jim Baker: and I, I just, it's, I, everybody should do it. I mean, that's, that's how I feel about it. And, um I'm thankful. Like you, you know, you have all three married, I have three outta four married at this point in time. And also love my, my son-in-laws and my daughter-in-law.

And, um, it's you know, they brought these wonderful children into the world. So it's, but I think the foundation is, you know, having this really good man marriage and, um, I, I just can't, you know, speak highly enough of it.

Harvey Kulawitz: Yeah, we're different people from when you're single and you're maturing and growing up to being a family person and then having kids. It's all about them. [00:30:00] It's not before that, it's all about me. You have a family, you have a child, two children, it's, and you, you love them. Obviously you own, you own an obligation to them.

You brought them into the world. Do everything you can for them. Do everything you can for them. So that's what we do.

Jim Baker: So, are you gonna retire someday or are you gonna keep going?

Harvey Kulawitz: I don't plan on retiring. I really don't. Um, I don't, I don't see why I am working differently than I did. I'm being very careful on the cases I take in. If I don't take 'em, like I say, they'll go to my son-in-laws or to other law firms that I work with here. Um, but there, I don't see any reason. I like getting up in the morning and, and, and coming into the office and I have phone calls and emails and people are asking me questions and need things.

And it's, it's, it's important I think, to work. I, I have some friends that have retired and it's like, what day of the week is this? You know, they'll say, I say, what are you doing today? Well, I'm going to the post office. [00:31:00] Oh, that sounds good. You know,

Jim Baker: Yeah. I, I'm, I'm with you on that too. And I think, yeah, every day's gotta have a, you gotta have a purpose.

Harvey Kulawitz: a purpose. And it,

it's,

Jim Baker: that purpose could be recreation for a day, but most of the time it's gotta be something that's greater than

Harvey Kulawitz: I, yeah.

Jim Baker: I, think we just get bored.

Harvey Kulawitz: Yeah, but no, no question. And I still play music. I told you I was in the rock band. Um, but when I was about 30 living, living up here, I just, I heard a band in Westport playing outside and they were jazz musicians. I said, man, I can't play any of that stuff. So I started taking lessons. So I took lessons for a good 10 years or more with a great teacher here in town, Nick Barick, and um, and then lessons subsequently with a friend of mine, David Morgan.

Well, now I have a band that I play with like twice, twice a month. And we have a great time. We just have a great time. The drummer's a Cardi, actually my cardiologist sax player is a [00:32:00] lawyer who I've had cases with. Um, at the other sax player is a woman who, she was a client of mine and the bass player we were introduced to.

And he's just just a great, great guy. So.

Jim Baker: How do you guys play? Public leader or you just

Harvey Kulawitz: You know what? I used to play publicly. I'm not, I just don't want to do that now. But we, so what we do is we play in my house. I have a nice music room, music studio, and people come in to hear us. We bring in the audience. Yeah.

Jim Baker: That's great.

Harvey Kulawitz: Yeah.

Jim Baker: Um, other than music, what other hobbies do you have?

Harvey Kulawitz: I'd have to say really, music is my biggest, it's not like I, you know, I'm not a painter. I don't play golf, you know, a lot of lawyers play golf. Um, and it's being with the kids. I do a lot of bike riding, which I enjoy, but mostly it's like pretty, oh, I do a lot of, we have a pool. I'm doing swimming all the time.

Um, but that's it. I don't like, I don't play [00:33:00] golf like a lot, a lot of guys do, but music is, there's so much to music that I do. I study it a lot and. Yeah.

Jim Baker: So we do a little bit of a. In this podcast, always a hot take. And you just reminded me of a hot take right now, e-bike compared to a regular bike.

Harvey Kulawitz: Well, okay. Yeah, I just wrote

Jim Baker: I have my take on it,

Harvey Kulawitz: Did you happen to look at my website?

Jim Baker: of course,

Harvey Kulawitz: Okay. I was wondering how could you come up with that

Jim Baker: but Well, there's another reason for it too. But I did look at your website on the, on the, and I saw the blog on the E-bikes.

Harvey Kulawitz: on the e-bikes? Um, listen, people should be riding regular bikes. They should be riding regular bikes. E-bikes are dangerous as hell. They're really electric motorcycles, and they're, they are. Have you ridden one?

Jim Baker: No.

Harvey Kulawitz: Okay. They are powerful. You have to be careful. People get on 'em, go, I know how to ride a bike.

They get on it, they hit the accelerator and they go flying off the bike. Um, they, they're heavy. They're tough to, to slow down and [00:34:00] stop. Um, but they serve a purpose, but. T like I, I told you I lived on my bike. We all did. In, in my neighborhood. We're all on our bikes all the time. Um, kids get a real bike, don't, don't get an e-bike.

You know, it's, it's dangerous. They're really dangerous. And I see them around here and the kids driving around e-bikes, no helmets. And it's just a bad, it's just a bad thing. And this, this most recent case that I'm just finishing now was a kid on an e-bike in town, hit by a car, and he was very, very seriously injured.

And I'm just getting the ca the case wrapped up now in the process of it, right? Right now

Jim Baker: So I have two takes. One the souped up big bikes, which I'll call them. They look like mini motorcycles almost. Those things go like 30 to 35 miles an hour. They fly.

Harvey Kulawitz: they fly.

Jim Baker: And I have the privilege to go down to Florida, usually in the wintertime for a couple weeks. I don't spend the entire winter down there, but I ride my [00:35:00] bike on this big sidewalk along the water.

And, you know, people have these e-bikes and they're, I think they're going to work or they're, you know, enjoying a leisure activity, but they're flying down

Harvey Kulawitz: Flying.

Jim Baker: thinking, they hit me. I'm finished. I

mean, that's the bottom line.

Um,

Harvey Kulawitz: now with bikes and with e-bikes. Um, but you, you are asking me saying hot takes,

Jim Baker: yeah. right?

So that's, and that's your hot take. And my hot take on for the souped up e-bikes, I'm a hundred percent against them. That's a hot take of mine. I think they are. They're not, not that I'm a regulation person, but I think it's almost, there's too much power. Um, now. My wife and I take bike trips every once in a while and we usually go through a company called Back Roads.

And this summer we went to the San Juan Islands outside of Washington State. And I've noticed there was 18 people on this trip and five years ago when I went, um, if those same 18 [00:36:00] people were there, probably 14 of us would be riding on regular bikes and four of us would be on e-bikes. Well, this year it's the reverse.

It's 18 on ease, four on regular. I was a regular by the way, and so unless I have to, I'll never ride an e-bike. However, I will say that it's enabled older people to be able to enjoy the

trip,

Harvey Kulawitz: question.

Jim Baker: and these e-bikes are just, you know, you punch it a little bit and you get a little help up the hills, but they're not, you can't just sit there and go 35 miles

Harvey Kulawitz: Right, right, right.

Jim Baker: So depends on the e-bike.

Harvey Kulawitz: Yeah, that's, that's called the Class two E-bike, the one that you described where it has an accelerator. Seriously, that's a class two E-bike. some of the bikes don't even have accelerators. You know, that's where the thing just flies, you know?

Jim Baker: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Ta I, every once in a while I'll throw a couple hot takes in there

and I got, I got another one because I know [00:37:00] that I'm filling up my car and I'm in Colorado and out there they have 85, 87, 89 and 93 gas. And obviously this is a Chevy Tahoe and I'm gonna take the cheap gas, which is 85.

But I'm thinking to myself, especially in Colorado with all they care about is the couple of different things, but a lot of it's about the environment. Thinking to myself, why wouldn't you make the 93 the cheapest gas? Um, and I know it costs more probably to, to refine, if you really want to get people to cleaner fuel. Then why wouldn't you make it

Harvey Kulawitz: Yeah. Financial incentive.

Jim Baker: Yeah. So what do you think of that?

Harvey Kulawitz: I think it's a great idea. It's never gonna happen. It's all about the money. You're talking, you're talking about the oil companies. I mean, really, you know, idea.

Jim Baker: All right. That's my hot take. I'm like, if you wanna, 'cause structure dictates [00:38:00] behavior. If you want to create a structure that dictates behavior, then for, especially for the working person who's got the pickup truck that needs it for work and everything else, make it easier on them to comply with the environment.

Harvey Kulawitz: Well, that's why the government had a tax credit for electric vehicles,

Jim Baker: Right.

Harvey Kulawitz: right? They wanted people to drive electric vehicles. I gotta tell you, there are a lot of electric vehicles in this town and all through Fairfield County. I don't know about the rest of the country. I don't think it's like here, but um,

Jim Baker: it's a lot here too.

Harvey Kulawitz: just did away with that credit?

They just did away with that credit. Why

Jim Baker: I don't,

yeah, but here's the deal. The pickup truck guy who needs it for his job, can't buy an electric truck. gonna run out of fuel basically halfway through his job.

Harvey Kulawitz: Yeah. No, I, I agree with that, but how about the electric cars? I[00:39:00]

Jim Baker: I, well, most of my, I have a hybrid, so I think that's the best of both

worlds

personally. Um, but a couple of my friends have electric cars and you know, they also have like three other gas cars. It's almost like they bought the electric car for a hobby and they just drive it around town, and then they take the other one when they need to go someplace further away.

So I, listen, I, I'm not opposed to electric cars. I think there's a, a place for them, but I do think that technologically, um, I think they're. If we're able to, um, let's see, break up some of the regulations and everything else, I think we probably could come up with a car that might be, you know, fusion powered or you know, nuclear powered.

Someday that's not gonna be harmful, where it'll go for a thousand

Harvey Kulawitz: Yeah, it's gonna, it's gonna change. I mean, look, these electric cars came outta nowhere. There's a great movie I recommend to you called, who Killed the Electric Car. 'cause General Motors had the first great electric [00:40:00] car and they leased them to a thousand people in California. And people loved them.

They were leased, they couldn't buy 'em. And what happened was somebody put a lot of pressure on General Motors to pull all these cars back in. Do not sell them and crush them. Crush them. Who do you think that was?

Jim Baker: Probably one of the oil

Harvey Kulawitz: That's exactly right. So see the movie, it's a tremendous, it's a Sony Classics picture and you won't believe it.

And they, GM could have been well ahead of everybody in the pack. Instead they're like lasting electric cars.

Jim Baker: Yeah, yeah.

No, that's,

Harvey Kulawitz: they replaced it. Ready for this. They replaced it with the Hummer. You can't make it up.

Jim Baker: so what's your take on the Cyborg truck?

Harvey Kulawitz: Oh my God.

Jim Baker: that's

Harvey Kulawitz: Oh, I

hate it.

Jim Baker: on steroids.

Harvey Kulawitz: I hate it. It looks like a military vehicle. I mean, I think people that drive it. Might as well write on the [00:41:00] side. I am a moron. Sorry guys, but it's not an I Don't tell me you have one. I should have

Jim Baker: no, no. no. I told you

I, I haven't,

Harvey Kulawitz: town. Yeah, they look like big giant tuna cans or something.

Jim Baker: yeah, I think also that whoever bought it is, Hey, look at me. You know,

Harvey Kulawitz: Yeah.

Jim Baker: I like to fly below the radar. I have a 2019 Jeep Cherokee and like I said, my wife drives a a Q five, hybrid

Harvey Kulawitz: Yeah, me too. I'm driving a 5-year-old BMW, but it's great and I learned a lot about. Being humble, which is I think is important from my dad. And he drove an Oldsmobile for 10 years, traded in for a Chrysler when he could finally afford to buy. He always wanted a Cadillac, so he bought a used one and they just called it used car then none of this pre-owned, certified, you know,

Jim Baker: Right.

Harvey Kulawitz: and he bought a used Cadillac and he was so proud of his, of his used [00:42:00] Cadillac.

Yeah.

Jim Baker: All right. Another hot take.

Harvey Kulawitz: Okay. I got some hot takes for you too.

Jim Baker: Oh, we

Harvey Kulawitz: Yeah, I never heard of what? A hot ta I never heard of it before. I thought it was something that you got at Taco Bell, like a fast food. That's what it sounds like. And then I had fun coming up with them.

Jim Baker: Well, why don't we go with yours then, since you're

the guest.

Harvey Kulawitz: why don't you do one more?

Jim Baker: All right. You know how you talk to a call a doctor, or you go to get blood work done or something like that?

And you see maybe three or four different people and every single time you gotta rip off your date of birth right, tries me fricking crazy. Um, you know, I see you check me in before I came in, opened my mouth, date of birth, right? I get it. It's your id. But then to have the, your little ID on your arm if you're gonna give blood, somebody at Duke especially, and, and you got, it's already there, but you gotta say it again and again and again. Now i's thought to myself, this is crazy.

This day and age we have scanners, we have this and that, and [00:43:00] I feel like giving them a wrong date next time, just see what's gonna happen. I think they'll freak out. So what do you think about that?

Harvey Kulawitz: Well, I think I, I'm just gonna quote you. I'm reading a book about Mark Twain now, which is great. And Mark Twain said you know, thing, the thing is this. He says, I go to the doctor for one illness and then I come out with a different illness.

Jim Baker: That's for

Harvey Kulawitz: It was like a Rodney Dangerfield thing. It was Mark Twain. Um, yeah, I haven't really had a problem with the date of birth thing,

Jim Baker: All right.

Harvey Kulawitz: but yeah.

Okay.

Jim Baker: all I got, I got a heavy one, but I'll wait till later on. So go ahead. What do you got?

Harvey Kulawitz: Alright. And I, I mean, I have, I came up with quite a few. Um, first of all, I'm always on time. I bet you're always on time.

Jim Baker: I am,

Harvey Kulawitz: I hate when people aren't on time. Right. I can't stand it. And I had a friend and he a [00:44:00] great guy, but he was always late, drove me crazy, finally said, Hey man, I just can't, I can't wait for you for an hour.

This is back in my days, but still. so to me being on time is like super important.

Jim Baker: A hundred percent agree and I think, um, you being late shows me that you don't respect me.

Harvey Kulawitz: correct, correct,

Jim Baker: I tell my kids that all the time.

Harvey Kulawitz: correct. Very super important. If I'm late, there's a re like a major, major reason for it. Um, I was watching The Simpsons and he was running for mayor, and he's on the podium. There was gonna be a debate, and his opponent comes running in and he says, I'm sorry I'm late. He says, but my brakes failed.

And Homer Simpson says, well, if that's the case, you should have been here early

anyway.

Jim Baker: good.

Harvey Kulawitz: Anyway, all right. So that's one of 'em. I, I made a whole list here. Um, how about loud people in a restaurant?[00:45:00]

Jim Baker: Oh my God. We were just, I went out to lunch with my wife today and literally she says, why does that guy have to be so loud? And I wasn't really paying attention that suddenly I could hear everything he's talking

Harvey Kulawitz: How crazy is that? And then typically it's somebody who's right behind you and so freaking loud, but you can't see him or at the table facing you, and now you gotta see him and hear him.

Jim Baker: Yes.

Harvey Kulawitz: sometimes it's a guy who's like five tables away and he's thinking, come on, come on.

Jim Baker: And it gets worse when they're throwing the F-bomb around the

Harvey Kulawitz: Oh my God. Yeah. Oh my God. Oh my God. Um, I'm just gonna go through a quick few 'cause I know, how about men who wear heavy cologne?

Jim Baker: Yeah. Okay.

Harvey Kulawitz: All right, all right. That didn't I, I've had it where a guy comes in like for a deposition. I've gotta sit here for three hours. I almost think it's a tactic to throw me off. Off course. [00:46:00] Because I can't stand it. Um, how about people who are jogging and in this town I see it all the time wearing all black.

All black. And these are curve, winding around. And then they got ear earbuds in. Right. And you got cars coming and everybody's looking at their 12 inch screen 'cause they don't know what's going on in their car. Bad combination. But people, if you're gonna jog, are you gonna ride a bike? Wear bright colors, you know, you're not the center of the universe think they are.

Well, I know I'm here, so everybody, no, we don't know you're there. Especially coming around a curve here in town. You're wearing all black. Come on.

Jim Baker: A hundred percent agree

Especially, especially, um, if it's obviously still dark out. Um, that's a big problem. Um, on top of that, the bigger hot take for me is the person who is jogging, writing and speaking on the phone to somebody else. And I'm [00:47:00] thinking impressive they could do that 'cause they could talk and breathe at the same time, but also classic disrespect for the person on the other end. 'cause you gotta put up with all the extra noise and everything else and distractions that, and I'm thinking to myself, you can't wait 30 minutes to make a phone call.

Harvey Kulawitz: Yeah,

yeah, yeah. Or, or walking up and down the street. Especially like in Manhattan or any place everybody's on their phone. I'm thinking, what would Norman Rockwell do if he was painting a picture today in, you know, west Stockbridge beautiful Main Street? It used to be all these scenes right around town.

Now everybody's gonna be on their phone. It's gonna ruin his whole, it's this whole painting thing. I don't know how, how he would do it.

Jim Baker: That's right.

Harvey Kulawitz: I, I used to do a lot of bike riding in New York City. Take the person you described everything they were doing, but then add a cigarette and then they were smoking a cigarette.

Jim Baker: That's hilarious.

Harvey Kulawitz: All right. My turn.

People that [00:48:00] have blacked out windows in their car,

Jim Baker: Yes. I thought that's legal. Isn't

Harvey Kulawitz: it's illegal, but nobody enforces it.

Jim Baker: Okay.

Harvey Kulawitz: at a, you're at a you know, intersection and you're looking at them. You can't see if they're looking at you or what. You just want to be able to wave them. Drives me nuts. Um,

Jim Baker: How about the loud muffler on a motorcycle

Harvey Kulawitz: oh yeah. Yeah. Or even on like certain Hondas, the kids put these loud, yeah, loud exhaust pipes on. Um, how about people who tailgate drives me crazy. I mean, really drives me nuts. Very dangerous. You know, they're not, you're not gonna get there any faster 'cause. The car in front of me is, you're gonna now have to follow them.

My father had a, he had a, he had a bumper sticker on his car. Imagine he was in his eighties at this point and a big old Lincoln that was like 25 years old and he had a bumper sticker and it said, keep honking. I'm reloading My son always [00:49:00] got a kick outta that.

Jim Baker: And I do think to that point, I think a lot of drivers don't, they assume the car in front of them is the one that's at fault going too slow. Um, and if they just would look through their

Harvey Kulawitz: Right. And

Jim Baker: un tinted, un tinted glass, look at the lights or look at, see who's in front of 'em. Um, 'cause I will confess, I don't tailgate, but I've been guilty of why is this guy going so slow?

But then you look and you see, well, it's not him,

Harvey Kulawitz: right? It's the cars in front of him. Yep.

Jim Baker: Yeah. That's fair.

Harvey Kulawitz: Um, along with the loud people in restaurants. How about, um, loud laughers. Like I, I even have some friends, like when they laugh, there's, it's like I can't tell 'em. 'cause maybe they'll hear this and they'll, Hey, that's me. But they laugh so, so loud. It hurts.

Jim Baker: Yeah. Yeah. It's like chalk on a blackboard. I agree.

Harvey Kulawitz: Yeah. I like chalk on a blackboard. Yeah. Um, and the other thing to get away from cars, the [00:50:00] scammers today, I mean, everything is a scam. I, I get more, I figure half the country is working like what we do and work, and half the country's out scamming.

Jim Baker: yeah.

Harvey Kulawitz: Like they, they steal from everybody and from every company.

And the pilferage from Amazon, I understand. They order something, return it with something else inside. I mean, it's, everything's a scam. The phone calls we get here and the texts that we get, I get messages, emails that I have some uncle in Kenya who left me $50 million. And all I have to do is fill out this form, like with my social security number and my credit card number and date of birth, and send $75 I'll get my 50 million.

You know?

Jim Baker: Yeah, now it's, and those are, you could kind of identify now, but it's the ones that come through on your phone from, it looks like it's coming from Amazon that have the logo

on it. Um, you know, and I, I don't respond to [00:51:00] any of them. Um,

and but Yeah.

but you know, there's my mom, you know, there's others that. They believe that stuff. They're get, oh my God, did something go wrong with Amazon? Now click that thing, and then suddenly they're giving credit card information out and know they're out. Hundreds of dollars.

Harvey Kulawitz: Yeah. I'll give you an interesting example. My mother's 99 years old. She's in Florida. My son's in Vermont. She gets a phone call and person says, and how they put this together. I don't know. Person says, grandma, it's Ricky. I was drinking and driving, and now I'm in jail and I need $3,000. So she says, call your father.

He's a lawyer, and she hangs up the phone. I said to her, ma, how do you know? How'd you know it wasn't him? She said, because he never calls me Grandma.

Jim Baker: There you go. All right, I got one last one. And this is kind of heavy, and this goes back to what we talked about, I guess in the beginning of this podcast, in that I have a super hot take right now with a lack of respect for life in our [00:52:00] country. You know what happened last week? What's been happening with these school shootings, with

everything.

It's almost like we've, we're living in this game gaming, you know, movie world where, you know, there's no, there's no respect anymore. And to your point earlier about, you know, getting that back by just being able to talk to people, um, you know, even if you have a difference of opinion, it's okay. Um, but, you know, to resort to this violence for no matter what side of the world you believe in, um, you know, to me is just that, that's a, that's a big hot take for me right now.

And I don't that quite frankly, know how to solve.

Harvey Kulawitz: Imagine it's, it's a, it's a huge hot take, as you say. It's a huge problem in our society. It's creating so much anxiety, so much anxiety, people waking up, anxious, they're going to bed anxious. [00:53:00] Um. You know, I intentionally sit down with people who I know don't have the same political views as me. And I'll say, let's have it, let's have a discussion.

And we do. And it's fine. You know, there's, there's no weapons being pulled out. We're not having a dual, you know, and we talk and they go, you know what? I, I could understand that. And I say to them, oh, I could understand that. And, and that's where it starts. But we need that on a, on a huge level. And I think the, the key word is listening.

You know, I feel like, you know, with so much social media and so many networks and platforms, it's like the Tower of Babel. It's like the Bible's come alive. Everybody's talking in different languages, and nobody is understanding anything. Nobody's listening. Nobody's listening.

And. [00:54:00]

Jim Baker: you're, just being fed what you want to see or hear too,

Harvey Kulawitz: Correct. you could select, you could, you could select the, the network, the person, the channel, the position.

I don't remember anything like this. I mean, during, we, you spoke about it before, during Vietnam. Yeah. I was one of the protestors against the Vietnam War and my college, Syracuse was, the campus was on strike and all of this stuff. Um, but we got beyond that, you know, we got beyond that and, and I don't see, you know, how we're gonna get beyond this.

I, I don't, I just don't know. I, I just don't know.

Jim Baker: Yeah, I don't either. I'm hoping that we just, people put their phones down and start talking to people again and

Harvey Kulawitz: Yeah. The phones are, are really, Dan, I mean, they're really dangerous and people are addicted to their phones and they're also addicted to the news. You know, all these calls, these dopamine strikes in your head and people are addicted. [00:55:00] And they, maybe a place to start is in the schools taking your phones away.

You can't have your phone during the school day. But I know people have gone away on vacations and their phones are taken away and they go crazy. Like people our age. Well, I'm older than you, but you know what I'm talking about.

Jim Baker: Sure.

Harvey Kulawitz: Um.

Jim Baker: So I will say that my niece, who's now 18 when she was 17, she decided to sneak out of the house one night and go hang out on the golf course with some friends for a little while. And, um, you know, she gets back in, she's taking, she got away with sneaking out and of course they took pictures, friends posted the pictures and everything else.

So by, I don't know, eight o'clock in the morning, my brother already knew that she was, um, you know, out. And, um, anyhow, make a long story short, he punishes her by taking her phone away for a entire month. he goes after week one, she was the happiest kid in the world

Harvey Kulawitz: Wow.[00:56:00]

Jim Baker: for three weeks. So I wish every parent out there would understand that it's okay to take the device away

Harvey Kulawitz: Yeah, and we don't,

Jim Baker: it.

Harvey Kulawitz: we don't have any clue of what's going on on the phones now in social media. Imagine I went to college and law school and we didn't have cell phones, we didn't have computers. Um, so it's, it's a whole new world and the, the bullying that we hear about kids committing su suicide from all the mocking and bullying, um,

and the co the companies themselves, to a certain degree have to be held responsible, right? That, that allow these platforms kids are using social media and getting automatically advice, psych, psychiatric and psychological from computers, right? It's cra really crazy stuff. Crazy stuff.[00:57:00]

Jim Baker: So let me flip back to some positives. So,

um, we, one thing other than family that if you had to hone it down to, you know, like I said, one particular thing, is that one thing that motivated you through your whole life?

Harvey Kulawitz: Oh, that's a big, that's a big question because, um, you know, as we live life, it's like we're out on a wave and the wave is, is continuing to break and break and break. You know, it's, it's one big giant wave that we're on. So it's a compilation of really many, many things. Um, losing some friends, even like two nights ago and then 25 years ago, I lost a very close friend and and he left two, two little kids who are now, you know, in their mid to late twenties or whatever.

Um. Just the experiences of life, I mean the experiences of, of life. [00:58:00] As a lawyer, when I see people treated unfairly, you know, with what I do by big insurance companies, that gets me riled and I'll, gives me the incentive to, to do what I have to do for them. Um, I mean, just finished a case for a a, an older woman in Ridgefield who was struck by another car.

She was in her car. Terrible, terrible injuries to her. And she had what's called uninsured motorist insurance, which covers you if the other driver didn't have enough insurance and her insurance company wouldn't pay it to her. And I said, why won't you pay it to her? Well, because she didn't fill out the application correctly.

Well, the application was filled out in, in 2009. I, I said, well, I demanded the application, got it. Went through it, and I said she did fill it out correctly. You guys didn't comply with what she, with the law. We had a big battle over this. And ultimately, um, they paid [00:59:00] her what, what she was entitled to under her policy.

But for big companies to do stuff like that, it's just, it's wrong because, you know, I know why they do it too, because nine outta 10 people, or more than that, they would say, we're not paying. And they go, oh, okay.

And they walk away. What happened was her son who was a lawyer, he contacted me and I handled it for them, and we were all happy how it worked out.

But those are the kinds of things, injustice. I mean, when I see it and I could do something about it, um, that's a, that's a driver I would say, you know, in, in my life. There, you know, other things like that.

Jim Baker: That's good. That's a, that's a good one. That's a big one. So, um, in, in closing, we always ask our guests to give us five pieces of advice, five takeaways. You want the audience to, you know, listen to, um,

Harvey Kulawitz: Okay.

Jim Baker: me make

Harvey Kulawitz: I thought about this. Great. You, you have great [01:00:00] questions and great concepts that you, you, you're hitting a lot of big, big notes here on everything you, you're, you're touching on. Um, one thing I want to say to your 18 million viewers out there, right, you have about 18 million. Um, this is something that, that I've done and, and I've had family members do, and I'm gonna suggest to, to, especially as you get older, sit down and take the time to write a letter to your family, just of what your assets and what your liabilities are and who has what in terms of.

Um, who their stockbroker is and who your accountant is, and who your lawyer is, names, phone numbers, account numbers. I have a, a family member who died and he was a professional and, and he didn't do that and he created such havoc for the family. So do that. I, that's one piece of advice, lawyerly advice that I'm giving you that I think can really help you and your [01:01:00] family out be appreciated because when that day comes, everything's gonna be in chaos and, and havoc and at least try to make it smoother for your, for your family and they'll, they'll appreciate that.

Um, so many other things that, that you, you should know about. Check your car insurance just to know what uninsured motorist insurance is. Know what your, your coverage is on liability. A hundred thousand dollars is not enough and don't cheapen out on insurance 'cause you get what you pay for and you pay for what you get.

Make sure to have good underinsured motorist coverage insurance. That's the coverage. I just helped that old lady I was telling you about. And have medical payments, benefits. Just write these things down and then ask your insurance agent and get the best you can. And it doesn't cost that much more. It doesn't cost that much more.

And you really protecting yourself in terms of non-medical, non-legal and medical advice. But in terms of non-legal, [01:02:00] listen to people. This is what we were just talking about. Listen and hear something simple. Smile. It actually makes you feel better. It's like free medicine. Um, think about it. Think about it.

Just smile. And here's another one. Look up at the sky. Everybody is looking down these days. They're looking at their phones, they're looking at the sidewalk. When you go out and look at the sky, you get a sense of perspective and where you are in the world and realize that after the 62 miles up, and that's what the sky is, it's all darkness.

It's dark, it's space. Look at that beautiful sky. Look at the color, look at the clouds. I teach my kids this all the time. Every day is special. Look at the sky and I'll tell you an interesting story. We had a hummingbird in our garage flying around in the garage just a couple of weeks ago. And of course I said, I call it my my wife 'cause I dunno what to do with [01:03:00] this.

Carry. Carry. I said's, God knows what in the garage. So she says, oh my God, it's a hummingbird and I have the doors open and it won't fly out. So I go to Google. Google says, how to get a hummingbird out of your garage? Put a plant in the garage. The hummingbird will fly to the plant. It will get oriented with the sky and it will fly out.

We did that. That's exactly what happened. And it needed to get oriented with the sky because otherwise it was lost. It was lost. It wouldn't have just flown out under the garage door. So look at the sky, smile, be humble. Very important. Um, just be humble. Don't be that loud guy in the restaurant that's screaming across the whole restaurant how much money you have.

So it's simple things that really could make life much more meaningful. Simple things.

Jim Baker: Well this is great. Um, I really enjoyed. [01:04:00] Talking to you today. Um, I

Harvey Kulawitz: Likewise, likewise, likewise.

Jim Baker: maybe 10 more years, we could do it again.

And

Harvey Kulawitz: it before then.

Jim Baker: sounds great. But God bless you and your family and, um,

Harvey Kulawitz: You too, Jim.

Jim Baker: We'll stay in touch.