Faculty Profile: Rocky McElhaney II

It's about how hard you can get hit, how much you can take and keep moving forward. -Rocky Balboa

Rocky McElhaney learned many of the life lessons he now uses to help his clients while growing up near Buffalo Trail, in Morristown Tennessee, a small town about 35 miles east of Knoxville. At Central Point Baptist Church, he was taught the proper order of core values by his grandmother - faith, family, friends, and then finances. Rocky's dad worked as a millwright. His mom was an aide for Head Start. The family lived paycheck to paycheck. Rocky watched his parents work hard for what little they had. They overcame obstacles and made ends meet. By their example, Rocky learned that if you work hard, you can make it.

On August 5, 1988, when Rocky was 15, his dad, Larry McElhaney, injured his low back at work. He filed a workers' compensation claim, but the insurance company would not pay or provide timely medical treatment. Larry had no choice but to return to work and struggle through the pain. It took three years for Rocky's dad to get the surgery he needed. Rocky saw the stress on his dad's face as he dealt with the physical pain of his injury compounded by financial worry as bills piled up. The family got evicted and had to move. For over three years, Larry dealt with the never-ending stall tactics and red tape of an insurance company that wrongfully refused to give him the benefits he had earned. He was worn down.

Larry eventually hired a lawyer. The insurance company still refused to accept responsibility. In fact, in court papers, the insurance company denied it owed Larry anything for his injury. With the help of that lawyer, the family finally got justice. It was at that moment that Rocky decided to become an attorney - to fight for people the way that lawyer fought for his Dad and his family.

Rocky knows that hard working people who are injured should not be subjected to additional hardship because a big corporation or insurance company refuses to do the right thing. Rocky believes that injured people deserve an attorney they can trust to ensure that those that harm them are held fully accountable. Big corporations and the billion dollar insurance companies that back them should be held to the same standard we teach our children - to immediately take responsibility when they cause damage to another and fully pay for the harms and losses.

Representing only the people, not the powerful, over the past 14 years, Rocky has built this law firm to fight for people like you. What makes Rocky different is that he really cares about his clients. Every injured person is his dad and every ruthless insurance company is the one that impacted his family. From that viewpoint, Rocky and his team fight to make sure every client and their family get the maximum compensation for what they go through, not just a quick settlement. Rocky builds friendships with his clients, not just professional relationships. For example, Bridget Pack first hired Rocky in 2000 and they still text to this day. Rocky went to trial for Ernest Atkinson in 2002. Ernie and Rocky would meet at least once every other month at the Beacon Light restaurant on Highway 100 to eat breakfast until Ernie passed away in 2006.

Rocky knows your name and your story; not just your case number and date of injury. Rocky works hard and plays harder. He and his wife Penny have three little boys. On evenings after work, he can be found pitching to his sons, chasing them down on their bikes and battery-powered 4-wheelers, or grilling in the back yard. He likes to SCUBA dive and snow ski. He enjoys Tennessee football games in autumn and Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, in springtime. Rocky has an adventurous spirit which led him to jump out of an airplane to skydive, drive a NASCAR 155 MPH at Kentucky Speedway and cliff dive 35 feet into the Caribbean Sea at Rick's Caf? in Jamaica. For more of Rocky's biography, click here - See more at: http://www.rockylawfirm.com/our-staff/larry-r-rocky-mcelhaney/#sthash.oYRaktcu.dpuf