Jason Sanchez

Jason Sanchez (00:00):
I always knew I wanted to be a lawyer. So, when my son was born, it was either now or never. So, I'm going into the bar exam with a family, two small kids, and I'm like, "I got to pass the bar first time around so I can get this thing going." I took the LSAT and my score was like two points below what their bar was to let people in. Mike says, "You're in," but he forwards me the voicemail and it's the dean of admissions saying, "Listen, he doesn't need it. He's two points behind, but if you say we should take him, we'll take him."

Bob Simon (00:38):
Welcome to this episode of Bourbon of Proof, where we interview those who have been successful at law and life, and we do so over several spirits, mostly all whiskey. And of course we have our esteemed co-host, Mauro Fiore.

Mauro Fiore (00:50):
Esteemed. I like that.

Bob Simon (00:52):
Yes. Today, he's esteemed. But we have a very special episode today because our guest, Jason Sanchez, it's his birthday. Did you know that? So, we have a very special gift. Oh, look at this. Thank you. Megan.

Jason Sanchez (01:06):
Oh, wow.

Bob Simon (01:07):
These are Pappy balls.

Jason Sanchez (01:10):
Okay.

Mauro Fiore (01:11):
Pappy balls.

Bob Simon (01:12):
These are actually made of Pappy Van Winkle from Sugar Mama.

Jason Sanchez (01:16):
Sugar Mama.

Bob Simon (01:17):
Sugar Mama out of Kentucky. These are actually infused with Pappy Van Winkle. This was a gift from Christy Hagen, a trucking trial lawyer out of Colorado. And let me tell you, I'm excited to have these balls in my mouth. Jason, are you?

Jason Sanchez (01:29):
Absolutely.

Mauro Fiore (01:29):
I love infused balls myself.

Bob Simon (01:32):
That's too far.

Jason Sanchez (01:33):
Thank you, Christy.

Bob Simon (01:34):
All right.

Jason Sanchez (01:35):
Should I blow them out?

Bob Simon (01:36):
Yeah, we'll just sing a silent happy birthday. I don't like happy birthday songs. It's too weird, but go ahead. Wow. Here we go. So, did you wish for world peace?

Jason Sanchez (01:45):
I can't tell you what I wished for.

Bob Simon (01:47):
That was a test. Okay, so we're going to start this off. You guys are each going to get one Pappy ball. Don't put it in your mouth yet. Mauro, I know it's hard.

Mauro Fiore (01:56):
Jason, how old did you turn today? I guess 70.

Jason Sanchez (02:01):
Who do you think is older, me or Mauro?

Bob Simon (02:04):
I'd say by the white hair, you. I'd say by the age of his liver, Mauro. Wait, wait. We have to have a pairing with this. So, we're going to have the rest of the cast and crew, the brains behind the operation, Outlier Creative Agency. Nico, again from Booze Outlet. Nico supplied this, which we wanted to find a very unique dessert whiskey for you.

Jason Sanchez (02:30):
Elvis.

Bob Simon (02:30):
The Elvis, bacon, banana whiskey, peanut butter. No other good pairing and...

Mauro Fiore (02:37):
Amazing TCB.

Bob Simon (02:38):
If we're going to pair something with this. Nico from Booze Outlet, thank you for finding this. Very hard to get bottled and I'll enjoy mine out of the Jason Sanchez.

Jason Sanchez (02:50):
The Sanchez Clause Cup.

Bob Simon (02:51):
Sanchez Clause Cup.

Mauro Fiore (02:53):
Sanchez Clause Cup. I like that. Cheers.

Bob Simon (02:58):
Oh, wow. It's a good birthday. It's a good birthday.

Mauro Fiore (03:06):
Somewhere on my body, I have this tattoo, TCB. I can't remember where it's at, but somewhere. I don't want to disrobe.

Bob Simon (03:17):
Why do you have a TCB tattoo?

Mauro Fiore (03:18):
Taking care of business, Elvis. If anyone asked Elvis, "How you doing, Elvis?" He would say, "TCB baby. Taking care of business."

Bob Simon (03:25):
So, you have that tattoo on your body?

Mauro Fiore (03:27):
Yup, because that's what I do. Anyone ask me, "How you doing?" "Taking care of business."

Bob Simon (03:30):
Wow. I assume that's his lower back tattoo, but I will not.

Mauro Fiore (03:35):
My tramp stamp.

Bob Simon (03:36):
So, I picked some whiskeys for Jason Sanchez, who is one of the best trial lawyers in California. Don't mind the white hair, he started a little later in life, which we're going to talk about to be a lawyer, but I picked ones from Christmas past, Christmas present and Christmas future because Jason-

Mauro Fiore (03:54):
This is so good.

Bob Simon (03:54):
This is so good. Stop. Don't drink the whole bottle, dude.

Mauro Fiore (03:56):
Midnight Snack.

Bob Simon (03:57):
So, Jason, we're going to take it back to start. Happy Birthday, Jason Sanchez, back in the '70s, born.

Jason Sanchez (04:07):
'75, 49 years old today.

Bob Simon (04:10):
And Mauro, how old are you?

Mauro Fiore (04:12):
I'm also 49.

Jason Sanchez (04:13):
Not for long.

Mauro Fiore (04:15):
I was born in '74. As they say, "Hardcore since '74."

Bob Simon (04:21):
Nobody says that, but anyway.

Jason Sanchez (04:22):
No one says that.

Bob Simon (04:23):
No one says that. Jason, I mean, you've won Trial Lawyer of the Year in the [inaudible 00:04:31] Trial Lawyers Association, esteemed lawyer, but it wasn't always that way. Yeah?

Jason Sanchez (04:36):
No, no.

Bob Simon (04:37):
So, let's take it way back. We're going Christmas past.

Jason Sanchez (04:40):
Okay.

Bob Simon (04:41):
Where'd you grow up?

Jason Sanchez (04:43):
Born and raised in Southern California. Grew up in a town called Walnut. It's not Walnut up near San Francisco, which is Walnut Creek. I grew up in Walnut.

Mauro Fiore (04:52):
I grew up in Diamond Bar, right next door.

Jason Sanchez (04:55):
Neighboring cities.

Mauro Fiore (04:56):
Neighboring cities.

Jason Sanchez (04:57):
Neighboring cities.

Bob Simon (04:58):
Did you guys know each other?

Mauro Fiore (05:00):
No. Although I did play Walnut Little League and Walnut AYS Open. Diamond Bar is such a small shitty town, we didn't have any of our own stuff.

Jason Sanchez (05:08):
Did you go to Diamond Bar High School?

Mauro Fiore (05:09):
No, I didn't.

Jason Sanchez (05:10):
What high school did you go to?

Mauro Fiore (05:11):
We moved to San Diego when I was in high school, but from birth until 13, I was in Diamond Bar.

Jason Sanchez (05:18):
Okay. Yeah, so I grew up in Walnut, started out at Mt Sac, which is the junior college there in Walnut. Went there for a couple years, transferred to Cal State LA, went there for a couple years, then transferred to Cal Poly Pomona, went there for a few more years. It took me eight years to get through undergrad.

Bob Simon (05:35):
Really?

Jason Sanchez (05:36):
Yeah, because I was on-

Bob Simon (05:37):
You were on the eight-year plan.

Jason Sanchez (05:38):
I was on the speech and debate team too. And they had what were called interpretive events. So, they have your stand-up formal events like persuasive speaking and informational speeches and then debate. And then they had interpretive events, which was prose, poetry and theater. So, I did those for-

Bob Simon (06:00):
I did not know this existed.

Jason Sanchez (06:01):
... at the junior college level and then I did it at Cal State.

Mauro Fiore (06:04):
It sounds like a lot of classes that you were cruising for chicks.

Jason Sanchez (06:07):
It was fun. It was fun. Those are fun classes.

Bob Simon (06:10):
But Jason, your family was always involved in, I know your mom especially was involved in this fight for justice. She was part of the biggest verdicts of all time.

Jason Sanchez (06:18):
Yeah, so, going way back really.

Bob Simon (06:20):
Do you know this story?

Mauro Fiore (06:21):
No.

Bob Simon (06:21):
Oh.

Jason Sanchez (06:22):
So, going way back, my mom was a paralegal on the defense team that was trying the Egan versus Mutual of Omaha case against Bill. And so, she was actually watching closing arguments from the defense side, watching Shernoff do closing arguments. She was pregnant with me.

Mauro Fiore (06:42):
Wow.

Jason Sanchez (06:44):
Fast forward to 2003, I got hired on at the Shernoff firm doing public relations and their media relations.

Mauro Fiore (06:54):
You weren't a lawyer yet?

Jason Sanchez (06:55):
I was not a lawyer yet.

Bob Simon (06:57):
Jason, so a lot of people, all of us that were very good or great trial lawyers, nobody came from either meager beginnings or from a service industry. Mauro, where did you start? I mean, what were your first jobs?

Mauro Fiore (07:12):
I worked at El Torito when I was in law school as a bartender. And after law school, I started off working, I worked at a bankruptcy law firm out in the valley in Van Nuys, did bankruptcy for a couple years for a guy named Steven Rodriguez, who got disbarred.

Bob Simon (07:31):
I think she's a common theme, too, where Mauro [inaudible 00:07:34] disbarred.

Mauro Fiore (07:34):
So, then, after that guy got disbarred, I went to work at a PI firm in Montebello, the great city of Montebello for a guy named Armand Passano, who also got disbarred.

Bob Simon (07:44):
I did not know that, but the story goes-

Mauro Fiore (07:46):
Yeah, well, I worked for a couple guys there that never found a client whose money they didn't want to steal, but I had nothing to do with the money. I was just an associate, but those guys were really bad. And then I went out on my own after that.

Bob Simon (08:01):
But I mean, you were back in the day a bartender. I know you worked in the golf courses.

Mauro Fiore (08:04):
Oh, yeah. I mean, I worked at a bunch of golf courses. I always played golf. I played on the golf team in junior college. And I was a guy who drove the thing that picked up the grange balls, the range picker that picked up the balls at the driving range. And anytime you got out of that fucking thing, if it got stuck in the mud or whatever, you'd know for sure people are hitting balls at you. It's like what is the thrill of hitting the ball picker guy? Why do you got to shoot balls at him?

Jason Sanchez (08:31):
It's a moving target.

Mauro Fiore (08:31):
Yeah.

Jason Sanchez (08:32):
So, it's the best.

Mauro Fiore (08:33):
One time I got stuck in the mud, I remember, and I took three minutes to get it out and man, people were shooting drivers, everything at me. I was like, "This is not fun, man. What if it hit me in the head?" But people love that.

Jason Sanchez (08:45):
I was never a golf cart driver, but I did work as a bartender as well.

Bob Simon (08:48):
Yeah. See?

Jason Sanchez (08:49):
Yeah. Actually started out as a host at Chili's. I was the host, and then I worked my way up and I became a bartender and I bartended for 10 years.

Bob Simon (08:57):
Wow. Where were you bartending at Chili's, where?

Jason Sanchez (09:01):
In West Covina, the one right there off Barranca.

Bob Simon (09:03):
Oh, I went there after I took the bar actually.

Mauro Fiore (09:06):
My very first office that I had when I finally got done with working for all the disbarred lawyers that I worked for was at the 100 North Barranca in the building right across the street from BJ's.

Jason Sanchez (09:18):
The one by the TGI Fridays?

Mauro Fiore (09:20):
Yeah, by Fridays, TGI Fridays, BJ's, Eastland Center. That was my first office.

Bob Simon (09:26):
I cannot believe the two of you did not know each other until a recent history.

Jason Sanchez (09:29):
It's kind of crazy.

Mauro Fiore (09:31):
And I grew up in Dunbar, right next to Walnut.

Bob Simon (09:32):
Wow. I would've figured you guys met each other at BJ's for sure.

Jason Sanchez (09:36):
It was a safari bar before that.

Mauro Fiore (09:38):
That was the best safari bar. Then there was a place called Wings in West Covina that was legendary. Did you ever go to Wings?

Jason Sanchez (09:46):
I did not.

Mauro Fiore (09:46):
Oh, man.

Bob Simon (09:48):
I mean, and the point of this is most great lawyers that can speak to juries and talk to human beings didn't go to Yale, didn't go to Harvard, weren't first career lawyers a lot of the time, but we were served as industry folk, right?

Jason Sanchez (10:00):
I agree.

Bob Simon (10:01):
But I mean, do you resonate now, Jason? You've had some eight figure verdicts just in the past few months, different venues. You've tried cases up and down the state and you have to speak to different groups of folk. Do you ever turn on your bartending brain when you talk to those folks?

Jason Sanchez (10:16):
Every time I go in.

Bob Simon (10:17):
How?

Jason Sanchez (10:18):
I just pretend like I'm sitting there ... I'd be much more comfortable for this whole conversation standing on the other side of that, by the way. But that's what I do. When I'm doing jury selection, I pretend like I'm behind the bar and these 12 people are sitting at my bar top and I'm just trying to figure out who they are, what their interests are, what their likes are, what they want, what they don't want. And that's what you do when you're serving someone at the bar.

Bob Simon (10:42):
Do you ever assign somebody a drink?

Jason Sanchez (10:45):
I've never done that.

Bob Simon (10:45):
Oh, that'd be cool. That's a kamikaze. I don't want to have anything to do with that.

Jason Sanchez (10:50):
Right.

Bob Simon (10:50):
That one's like a lemon drop. "Okay, I can get into this one."

Jason Sanchez (10:54):
I'm going to try that now.

Bob Simon (10:55):
You should do this.

Jason Sanchez (10:56):
I'm going to try that.

Bob Simon (10:57):
Mauro, how about you? Do you ever pick drinks for-

Mauro Fiore (10:59):
Not drinks, but I mean, I can tell by their energy and how they react to you whether you want them or not. Especially me, 99 times out of 100, I'm in trial on a slip and fall case. So, slip and fall cases always seem to bring out real emotion in people. Jurors get riled up on slip and falls, so they like, "Oh, the slip and fall case, you're an ambulance chaser, you're a crook, you're this, you're that." It's like, "Man, I'm just trying to represent my client." Some people get just attack you because you're representing someone who might've slipped and fell at a store. And that's tough to do, but it's a bias people have, right?

Jason Sanchez (11:41):
Right.

Mauro Fiore (11:42):
So, you got to be able to ferret it out and figure out who are going to be the best jurors to give you at least a fair shake.

Bob Simon (11:50):
So, yeah, for people that are watching or listening, I mean, so Jason, a lot of people will be like, "Oh, my god, you got to go right from law school. You got to be a political science major. You got to go right or from undergrad to law school and do this certain path." But it's not like that for most people.

Jason Sanchez (12:03):
I don't know what it's like for most people, but it certainly wasn't like that for me. I mean, I really kind of always knew I wanted to be a lawyer, but like I said, it took me eight years to get through undergrad. So, I didn't really want to do any more school.

Bob Simon (12:17):
Were you Van Wilder? Why did it take you eight years? What were you doing?

Jason Sanchez (12:20):
Well, I was traveling, doing speech and debate for the first four years.

Bob Simon (12:24):
I bet speech and debate. That's what you do with your mom and dad.

Mauro Fiore (12:26):
Is that what you call it? That's what you call it?

Jason Sanchez (12:28):
That's what we called it. And then the last four years, it was truly just figuring out what I wanted to do. And I figured, well, I'll do media and public relations. And once I started going that route, I was working at city hall in Walnut for the public information manager's office as an intern. So, I was thinking I'll either do that or I'll go into the legal side. And when I graduated, I decided I really wanted to go on the legal side. And so, that's kind of what sparked it.

(13:01):
And then as I was working there and cheerleading for all the other lawyers about their verdicts and stuff, I started to think, "Look, if I'm going to go to law school, it's got to be now or never." My son was just born.

Bob Simon (13:13):
So, you had a kid already while you went to law school?

Jason Sanchez (13:16):
I did. My son was a year and a half old when I started.

Mauro Fiore (13:19):
When did you get married?

Jason Sanchez (13:21):
2002.

Bob Simon (13:23):
Wow.

Mauro Fiore (13:24):
Wow. So, you were married, you had a kid. These are the stories that really inspire me because it's like I was like a little kid basically when I went to law school. I started law school when I was 20 years old. I had no obligations, no kids, no girlfriend, no nothing. I had nothing to do but study and go to school. You know what I mean?

Jason Sanchez (13:51):
I think I was 30 when I started law school.

Bob Simon (13:53):
Wow.

Mauro Fiore (13:53):
Yeah, I was 20. I graduated when I was 23. I passed the bar-

Bob Simon (13:57):
And you graduated law school when he was 23?

Mauro Fiore (13:58):
Yeah, I graduated law school when I was 23. Again, because I had nothing, I had no obligations, nothing, I just had myself and I studied like it ... I tell you one thing. I mean, if I failed the bar when I took it, there was no way to pass because I studied literally 15 hours a day for six months. When I took the bar exam, I was spitting fire. There's no way to pass, no way to fail. And I passed the first time.

Jason Sanchez (14:28):
I felt the same way though because like I said, my son was a year and a half old when I started law school. My daughter was a year and a half old when I finished law school.

Bob Simon (14:35):
Wow.

Jason Sanchez (14:36):
So, I'm going into the bar exam with a family, two small kids, and I'm like, "I got to pass the bar first time around so I can get this thing going." But at the same time, starting so much later and having that life experience of bartending for 10 years and being a dad and being a husband, I think I go into trials with a different perspective on different things because I have that life experience to draw from.

Bob Simon (15:02):
Look, when I became a dad and started trying cases, it was a completely different perspective. I mean just ways to communicate commonalities with a jury. I was telemarketing, cutting grass, these things, you're bartending, you can find certain things. But once you're a parent, there's a whole new level of being able to communicate. So, I'm going to digress into the next one. So, we've never done this on the show before, but we're going to select a barrel of whiskey today.

(15:36):
I didn't tell you this. This is very nice.

Mauro Fiore (15:36):
Surprise.

Bob Simon (15:38):
So, this is the Cat's Eye Distillery out of Indiana, our friend, the Nassif family, and they've created, this is Christmas present. Well, actually this will be future because we're going to get this in the future. We're going to select a barrel. Present will be one of my favorite with these ever, the Magi, which is a blended rye, which this family did out of Indiana and it's fantastic.

Jason Sanchez (15:57):
I've heard about it. Never seen it.

Bob Simon (15:59):
Really? So, Jason, I mean, he looks like Santa Claus. That's why I did this mug.

Mauro Fiore (16:04):
Sexiest damn Santa you ever laid eyes on?

Bob Simon (16:06):
I mean, Jesus. Are you reading my search history on Google? Anyway, so we're going to pick. The way you do a barrel select is they have different samples, which they send me from Indiana. They have what it is and the number. So, you're going to say which-

Mauro Fiore (16:21):
Holy smoke.

Bob Simon (16:21):
This one's out of control. You see it?

Mauro Fiore (16:23):
123 proof.

Bob Simon (16:26):
This can fly you to 1984.

Mauro Fiore (16:28):
Yes.

Bob Simon (16:30):
If you're with Marty McFly.

Mauro Fiore (16:31):
This is rocket fuel.

Bob Simon (16:33):
We're going to do a little bit. This will be the hottest that you taste. We need to figure out which one you want.

Mauro Fiore (16:36):
This is about as high as I remember us drinking on this show.

Bob Simon (16:38):
Because I'm a huge fan of this one, and they could recreate it.

Mauro Fiore (16:48):
Wow. For being that high of proof, it's pretty good.

Bob Simon (16:50):
That is really good.

Mauro Fiore (16:50):
Very smooth. That's amazing actually.

Jason Sanchez (16:53):
I think my tongue melted. I don't taste anything. No, I'm kidding.

Mauro Fiore (16:58):
That's amazing for as high of proof as it is. Really good.

Bob Simon (17:00):
I still have peanut butter on my lips from-

Mauro Fiore (17:02):
With one ice cube, that would be really nice.

Bob Simon (17:04):
Yeah.

Mauro Fiore (17:05):
With one ice cube, it'd be very nice.

Bob Simon (17:07):
Okay, so now remember your palate, because now we're going to dive into a...

Mauro Fiore (17:11):
Another.

Bob Simon (17:12):
What the fuck? Sorry. Damn, this one's even hotter. I thought we went down.

Mauro Fiore (17:18):
This one's even hotter.

Jason Sanchez (17:18):
We're going up?

Mauro Fiore (17:19):
125, 11 year.

Jason Sanchez (17:22):
That's the last one.

Bob Simon (17:23):
123. That one's 102. It's way down.

Mauro Fiore (17:25):
Yeah. And this is 125.

Bob Simon (17:26):
Feel like we're pouring a potion.

Mauro Fiore (17:28):
Yeah, this is 125. Okay, let's see what the 125 tastes like. Wow. That's hot. 125's 75% alcohol, man.

Bob Simon (17:39):
No, your math is terrible.

Mauro Fiore (17:40):
No. What is it?

Jason Sanchez (17:41):
I don't do math.

Bob Simon (17:42):
150, 75% alcohol.

Mauro Fiore (17:43):
Okay.

Bob Simon (17:43):
So, it's just divided by two, dude. It's not even close.

Mauro Fiore (17:47):
I'm really bad with math.

Bob Simon (17:48):
He had an AA in golf course management, not math.

Mauro Fiore (17:52):
Yes.

Jason Sanchez (17:54):
I like that one. I like that one better than the first one.

Bob Simon (17:59):
I do too.

Mauro Fiore (18:00):
I like the first one better.

Bob Simon (18:02):
Oh, you can fuel it though. That one's hot.

Mauro Fiore (18:06):
These are really good. Both of them. But I like the first one.

Bob Simon (18:09):
Wow. So, Indiana is also right across the river from Louisville, Kentucky.

Jason Sanchez (18:14):
Mm-hmm.

Bob Simon (18:15):
So, it's a lot of similar things. A lot of people don't look at the Indiana whiskeys enough. This one is fantastic. Don't play this one yet.

Mauro Fiore (18:21):
Were you there when we were in Louisville for Dylan Dordick's bachelor party?

Bob Simon (18:27):
I was not.

Mauro Fiore (18:28):
We were in Louisville. We did the bourbon trail and we were looking to get in trouble and get wild at night.

Bob Simon (18:35):
You?

Mauro Fiore (18:36):
Yeah. Right across the river from Louisville, there's the Ohio River runs through Louisville.

Bob Simon (18:41):
Where does the Ohio River start?

Mauro Fiore (18:43):
Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.

Bob Simon (18:44):
You know?

Mauro Fiore (18:45):
It's one of the three rivers.

Bob Simon (18:47):
There you go.

Mauro Fiore (18:47):
So, across the Ohio River from Louisville, Kentucky is Indiana. It's right there. And on the Indiana side, there's casinos, but not on the Kentucky side, right? No gambling allowed in Kentucky. So, we went across the river, just right across the bridge. I think it was called Caesar's Palace, some shitty casino. I went in there, I had 100 bucks on-

Bob Simon (19:09):
By the way, when I traveled with him internationally, his first question is, "Where's the casino?" Every guide we have, "Where's the casino?"

Mauro Fiore (19:15):
Remember when we were in Monaco, I was up like 1000 bucks right away instantly. And then I lost everything.

Bob Simon (19:19):
A lot more than that he lost.

Mauro Fiore (19:20):
I lost everything. But in Monaco, I was up. I should have walked. So, I went to this shitty casino in Indiana with Dylan and a bunch of people. I had 100 bucks. I walk in. They have Wheel of Fortune. Who doesn't like Wheel of Fortune, right? I mean everybody.

Bob Simon (19:34):
Me.

Mauro Fiore (19:35):
So, I put my 100 bucks in the Wheel of Fortune machine. It's $5.

Jason Sanchez (19:40):
This is the Wheel of Fortune slot, right?

Mauro Fiore (19:41):
Yeah, wheel of Fortune slot. And my third spin, I hit the jackpot, 15 grand, 15,000 bucks. They come out and they pay me out 15,000 in cash. The money in the bag. I was like, "Let me get the hell out of here." I went back to my room with the money and I actually came home with the 15 grand. I told my wife, "Look what I got," when I got home. Because normally, I would stay and gamble it away, but this time I was like, "You know what, 100 bucks to 15 grand, let me get out of here."

Jason Sanchez (20:07):
An old dog can learn a new trick.

Mauro Fiore (20:09):
I went back to Kentucky. I went back across river to Kentucky.

Bob Simon (20:12):
The first time I met Mauro was in a hot tub in Vegas. True story. And we found out we had the same tattoo. We were like, "We're best friends and we're best friends." He gave me his Phoenix necklace, because we both had the same tattoo. He won 25 fucking thousand dollars on a slot.

Mauro Fiore (20:29):
Yeah, later that night, I played this Phoenix tattoo and I went 25 grand.

Bob Simon (20:33):
He did.

Mauro Fiore (20:33):
Played the Phoenix slot machine, I won 25 grand, but I gave Bob my Phoenix necklace. I have the Phoenix tattoo I think right here. Yeah, it's right there. There it is. See the Phoenix?

Bob Simon (20:44):
I mean, it does look a lot like the small of your back tattoo.

Mauro Fiore (20:47):
No, different. Much different.

Bob Simon (20:48):
So, we're going to continue on to the next one. So, Jason, as you continue your journey through being a spectator of trials, in your mom's belly to talking to folks as a bartender, why the fuck did you go to law school?

Jason Sanchez (21:05):
Where or why?

Bob Simon (21:07):
Why, why?

Mauro Fiore (21:08):
And where? I'd like to know where too.

Bob Simon (21:09):
Oh, yeah. The where and the why and the what.

Jason Sanchez (21:12):
University of La Verne College of Law. Why was because like I said, I thought I kind of always knew I wanted to be a bartender and my son had been born and it was either now or never.

Bob Simon (21:23):
He wanted be a bartender.

Mauro Fiore (21:24):
You wanted to be a bartender.

Jason Sanchez (21:26):
I wanted to be a bartender. That's the second one. That's the second is more ... Wow. I always knew I wanted to be a lawyer. So, when my son was born, it was either now or never. So, I just pulled the trigger on it and applied. And I remember the lawyer that I worked for at the time ... Well, can we say names?

Mauro Fiore (21:41):
Yeah.

Bob Simon (21:42):
You can do whatever the fuck you want to do.

Jason Sanchez (21:43):
So, I remember at the time that I applied when I was working at the Shernoff firm, Bidart, Mike Bidart was on the board of directors or whatever at La Verne. And I took the LSAT and my score was like two points below what their bar was to let people in. And I get a voicemail at the office and Mike says, "You're in." But he forwards me the voicemail and it's the dean of admissions saying, "Listen, he doesn't meet it. He's two points behind, but if you say we should take him, we'll take him."

Bob Simon (22:13):
No way.

Jason Sanchez (22:14):
Yeah. So, I was two points below, but yeah, that's where I went. Why I went was because I had told you that my mom was on the defense side way back for Egan versus Mutual of Omaha, but she had actually transferred over some years ago and was working at the Shernoff firm for several years. And I remember she'd come home from work for dinner just being all hyped up about whatever case it was and the injustice. And a lot of our family dinners were talking about the cases that she was working on and it got inspired. I figured, "Yeah, this is what I want to do."

Bob Simon (22:51):
Wow.

Mauro Fiore (22:52):
Yeah, I mean the LSAT's bullshit, man.

Bob Simon (22:54):
It's all just test-taking.

Mauro Fiore (22:55):
Yeah, I mean I know that the law school I went to had a certain number that you had to get to go there.

Bob Simon (23:00):
It was zero. It was 0.0.

Mauro Fiore (23:04):
No. I was like, "Well, what do I need to get?" And they said, "You need to get a 145," big high score. 145 is like just to make sure you're not retarded, I guess. I don't know.

Bob Simon (23:14):
Stop. You can't say-

Mauro Fiore (23:16):
I guess you can't use that word anymore. Make sure you're not really dumb.

Bob Simon (23:20):
Wait. Start over from 145.

Mauro Fiore (23:22):
Okay. My law school, you had to get a 145 to get in and of course, I had no money or anything to go to any LSAT prep course or nothing. I bought some book at Barnes & Noble, it's like 10 bucks. And I remember reading through the book one afternoon, I was like, "Yeah, 145 I should be able to get." I said, "If I can't get a 145, shit I won't go to law school." So, I read the book for four days. I took the test five days later. I got my score back. I got a 145. I was like, "Okay, well, I guess I'm going." 145, I'm right on the nose.

Bob Simon (23:57):
So, the Mike Bidart story. So, for those of you who do not know Mike Bidart watching or listening, he's had a major impact on a lot of our lives through either case law or mentorship. So, the first time I met Mike, we actually were both up for Trial Lawyer of the Year and I was six year lawyer and I had six or seven, eight-figure verdict, seven or eight-figure verdicts in a year. And Mike Bidart had crushed the biggest med mal you could ever.

(24:29):
The story resonated with me where he told the client, "I will essentially pay for your loss because I'm so confident we could do this for you." And he had, again, a verdict that will transcend law and be case law.

Jason Sanchez (24:48):
I remember that case.

Bob Simon (24:48):
Yes. So, you guys were probably on that case. So, Mike Bidart got my daughter, my oldest daughter that we adopted baptized over in the Basque Country in the oldest church where King Louis XIII got married.

Mauro Fiore (25:05):
In Bidart.

Bob Simon (25:06):
Right outside of Bidart.

Mauro Fiore (25:07):
Because there's a city-

Bob Simon (25:07):
A city called Bidart.

Mauro Fiore (25:08):
In the Basque Country called Bidart.

Jason Sanchez (25:11):
The church is in St. John de Luz.

Bob Simon (25:13):
St. John de Luz, in France.

Mauro Fiore (25:15):
I've been there, too

Jason Sanchez (25:15):
And it's St. John the Baptist Church.

Bob Simon (25:17):
Yes.

Jason Sanchez (25:18):
Yeah.

Mauro Fiore (25:18):
And St. John was right on the border of Spain and France.

Bob Simon (25:22):
Because he heard we were traveling there and he called me and this is Mike Bidart. This is like a god in the industry. He's like, "Oh, you're going to St. John?" He talks like this, right? He's like, "You never guess who I'm with. I'm with the most famous rugby player from the region. He knows the priest that opens up St. John de Luz. I could do this for you." I say, "What, Mike? What did you say?" He goes, "Yes, you're a great lawyer. We're good friends. Your daughter shall get baptized in St. John de Luz."

Jason Sanchez (25:49):
Right.

Bob Simon (25:50):
But he talks like that.

Jason Sanchez (25:51):
A little bit, yeah.

Bob Simon (25:51):
He's the best human ever, like the most...

Jason Sanchez (25:54):
He's a very generous man.

Bob Simon (25:55):
Very generous people. But I can't believe I did not know that story. You were there at the time of those verdicts.

Jason Sanchez (26:00):
Mm-hmm.

Bob Simon (26:01):
Wow.

Jason Sanchez (26:02):
Yeah.

Mauro Fiore (26:03):
So, how old were you when you became a lawyer?

Jason Sanchez (26:06):
Well, 34.

Bob Simon (26:10):
So, we're going to do this next pour. We're going to talk about when Jason and I met.

Jason Sanchez (26:13):
Oh, that's a good story.

Bob Simon (26:14):
Yeah. This is only 103 proof.

Mauro Fiore (26:18):
Oh, this is child's play.

Bob Simon (26:21):
What? Your eyes. 102.

Mauro Fiore (26:22):
102.9.

Bob Simon (26:24):
Yeah.

Mauro Fiore (26:26):
You were relying on my eyes, you're in bad shape.

Bob Simon (26:29):
This is the Cat's Eyes Distillery.

Jason Sanchez (26:31):
He didn't read it like this, didn't he?

Mauro Fiore (26:32):
He can't see shit anymore.

Bob Simon (26:34):
Yeah. Okay, guys. This better be our favorite because there's no way I'm going to pick a barrel that's 124 proof.

Mauro Fiore (26:45):
I still like number one. This is good though.

Bob Simon (26:48):
Goddamnit, I do too. I feel like these were mislabeled.

Jason Sanchez (26:53):
I still like the second one.

Bob Simon (26:55):
Okay.

Jason Sanchez (26:55):
The middle one.

Bob Simon (26:58):
You'll pick at the end.

Jason Sanchez (26:59):
Okay.

Bob Simon (27:00):
So, first time Jason and I met, I knew you way before ... You were a baby lawyer, but I didn't know it.

Jason Sanchez (27:06):
Right.

Bob Simon (27:08):
But I don't know if you know this, Mauro, we tried a case together back. It might've been your first case.

Jason Sanchez (27:12):
This is my second trial.

Bob Simon (27:14):
Second trial. So, I mean, just tell the story because this is one of the most fun trials that I've ever been part of.

Jason Sanchez (27:21):
I'll tell the story, but that wasn't the first time we met.

Bob Simon (27:24):
Did we meet in Vegas at CAALA?

Jason Sanchez (27:25):
No, we met at Justice Day at CAOC.

Bob Simon (27:28):
Oh, yes. We have a picture.

Jason Sanchez (27:29):
2013.

Bob Simon (27:31):
I have a picture which I'll send to our media team. We are on the podium. Yes. Okay. We did.

Jason Sanchez (27:35):
That was the first time we met.

Bob Simon (27:36):
Mauro just ate another chocolate we were saving for everybody else, the Pappy ball.

Mauro Fiore (27:40):
I apologize to the crew. I couldn't help myself.

Bob Simon (27:49):
It's very good.

Mauro Fiore (27:50):
Very good.

Jason Sanchez (27:51):
What story did you want

Bob Simon (27:54):
The one in Sacramento, the first time we met.

Jason Sanchez (27:57):
So, anybody who's ever been to the CAOC Justice Day, it's you go in and you talk to legislators about legislation and there's a breakfast the morning before you go in. And I remember sitting in the room and I'm sitting next to this window because it's a stuffy room. You open the window, you get fresh air. Then there's this guy that comes ... Actually I was walking, he was already seated and he was wearing this peach-colored shirt with French cuffs and they had Captain America and Shield cufflinks-

Mauro Fiore (28:28):
Like Dumb and Dumber?

Bob Simon (28:30):
I actually wore the Dumb and Dumber. I had ruffles.

Mauro Fiore (28:32):
Yeah.

Bob Simon (28:32):
Yeah, I stand out.

Jason Sanchez (28:33):
And it's pre-beard.

Bob Simon (28:36):
Oh, yeah. That was pre-beard. Stubble.

Jason Sanchez (28:38):
And we just started talking and hit it off. And that's the first time we met and we just kind of became friends.

Bob Simon (28:43):
You were pre-beard too.

Jason Sanchez (28:45):
I was pre-beard.

Bob Simon (28:45):
We both were pre-beard. Feels like we haven't found ourselves yet. We were just experimenting on law. Didn't find the beards yet.

Jason Sanchez (28:53):
No, no.

Mauro Fiore (28:54):
I've always had this short kind of stubble. That's it. It doesn't really grow much more than this. I wish I could grow this real beard like a Viking beard.

Bob Simon (29:03):
You have to drink more whiskey and it grows.

Mauro Fiore (29:07):
I drink lots of whiskeys. It hasn't grown at this point. At this point, it ain't going to grow.

Bob Simon (29:12):
So, Jason and I met and COAC is the legislative lobbying group for consumers in California. We dictate policy, be able to actually write bills. And it was very cool as a young lawyer. Both were young lawyers at the time.

Jason Sanchez (29:25):
Yup.

Bob Simon (29:27):
To see how that shaped and formed. And probably six, seven years later ... We stayed in touch.

Jason Sanchez (29:32):
Yeah.

Bob Simon (29:33):
Actually I tried to hire you.

Jason Sanchez (29:35):
Well, that didn't come until later.

Bob Simon (29:37):
Didn't come till later. Mauro, you don't know all these stories. These are good.

Jason Sanchez (29:40):
So, you and I were at one of the Inland Empire Christmas parties in 2017 and you had the Pacific-Erickson case coming up.

Mauro Fiore (29:51):
At Ricardo's house?

Jason Sanchez (29:52):
Yeah, we were at Ricardo's house.

Bob Simon (29:53):
Now, he was still working for Ricardo at the time.

Jason Sanchez (29:55):
Right. And you had the Pacific-Erickson case and it was coming up for trial in January of that year. And so, we were talking about it, and then this was early December. You actually called me on New Year's Day and you said, "Hey, this case didn't settle, and I've got these two plaintiffs, I've kind of got a conflict. Will you take one of the plaintiffs?" I'm like, "Well, who is she?" And he's like, "Well, she's the passenger of the car. She's got like 13,000 in meds. But I got a conflict. I need you. Can you do it?"

Mauro Fiore (30:25):
This wasn't the case when we were in Palm Springs with Doric.

Bob Simon (30:29):
No. There was no reason why this case should have ever, they should have never denied liability. And we had two passengers and I thought, we're coming to trial. That's like, "There's no way they're going to carry this story through trial." And then they did. So, I had the driver of a car that's hit by a semi and there was a passenger as well, which we also represented, but they were blaming her. I was like, "We can't-"

Mauro Fiore (30:57):
Got a conflict.

Bob Simon (30:57):
I got a conflict. But in my mind I was like, "Why are they blaming my girl, blah, blah, blah." And I was like, "Jason, you know what, dude, we've been friends. We've been talking for a while. Let's just go try this case together."

Jason Sanchez (31:09):
Yeah, it was a blast.

Bob Simon (31:12):
We stayed it at Mission Inn.

Mauro Fiore (31:15):
Eat at Duane's.

Bob Simon (31:18):
No, we ate at that...

Jason Sanchez (31:20):
The Salted Pig.

Bob Simon (31:20):
Yeah. And then we went to the cupcake place, Casey's Cupcakes or something.

Jason Sanchez (31:25):
Ah-huh, almost every night.

Bob Simon (31:27):
And Jason turned ... So, his client had literally maybe 10 medical visits, tops.

Jason Sanchez (31:37):
Mostly chiropractic. And I think she had two or three visits with, what do they call them? The family therapist.

Bob Simon (31:43):
Family therapist only. And Jason called two people in his case, the dad...

Jason Sanchez (31:53):
And the client.

Bob Simon (31:54):
And the client. He got $3 million.

Mauro Fiore (31:59):
$3 million.

Jason Sanchez (32:00):
Yeah.

Mauro Fiore (32:00):
Whoa.

Bob Simon (32:02):
Now let's take it, let's take it back.

Mauro Fiore (32:03):
How much did your client get?

Bob Simon (32:05):
3.8.

Mauro Fiore (32:06):
Wow.

Bob Simon (32:07):
No, and this was, trust me, the way this unfolded was the most orchestrated ... I mean, Jason will tell you, we walked in that courtroom where there was a lot of things we didn't know how it would play out. And his client had no real physical injuries. So, we just turned the case from jury selection on and two emotional injuries. Yeah.

Jason Sanchez (32:32):
That's what we did jury selection on too. Who believes emotional injuries are real?

Mauro Fiore (32:36):
Wow, you got good jurors.

Bob Simon (32:39):
But listen to how we did this.

Jason Sanchez (32:42):
Well, I don't know where you're going with that, but that's what we did jury selection on was on emotional injuries and the court system and righting wrongs. And we had this one juror, the 80-year-old juror that was the best juror ever. And on jury selection, this guy is asking her all of those questions and just basically preconditioning the entire panel on why it's important to be in court, why it's important, the jury is important. She was our best juror. She was fantastic.

Bob Simon (33:11):
She was the president of her Republican women's caucus in the area.

Mauro Fiore (33:17):
Well, they always say conservative jurors give money if they believe in the case.

Bob Simon (33:21):
And one of the best jurors also because his client, she had her whole claim was PTSD. And Jason built this whole story and look, called no experts on her fucking case, no expert, zero. Did the whole case based off of her and her dad and what she feels and what she sees. And the defense never saw coming.

Jason Sanchez (33:43):
They never asked her any of those questions in her deposition. What happened to you after the incident? The collision. I mean, they were rearended by this big rig. And their car spins off into the desert, but it's 2:00 in the morning. There's no street lights. There's no lights. So, when I was talking with her about it, I would tell her, I'm like, "I don't want you to tell me this. I don't want you to answer. I just want you to think about it. What could you see? What could you hear? What could you smell? How did you feel?"

(34:14):
And I would never let her tell me any of those things during all the prep sessions. So, when it came time to ask her those questions on the stand, and I asked her, she just lost it. I mean, she was just crying. It was amazing. It was pretty powerful.

Bob Simon (34:28):
He called her dad, who looked like Wilford Brimley.

Jason Sanchez (34:33):
He did. He was like some manager at a Big O tire store or something like that, I mean.

Bob Simon (34:39):
He told the story of what she's been through and they had no defense to it. What could they say? They had no expert to talk about it. We were preparing for the closing arms in that case. And Jason's like, "How much should I ask for?"

Jason Sanchez (34:55):
Meanwhile, I've got 13,000 in meds, that's all I've got.

Bob Simon (34:59):
150,000, 200,000. I was like, "Jason, ask for five million." He's like, "What did you say?" I was like, "Jason, ask-"

Mauro Fiore (35:05):
Because you saw that it went well.

Bob Simon (35:07):
You could see everything went in so clean. You thought I was crazy.

Jason Sanchez (35:15):
Well, you actually said you need to ask for $6 million.

Bob Simon (35:18):
Oh, six million.

Jason Sanchez (35:19):
And I'm like, "You're crazy." He's like, "No, $6 million." So, I went in and I'm preparing my closing. I'm looking at all the stuff. I went in and I asked for $4 million and they gave us three, but I asked for four. After closings, he goes, "Man, I was just fucking with you."

Bob Simon (35:35):
This is a true story. Oh, god, we had so much fun in that trial.

Jason Sanchez (35:39):
That was a lot of fun.

Mauro Fiore (35:40):
Yeah, I mean...

Bob Simon (35:40):
We did a lot of dares. I dared Jason to say red herrings. And he stood up after I crossed somebody, he stand up and said, "Do you know what a red herring is?" "Objection." Sustained by the judge. The entire jury laughs. Actually, I didn't know he was going to do it, but he played it very well.

Jason Sanchez (35:56):
No, he did. He dared me to do it. He dared me to do it. He said, "Ask the expert if he knows what a red herring is." I go, "Okay." So, I asked. "Objection." "Overruled." "Yes, I know what a red herring is." "What is it?" "Objection." "Sustained." And then I just sat down. It was the only question I had.

Bob Simon (36:13):
Because we were tag team because we had two plaintiffs against one trucking company. We were just crushing these guys.

Jason Sanchez (36:18):
It was a good time.

Bob Simon (36:19):
They tried to appeal it and went very badly for them.

Mauro Fiore (36:21):
That was in what courtrooms?

Jason Sanchez (36:21):
San Bernardino.

Bob Simon (36:22):
San Bernardino. [inaudible 00:36:24]. Judge Ochoa. Great venue.

Mauro Fiore (36:26):
Good venue.

Bob Simon (36:28):
The last pour, this is...

Mauro Fiore (36:29):
Judge Ochoa is retiring now, right?

Bob Simon (36:33):
We don't know. I hope not. But Chaco's retiring. By the time this airs, he will no longer be on the bench. One of the best lawyer or judges we've ever had.

Jason Sanchez (36:49):
Wow. This smells delicious.

Bob Simon (36:50):
This is one of my favorite whiskeys. So, this one, top 25 rye whiskeys. This is The Magi. It's a blended rye whiskey. And this is why the same people that did the ones that we just tasted, the Nassif family. They did this blend and they had won. And I keep this every Christmas. Jason, this is my Christmas pour. I have two or three that we do every year. And this is one of them. It's one of my personal favorites. But this reminds me of you every year. Not only because it has your face on it, but is fantastic.

Jason Sanchez (37:28):
Cheers.

Bob Simon (37:31):
Yeah, cheers.

Jason Sanchez (37:34):
I was too focused on tasting.

Mauro Fiore (37:38):
Oh, that's good.

Bob Simon (37:39):
Yeah. After drinking those, it's fantastic. Now, it hides a higher proof because we just had 124, 123, 102.

Mauro Fiore (37:48):
This is 106.

Bob Simon (37:49):
Yup. So, it's higher than the last one we took.

Mauro Fiore (37:54):
Yeah, that's very good.

Bob Simon (37:57):
So, Jason, if you had a few tips for lawyers when they're setting expectations with their jury, because it's all about jury selection.

Jason Sanchez (38:05):
Okay.

Bob Simon (38:05):
What do you do to prepare for jury selection and how do you do it?

Jason Sanchez (38:10):
Yeah, I think you have to. I mean, it's one thing to have someone that's sitting there that's watching, taking notes and everything. But it's another thing to have someone that's very experienced that's seen more juries than the three of us combine have ever seen. But in preparing, I mean, I think you look at your case. You kind of figure out where the warts are in your case. It's really interesting because right now, I'm struggling with how much do you really talk about those words because you don't want to plant these bad seeds and have them think and then just run with it. And now you've got to overcome it.

(38:45):
But I think one of the most important things is you just got to figure out how they feel about emotional injuries, how they feel about quality of life. Because all the other stuff, I mean, you have preconceived people that go in with preconceived ideas about motorcycle cases or like you said, slip and fall. But I don't do many of those. So, there's not much to steer clear from on those.

Bob Simon (39:11):
But I mean, how often do you have to ... There's different venues in California you try most of your cases, where judges give you limited time or limited opportunity to actually talk to folks to figure that out. How do you navigate and figure out? These are the questions I want to ask first and why.

Jason Sanchez (39:34):
So, one of the most recent cases that I just tried was a injured worker on a construction site. And I knew that the judge was only giving us 40 minutes for the first 18. So, Harry and I narrowed it down to we need to ask kind of a liability type question that's related to construction sites. Just because this guy works on a construction site, does he need to be more careful than someone else?

Bob Simon (40:00):
Wow. So, fast forward for our listeners or viewers. Jason got 0% comparative on the worker.

Jason Sanchez (40:07):
Correct.

Bob Simon (40:07):
Zero.

Jason Sanchez (40:08):
Correct.

Bob Simon (40:08):
And a lot of focus groups had a little bit more. There were different variables, but you got 0%.

Jason Sanchez (40:14):
On the worker, yes.

Bob Simon (40:15):
On the worker.

Jason Sanchez (40:15):
We ultimately even didn't even have him on the verdict form.

Bob Simon (40:18):
Yeah. But you had to ask those questions?

Jason Sanchez (40:20):
Correct, correct. And then go ahead.

Bob Simon (40:23):
So, this is a common question I have for lawyers that reach out to me. Give me a specific question we have to ask jurors and these facts to be able to elicit, are they good enough or are they for cause and gone?

Jason Sanchez (40:39):
That was one of the questions that we ask is because he works on a construction site, does he have to be more careful than anybody else?

Bob Simon (40:45):
That's good.

Jason Sanchez (40:46):
Does anybody feel like construction sites are just more inherently dangerous and so, he has to be more careful? It was a products case. So, we asked a question about whether the manufacturer should have to take extra steps to make sure their product is safe for a user or do they just consider that step like idiot proofing things so you can kind of flush out those cause people. "Well, yeah, I mean they're using it. Why do you have to make it safer because that person-"

Bob Simon (41:15):
Buy anywhere.

Jason Sanchez (41:16):
Right. And then those were the two liability questions we asked. And then the rest of the questions were geared towards damages and geared towards quality of life type questions.

Bob Simon (41:28):
You had 40 minutes to do all of that.

Jason Sanchez (41:31):
Right. And this is what is really important too about having someone that's experienced a consultant is they say, "All right, this question, you don't care who responds to it really, but this is a group question because you just want to get it out there. This question is more important, so you're going to ask everybody this question." And so, everybody, this question was, does anybody think that a person's quality of life is worth more than a lifetime of earnings?

Bob Simon (42:05):
Oh, that's a good question.

Jason Sanchez (42:07):
Because this guy's not able to work anymore. We're going to have testimony about what he could have earned going forward. And that number is 2.9 million for the rest of his life.

Bob Simon (42:19):
That's a good playoff of, do you think a doctor's pain and suffering is worth less than somebody that's a line worker at XYZ? God, that's a good frame.

Jason Sanchez (42:28):
Sure.

Mauro Fiore (42:29):
But you have to have jurors that are willing to entertain these ideas. There's lots of jurors sometimes they're just shut out to all damages or they feel that everything coming out of the plaintiff's side is trying to trick them.

Jason Sanchez (42:46):
Well, and I absolutely agree with you. And I think that that's the difference between if you are picking a jury in Van Nuys versus picking a jury in Oakland, which is where I was picking a jury. And I think you're right. The case that I tried just before that one, I tried in Van Nuys and one of the jurors that I spoke to with afterwards said, "Nobody believed in pain and suffering." I mean, I got zero on future pain and suffering, even though they said the guy needed a future surgery. So, you're absolutely right, Mauro. I mean, it just depends on where you are because some people are more open to that and some people aren't. But that's why you got to ask the question.

Bob Simon (43:24):
That's why you got to look like St. Nicholas.

Jason Sanchez (43:28):
Yeah.

Bob Simon (43:29):
Who would not believe this guy?

Mauro Fiore (43:31):
Yeah. I mean he's got a credible face, that's for sure.

Bob Simon (43:33):
He's got a credible face.

Jason Sanchez (43:33):
Credible or incredible?

Mauro Fiore (43:35):
Both.

Jason Sanchez (43:35):
Thank you.

Mauro Fiore (43:36):
Credible and incredible.

Jason Sanchez (43:37):
Have another ball.

Bob Simon (43:38):
You have an uncredible.

Mauro Fiore (43:39):
I have what they call a zero credibility.

Bob Simon (43:42):
A zero cred. All right, so Jason, we've gone around the world right now. Actually, hopefully it's a Tennessee for Elvis, but we did Indiana, Indiana, a lead into this. We went to Louisville for some Pappy balls in your mouth. And I want to know which one was your favorite, your bourbon, if you had to pick one. It could be for storytelling, for taste.

Mauro Fiore (44:08):
Tennessee.

Bob Simon (44:09):
Tennessee.

Mauro Fiore (44:10):
Elvis is from Tennessee.

Bob Simon (44:12):
They did their job.

Mauro Fiore (44:13):
They did it right.

Jason Sanchez (44:14):
So, if I had to pick one well that I'm going to drink or the best of this group.

Bob Simon (44:20):
Whatever you want. No, out of this. You can't pick some shit you found on the street.

Jason Sanchez (44:23):
No, no, no. I mean out of this. Yeah.

Bob Simon (44:24):
Yeah, out of this.

Jason Sanchez (44:25):
So, I think surprisingly, I was really surprised by this one.

Bob Simon (44:30):
Wow. The number two-

Jason Sanchez (44:31):
I really liked it.

Bob Simon (44:31):
... out of the barrel select?

Jason Sanchez (44:32):
Yeah.

Bob Simon (44:33):
This is the SC-640 11-year rye.

Jason Sanchez (44:37):
Yeah.

Bob Simon (44:37):
At 25%.

Jason Sanchez (44:39):
I liked that one.

Bob Simon (44:40):
This is out of control.

Mauro Fiore (44:41):
I liked it too.

Jason Sanchez (44:41):
And then probably The Magi too because ... I think probably I'd have to pick The Magi because that one really doesn't exist. It's not finished yet, right?

Bob Simon (44:49):
It's just a figment of your imagination, Jason, because this could be your sure reality. And I'm very surprised by this because this was also your favorite, Mauro.

Mauro Fiore (44:58):
Yeah.

Bob Simon (44:59):
You woke up for that answer.

Mauro Fiore (45:00):
I was not sleeping.

Bob Simon (45:02):
Where's the B-roll?

Mauro Fiore (45:03):
I was not sleeping.

Bob Simon (45:03):
We had another one-

Jason Sanchez (45:04):
Should I be concerned? When do the naps start kicking in, the sudden narcolepsy?

Mauro Fiore (45:08):
I'm not sleeping.

Bob Simon (45:10):
You're six months older than Jason. Six months, the narcolepsy sets in and a penchant for buggery.

Mauro Fiore (45:18):
Low-grade narcolepsy and a penchant for buggery.

Bob Simon (45:21):
That's from where? Austin Powers.

Mauro Fiore (45:22):
Austin Powers.

Bob Simon (45:24):
God, Mauro, you're the genius. But this is an 11-year rye. SC 640.

Mauro Fiore (45:31):
I like that.

Bob Simon (45:32):
[inaudible 00:45:32] today.

Mauro Fiore (45:33):
I'm good, man. I feel like a tiger today.

Bob Simon (45:35):
Yeah, you're like a tiger. You're more like this cat on the box that's going to take a little purr. So, Jason, thank you for coming on this episode of Bourbon of Proof. And I feel like this is the first ever we had a barrel select and you picked the hottest one. Usually people pick a dumb down.

Mauro Fiore (45:51):
Are they going to bottle this for us or what are they going to do?

Bob Simon (45:53):
We're going to talk to the distillery. We're going to try to do a whole barrel of this. And we'll do it for Bourbon of Proof.

Mauro Fiore (45:58):
Yeah.

Bob Simon (45:58):
And we should do some with Sanchez's claws and put his-

Mauro Fiore (46:02):
Put his picture on there.

Bob Simon (46:03):
... picture right here.

Mauro Fiore (46:05):
Picture of me and you on the barrel, on the bottle.

Bob Simon (46:08):
And you'll be like this asleep.

Mauro Fiore (46:12):
When I sleep, I go forward. I'm like this.

Bob Simon (46:13):
He does go forward. He's not like a back sleeper, but yeah. So, Jason Sanchez, thank you for coming on this edition of Bourbon of Proof. It's been a complete honor to work with you before we even kind of knew each other and then kind of met and be like, now we talk every day.

Jason Sanchez (46:27):
Yeah. Thank you.

Bob Simon (46:28):
Thank you for coming on.

Mauro Fiore (46:29):
And you know I've followed your career and I'm truly amazed by how well you've done and everything you've accomplished. It's amazing.

Jason Sanchez (46:38):
Thank you.