John Staley was a long-time employee of L.K. Walker Adjusting (a prestigious Independent Adjusting Company) as their solid, go-to Field Investigator. During his tenure at LK Walker, he handled multi-million dollar claims and settlements for the likes of Roanoke VA and the City of Norfolk, construction accidents (including fatalities and catastrophic injury), Trucking accidents, shipping loss, multiple-vehicle claims, and store robberies and the like. While the investigations were independent and unbiased, John got first-hand experience with liability, exposures, litigation, and subrogation; as well as OSHA regulations and Workers Comp procedures (such as ‘Exclusive Remedy’) etc.
Keith, the Senior Adjuster at LK Walker, had originally hired John as a remote photographer having been aware of John’s background in Arts and his beautiful photography, alongside his advanced knowledge (for the time back then) of Graphic Arts and Word Processing abilities. LK Walker was a pioneer of Remote Work and ‘paperless’ Green Office Technology.
The job was originally to drive to the assigned area and take photographs of the accident scene and write a report including measurements and arrows pointing out whatever was apropos. The reporting and detailing of the scene quickly revealed a formidable talent in accident scene investigation.
In one particular case however, Keith noticed John’s acute attention to detail and keen timeline analysis, which led the senior adjuster to conclude that his new employee had a remarkable investigatory genius. So Keith promoted him to the position of Field Investigator, a position that drew on all of John’s talents and captivated his probing intellect. John developed his logistics and interview skills under Keith’s mentorship and they contribute to his analytics and investigative activities to this day.