The last time Edward Badiu sent me an out-of-the-blue text message, it was about two hours after the Champlain Towers collapsed. This time, it was about the passing of John Pepper.
I have many memories of John Pepper. One of the longest-lasting was on April 19, 1995. I was taking another Hurricane Andrew deposition of John. Bill Berk and Berk’s clients seemed to be retaining John Pepper on all of their cases. The Oklahoma City Bombing occurred that morning during the deposition. After a break, Pepper announced that the deposition was over because he had been summoned to an emergency task force regarding the bombing. He had to get to Oklahoma City immediately.
My thought was, “Great, now the federal government has my arch-enemy expert pegged as an expert among experts going to investigate structural aspects of the highest-profile loss since Andrew. Where did Bill Berk find this guy?”
Over the next decade until early 2005, John Pepper and I had numerous depositions and debates. He was tough. I tried all kinds of different deposition techniques to trap, catch or otherwise destroy whatever John’s opinion was about a loss.
Following Hurricane Ivan, which struck Pensacola, John gave me a phone call. He explained that a woman who lived close to downtown Pensacola had her home destroyed. She faced huge coverage denial issues and was otherwise not being paid properly. He asked if I would be willing to help her.
After all the battles and debates, I was surprised by this invitation. I accepted this complex flood damage versus wind damage case.
The tough John Pepper changed during this engagement. The truth is that I did as well. We spent time together at the loss and discussed other experts that were needed. He suggested how we could begin to put together a cohesive case for the flood and wind carriers. I still remember saying something to the effect of, ‘John, let’s just hire whomever we need to prove a valid point. I’ll figure out the coverage later. It must be one coverage or another. If it’s neither, that’s just the way it is.’
The pleasant attitude and tone we shared towards each other during that case never changed anytime thereafter. Our client’s case was resolved successfully. She would occasionally reach out to one or the other of us over the years. I always had a smile when I would see him at the Windstorm Conference. We always talked cheerfully about that one time when cats and dogs got along.
In preparation for this blog, I asked our law librarians, Jennifer Dabbs and Ruck DeMinico, to find an expert CV that John had filed. When I opened it and started going through it, my better half, Donice Krueger, said, “Wow, now that’s an expert resumé!” Please take a second just to look at what John accomplished in his career.
John Pepper loved being a consulting architectural engineer. I know he loved the architectural part because he was honestly vulnerable during my questioning, and John was inherently a creative person with passion about design, beauty, structure, function, and safety. He seemed to love what he did for a living.
An attorney in our firm, Etienne Font, once managed a major independent claims office and knew John Pepper from that perspective. Etienne wrote this about John on LinkedIn:
I met John 34 years ago at a house in Coconut Grove, inspecting the floor framing from the crawlspace. We found that we had both been members of a military fraternity Pershing Rifles when we attended college and been part of ROTC. We became very good friends. I will miss him. To paraphrase a Pershing Rifles dedication to General Pershing: John Pepper needs no eulogy; his achievements are his eulogy. Rest in Peace, old friend.
John Pepper was truly a force in the engineering field and the insurance coverage litigation arena. People will notice his absence. I will miss seeing him and his friendly smile, knowing how we shared something very special after being adversaries for so long.
Thought For The Day
“Even though we fought like enemies in the ring, we became friends outside it. I’ll always respect Joe Frazier.”
—Mohammad Ali
