The Real Suits: Champions for the Injured – Steve Wigrizer
In this episode, Steve Wigrizer shares how a photograph from a family beach trip became a pivotal piece of evidence in his first medical malpractice trial and how preparation and strategic thinking that have guided his 47-year legal career.
Steve discusses how he approaches complex medical malpractice cases, from learning the medicine and developing a clear case theme to conducting depositions with a specific purpose. He also explains why credibility matters at every stage: with clients, opposing counsel, judges, and juries.
Beyond the courtroom, Steve reflects on growing up in Philadelphia, the example his father set through a life of public service, and what decades of playing drums taught him about connecting with people. The conversation includes family stories, Philadelphia sports, and how Bob Mongeluzzi helped steer Steve’s son toward a college lacrosse career at Duke.
Transcript lightly edited for clarity and readability.
Larry Bendesky
Welcome to Real Suits: Champions for the Injured. We use our platform here at Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky to highlight the work we do, our experience and expertise in handling cases, and the lawyers in our office who do a magnificent job representing our clients and making real changes within our society. If you enjoy listening to this episode, please click the subscribe button and share it with your family and friends.
We are so pleased to have my friend and law partner, Steve Wigrizer, with us today. Steve is a remarkably talented and experienced lawyer who has spent the bulk of his career helping clients, mostly in the medical malpractice arena, but also handling other significant cases that have made a difference in our clients’ lives and in our community. Steve, welcome. Glad you’re here.
Steve Wigrizer
Glad to be here, Larry. Thanks for having me on the show.
Larry Bendesky
Tell us about where you were born and raised and your life growing up.
Steve Wigrizer
It was a terrific life, I have to say. I was actually thinking about it today. I grew up in an area I’d call Greater Olney, Lower Northeast. Philadelphia born and raised, in a group of row homes. We didn’t call them townhouses back then. They probably weren’t 1,300 square feet—probably smaller than that. Of course, we were never aware that they were small.
Larry Bendesky
Because everybody had the same.
Steve Wigrizer
Everybody had the same house. Literally, there were dozens and dozens of houses in the community, and they were all the same. The construction wasn’t that great. When my father would admonish me about my behavior, my neighbors all heard it. I’d walk out on the front step and they’d go, “Steve, you probably shouldn’t have done that.” We really were a great community.
But I think the important thing is that any time of day or night I walked out the door, there were dozens of people my age. This was the baby boom, and there were tons of kids. It was nonstop baseball, basketball, and other games we played in Philadelphia that I’m sure some of your listeners are familiar with: halfball, stickball, boxball, wireball. It was just a great upbringing.
I went to Thomas K. Finletter Elementary School, which was kindergarten through eighth grade. We didn’t have middle schools or junior high schools. We didn’t even have grass at Thomas K. Finletter School. But again, we didn’t know any differently. We had a terrific education. It was at Front and Godfrey in Olney.
Even though Olney was my neighborhood school, I did well in seventh and eighth grade and got into Central High School. I went there for four years, graduated, and went on to Penn State—a college I know is near and dear to your heart.
Larry Bendesky
That’s correct.
Steve Wigrizer
Upon graduation, I went to Boston University School of Law. Because I loved Penn State so much, I went every summer and worked up there while I was in college. In fact, I’ve been working since I could walk, and I’ll tell you more about that. I was a lawyer at 23, so I’ve logged 47 years in the practice of law at this point. Hard to believe.
Larry Bendesky
Congratulations. You were mentioning the jobs you’ve had.
Steve Wigrizer
Since the time I could walk, whether it was a paper route, mowing lawns, shoveling snow—anything anyone would let me do, I did. I liked the idea of being independent. I liked having a few dollars in my pocket, and I was never afraid of hard work.
We had some money. It’s not that we were born into a poor household, but I enjoyed being more independent. After I graduated from high school, I actually worked for Good Humor selling ice cream in Camden and Pennsauken, New Jersey. No job was too small for me. No judgment at all. I enjoyed working, and I enjoyed making money.
Larry Bendesky
I know you went to Penn State. You met your wife at Penn State, right?
Steve Wigrizer
It was her first day at Penn State and the first day of my sophomore year. A good friend of mine said, “Do you want to meet an attractive, nice young woman?” And I said, “Of course I want to do that.”
We went over to the dormitory. She was literally unpacking, and I said to myself, “This is a person I’d like to get to know better.” The problem was that she had a boyfriend. But the boyfriend was back in the Philadelphia area, so I had an unfair advantage.
I worked at it. There were a number of missteps—probably more than that if you talk to her—but eventually we became an item. We went together through the majority of her college stay. I graduated a year before her, and we became engaged when I was in law school. We lived up in Boston together. We now have five children and grandchildren, and it’s been terrific.
Larry Bendesky
How many years have you been married?
Steve Wigrizer
Forty-seven. So I’ve been working for 47 and married for 47.
Larry Bendesky
Congratulations. I know you’re a musician. You’re a drummer. Tell us about that.
Steve Wigrizer
When I was in third grade, I started playing the trumpet. By the time we got into seventh and eighth grade, some of the guys in the neighborhood wanted to put together a band—not just for the musical aspect, but because they supposed it would make them more popular with the opposite sex. I liked the idea.
Larry Bendesky
Bands are a chick magnet.
Steve Wigrizer: Exactly. Back then, we were preoccupied with the latest ’60s garb from Britain: the wide belts, bell-bottom jeans, high collars. I wore love beads and peace signs, and I grew my hair a little longer.
Larry Bendesky
This is in high school?
Steve Wigrizer
Back in seventh or eighth grade, we were putting together the band, and there was no call for a trumpet. Aside from Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, and maybe one small part in Donovan’s “Mellow Yellow,” there wasn’t a lot of trumpet going on. So I volunteered to play drums and taught myself.
Larry Bendesky
You didn’t know how when you volunteered?
Steve Wigrizer
I bought a snare drum, a stand, and sticks, and I listened to “Satisfaction” by the Rolling Stones, which is a pretty simple, repetitive beat. I probably wasn’t playing the rudiments correctly, but I played well enough to make the neighborhood band.
We were not good. Not even close to good. But people seemed to pay attention, so I stuck with it. There were other bands through high school. By 11th grade, I decided I didn’t want to do it anymore. I didn’t play in 12th grade, college, or law school.
When I got out of law school, I met a guy who told me he used to mess around on a guitar and still had one. I said, “Years ago, I dabbled at the drums. Let me go get a set.” At the time, I think I was living in a condo in Ardmore. We would get together maybe once a week and make a lot of racket.
Over time, I developed some chops. Then we added a lead guitar player who was really very good—much better than we were. That was really the guiding principle, and I think we’ve discussed this before: You have to recognize your limitations. I did as a drummer, and I surrounded myself with great musicians.
Before long, we had a complete band, and I was actually getting a lot better. After a couple of jobs, we wound up being the equivalent of the house band at a biker bar in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania, which was a wild experience.
As was the case with the Good Humor job in Camden, and in high school, when I had to take the bus and subway down to Broad and Olney, into a completely different neighborhood than I was used to, the biker bar experience made me realize that people were people. I wasn’t any better than anybody.
It taught me social skills that have served me well since then in dealing with our clients and talking to juries. Those experiences—developing street smarts—will serve you well your entire life, in my view.
Larry Bendesky
No matter what your field is. I agree with you.
Steve Wigrizer
I think you have to be able to talk to people. In our field, we’re not just talking; we’re trying to persuade. There’s no substitute for plain talk, looking somebody in the eye, and speaking the truth. That’s what we do every day, day in and day out.
Larry Bendesky
What’s the name of your band? Are you still playing?
Steve Wigrizer
The band is the Trevor Street Band, and we are in what I’ll call a quiescent period. Our lead singer decided that, at the age of 70, he’d had enough. He wanted to go out on top.
We’ve had some great experiences. We played all over the place, including at one of the casinos in New Jersey, and we played with some really good guest musicians. But before we started changing the keys of songs to accommodate the more mature voice our singer had, he said, “I’ve had a great time. I’m done.” Whether we get together again, I’m not sure. But it was a great 30-plus years.
Larry Bendesky
A nice long run. It helped you understand people, communicate with people, and connect with people.
Steve Wigrizer
Absolutely. It was a little tough coming back at five in the morning from a Saturday night job and trying to recover on Sunday before the workweek. But I wouldn’t have traded that experience. Or, as I said before, growing up with hundreds of people in a relatively small area in those row homes. I wouldn’t trade that for anything in the world.
Larry Bendesky
Before we get into work, you mentioned you have five kids and grandkids. What are your kids up to? Tell us about your grandkids.
Steve Wigrizer
Naturally, if you’re a grandparent, you want to go right to the grandkids. It’s amazing how much pleasure Debbie and I derive from them. My youngest just turned two. I got a picture of her in a soccer uniform.
Larry Bendesky
Soccer starts them young. It’s the one sport where all you need is a ball, and they can play. With baseball, they have to be able to catch it and throw it. With soccer, you just throw the ball down. That’s why they’re able to get a lot of little kids hooked.
Steve Wigrizer
It’s beautiful. It’s adorable. Of course, they all run around en masse. There’s no separation. These little kids in these uniforms, and usually there’s maybe one kid who’s able to kick the ball more than once.
Larry Bendesky
Usually, the most aggressive kid is the kid that—
Steve Wigrizer
Right. Or, as Malcolm Gladwell will tell you, the kid whose birthday and the cutoff made him the oldest, if you remember that.
That’s my two-year-old. I have twin nine-year-olds who play baseball, lacrosse, and soccer, and they’re really becoming neat, interesting little kids. I gave one of them a drum set. He plays a little bit, but I think he likes the idea of playing the guitar a little better. His parents appreciate that better. He has an acoustic guitar. They hate when he plays the drums, I think.
I have a seven-year-old granddaughter, a wonderful young girl. We enjoy when they come over. They visit us at the shore. We go out to Wynnewood to see them as much as we can.
Larry Bendesky
You’re living in the city now. You were born and raised in the city, and you came back to the city.
Steve Wigrizer
I left to get my education, and I went to a Pennsylvania college. I love Philadelphia. Philadelphia has its detractors, but I’m convinced the majority of the detractors don’t really know our city.
The grit, the hardscrabble nature of the average Philadelphian, the way we support the things we love—it’s another aspect of my life I wouldn’t trade for all the money in the world. I love this city. I live in this city. I support this city. We have some problems. What big city doesn’t? But I think all of us have benefited from the collective and community experience of being residents of Philadelphia. I know you live in the city as well.
Larry Bendesky
I love the city as well. I also think we get an unfair label nationally, especially as sports fans. All we demand is that people work hard and do their very best. I don’t think that’s too much to demand of people. It’s what our clients demand of us.
Steve Wigrizer
That’s right.
Larry Bendesky
They have every right to expect that and demand that of us, and we have to do that for them.
Steve Wigrizer
One hundred percent. Not every team is going to be successful every week. Not every athlete is always going to excel. But Philadelphians will support you if you don’t leave anything on that field. You give 100%.
The guy I think about was an old hockey player, Rod Brind’Amour, number 17. Elbows flying in the corner, just a real mucker. Not the most talented guy on the ice, but Philadelphia embraced him. Philadelphia loved him. There are so many more examples.
Larry Bendesky
Before we get on to the firm, we were talking about sports. I know your son Danny was a lacrosse player, and I’ll speak for you: He won one or two national championships with Duke as their goalie.
Steve Wigrizer
Two.
Larry Bendesky
Tell us how he got into lacrosse and how he decided to be a goalie.
Steve Wigrizer
At the time, I was living in a neighborhood with a very prominent attorney and athlete by the name of Bob Mongeluzzi, who we all know and love. Mongo was not a big fan of baseball. I think we all know where his true passion and heart lie. He played football and lacrosse. Earlier in his life, he played baseball, up until the time I think he was hit by a ball and it affected the vision in one of his eyes.
Mongo has an infectious personality. When he loves something and is passionate about it, it’s hard not to try to like that thing, because there aren’t many people as passionate as he is. He was passionate about lacrosse, and he still is.
He had a large group of kids in this neighborhood who were off playing various sports, but he, like the Pied Piper, led them to play lacrosse. By fourth grade, maybe even third grade, Danny was playing lacrosse, and Mongo was involved. I think it was in the Ashbee League.
I’ll never forget: Mongo put Danny in goal. That means the other kids get to run around with the ball, shoot balls at you, and hopefully get the ball past you and score and enjoy all the glory. I’m standing there watching my son get peppered and hit with balls all over his body. There’s not a lot of protection for a lacrosse goalie. I didn’t enjoy it the way I supposed I would enjoy him scoring a goal. That would be wonderful.
Mongo never minces his words. I said to him, “Mongo, why don’t you put Danny in on attack? That way he can get some experience on the field, score some goals, and make me happy.”
He goes, “Wig”—that’s my nickname—“there are two reasons. Number one, he has no stick skills. Number two, he’s slow.”
I said, “But Mongo, he’s seven or eight years old,” whatever he was at the time. “You don’t know how he’s going to be in the future. With some experience—”
He goes, “Wig, I know you, and I know your wife, Debbie. I know exactly how he’s going to be in the future. He is staying in goal.” So he stayed in goal.
By age 12 or 13, during the summer, he was a goalie for the high school kids. There was a point in time when he was the best goalie in the nation, according to Lacrosse Magazine. That got him into Duke. He had a great four years.
Larry Bendesky
When he won that national championship his freshman year, did you make a phone call?
Steve Wigrizer
I did make a phone call to Mr. Mongeluzzi.
Larry Bendesky
What did you tell him?
Steve Wigrizer
I said, “You were right. It took me a lot of years. You were right, and thank you.” I probably had tears in my eyes because it was a game that was tied up until the last minute. It was won on a faceoff, with a goal scored by our faceoff guy, CJ Costabile.
For the entirety of the game, Debbie and I were holding hands. We were white-knuckled. There was so much pressure on him and, therefore, so much pressure on us. It was like a weight was lifted from us. It was a great evening. I get a little emotional, too.
Larry Bendesky
Pretty cool.
Steve Wigrizer
It was good. That’s the sports story in the Wigrizer family, because the rest of us weren’t setting any records, though his sister was a pretty good athlete.
Larry Bendesky
Tell us about Steve Wigrizer the lawyer. Where did you start out?
Steve Wigrizer
It’s hard to tell you about Steve Wigrizer the lawyer without telling you a little bit about probably the greatest influence in my life, and that was my father.
It was one of those situations where he never really sat down and lectured me or gave me life’s lessons in a speech or a talk. He led by example. He was a public servant and served throughout his life in some very distinguished positions. He was a man of absolute integrity and honesty.
That has been the hallmark of my career, to the point that if I say something is a certain way, or I talk about a client, defense counsel know they can count on that. If I tell them something—and I know it’s the same with you—it’s so.
Having credibility is everything in this business. It’s the case with defense counsel. It’s absolutely the case with our jurors.
Larry Bendesky
It’s the case with the court.
Steve Wigrizer
It’s the case with the judges. That was always very important to me. I always caught myself when I thought about straying. I thought about my dad and said, “Just turn over the document. Tell the attorney exactly the truth. Tell the jury.”
Be the first to tell the jury what the problem or problems are in your case, to establish your credibility.
In any event, Steve Wigrizer went through college in three years, graduated from law school, and became a lawyer at 23. When I think back on it, it’s hard to imagine that many clients would have been comfortable with a 23-year-old lawyer. I didn’t advertise my age. I was prematurely gray. You can see the end result of that now.
Larry Bendesky
I would take the gray, by the way.
Steve Wigrizer
Well, your look is sort of in vogue these days. I’m not sure.
In any event, I worked for many years in a general personal injury practice. The one type of case I did not handle until 1990 was medical malpractice.
Then there was a case involving an individual whose name I won’t mention. The case was coming up for trial against a very famous orthopedist in Philadelphia at our most preeminent institution. I think the guy invented the arthroscope.
My client was suffering from a cancer known as a synovial sarcoma. He had only been to the orthopedist once. The orthopedist thought it was what they call popliteal bursitis, a swelling in the back of the knee. Nobody wanted to try that case. They thought it was a loser.
Larry Bendesky
Because of who the defendant was, because of his prominence, and because he had only been to the doctor one time.
Steve Wigrizer
Exactly. The case wound up in my office, and I worked on it day and night. I went back, and I didn’t take the doctor’s deposition. One of the reasons the doctor said it was benign and not cancer was because the bump was right in the middle of the back of the knee, in that space we all have behind our knee.
He said, “Had it been lateral, toward the outside, then I would have been concerned about a possible cancer, and I would have gotten a CAT scan.”
I remember going to my client’s house in Bucks County. I sat down with him and said, “This is the way it is from a medical perspective, and he’s right about that. Where was the lump?” They said it was to the outside. I said, “Well, I need some proof of that. I want you to call every friend you have had and now have, and ask them to go through all their old pictures.” There weren’t a lot of computers.
Larry Bendesky
It wasn’t like today, where there’s a cellphone picture of everything.
Steve Wigrizer
Right. Here’s a young guy with kids and a family who has a bad cancer, a sarcoma. Friends dumped boxes of pictures. A couple of days later, I got a phone call: “We found it.”
I said, “What did you find?” He said, “Our friend took a picture of me at the beach, and you can see the back of my knee.”
I got in my car, drove to Bucks County, and looked at the picture. I brought a magnifying glass, and sure enough, it was on the outside of the knee.
I walked into court and tried the case. I remember it was a very prominent attorney’s last trial for the defense. He always brought an audience of people to watch him beat up on the young lawyer, and certainly he would prevail.
At an opportune time, I pinned down the doctor on the importance of a lateral lump and the fact that it could be cancer. Had the lump been in the lateral portion of the knee, he would have gotten a CAT scan that likely would have been diagnostic of this cancer. That would have given my client, I think, a 13-month head start on treatment.
Then I pulled out the picture. At that point, I had blown it up and optimized it. By the doctor’s own words, there were things he should have done.
This was 1990. My client was literally dying in the courtroom. I said, “What do you hope for in the future?” He said, “I just want to live long enough to take my family to Disney World.”
The jury found in his favor. At the time, I think it was the largest malpractice verdict that had ever been entered in Philadelphia County. From that point on, the number of malpractice cases I had an opportunity to work on skyrocketed. That was my first foray into the field.
Since that point in time, as your viewers may know, I run the malpractice department here at Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky, and I really enjoy it. Medical school would never have been a possibility for me because I am mathematically challenged. But I’ve always been fascinated with how things work, whether it’s devices around us or the human body.
I enjoy learning and studying medicine. To handle malpractice cases successfully, at some level, you have to know the medicine as well as the doctor. That’s my story.
Larry Bendesky
Tell us about some of the important facets of being a terrific trial lawyer and handling medical malpractice cases. Obviously, you talked about hard work and loving what you do.
Steve Wigrizer
My thinking is colored a little bit by the types of cases I do. I have to say that you have to select the right cases. That’s important from the get-go. Not all of our cases are easy. Most are not. In every malpractice case, we’re going up against a doctor who, in theory at least, knows medicine better than I do. It’s always a challenge.
But there are certain commonalities. One of the most important is developing a theme that will be applicable to various aspects of the case, that will carry through discovery and depositions, and carry through trial.
Another really important thing is strategic thinking. You can’t be a great trial lawyer unless you’re a great strategic thinker. There are so many decisions during the course of a case. Who do we sue? Who do we ultimately settle with or go to court against? Which theories are likely to get the most traction in the courtroom? Which theories should be abandoned? In what order should we call witnesses? Should we call every witness? I’m just scratching the surface.
I enjoy strategic thinking. I like brainstorming about great themes. By the way, Bob Mongeluzzi—Mongo—is one of the best when it comes to picking a theme that’s going to apply, and at strategic thinking. I had the privilege of being in a courtroom with him for six months of my life.
One of the reasons we worked so well together is that we are both strategic thinkers. It was not about ego. It was not about glamour. It was about making the decisions that would give our clients the best chance to win. Nobody’s better than he is. Those are important things.
Some would argue that the most important thing these days in cases is taking the deposition: how you conduct it and the questions you ask. I know you’ve emphasized the importance of that when you teach, and I agree.
In the old days, 20, 30, 40 years ago, you’d go in, and there was a litany of questions you would ask. It was almost like going through the same ritual every time. Now, as you do, you have to ask yourself, “What is my goal? What am I looking to accomplish?”
Larry Bendesky
And what’s the best way to go about it?
Steve Wigrizer
Absolutely. You have to know the full name, address, background, and things like that. But I’ve listened to some of your lectures, and sometimes I mix things up. Sometimes my opening will be something very different, trying to seek a concession on a liability point or the importance of a rule, regulation, law, or medical principle—whatever it may be.
We have to be creative. Creativity is a very important skill. And this is the beauty of Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky: I’m not the best at any one of those things in this office, but I have access to people who I think are.
Larry Bendesky
I agree.
Steve Wigrizer
I’ll ask Larry Bendesky, “How would you handle this deposition? These are the facts. This is the theory of liability.” I’ll ask Bob Mongeluzzi, “What theme do you think would have the most traction?”
When you’re in a firm like this, you can put aside your ego. We’re always learning. I watch young lawyers who I’m very impressed with handle a situation a certain way, and I say to myself, “Wow, that lawyer is good.” I’m not afraid to say I’ve learned something.
I hope I haven’t gone on too long. Those are some of the important things.
Larry Bendesky
Do you still love what you’re doing?
Steve Wigrizer
There are things that are pretty routine to me now. There are things I’d rather not do. But when I think I have a pretty good case, I still get excited. I’ll still run out to somebody’s house.
We’re very fortunate. We have an in-house physician I can talk to and say, “Am I wrong to be this pumped up about this? Don’t you think this was a severe deviation from the standard of care?” That’s our way, in malpractice speak, of saying “negligent.”
I still get excited about it. There are things I’ve done 10,000 times before that don’t get me excited. But if I didn’t have that spark, that inner flame, that desire and that joy, I wouldn’t be doing this at this point.
Larry Bendesky
Wig, thank you so much for coming today and talking to us. This has been Real Suits: Champions for the Injured. It’s been a pleasure to be with Steve Wigrizer today, my partner and friend.
Again, if you enjoyed listening to this episode, please click the subscribe button and share it with your family and friends. Thanks so much, and we’ll see you next time.