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Hurt in an auto accident? Visit the mall

By SCOTT BARANCIK
Published June 5, 2006

Doctors and trial lawyers may be at war over malpractice suits, but two lawyers and a chiropractor in St. Petersburg have joined forces to pursue a common target.

Their quarry: auto accident victims. Their weapon: a kiosk at Tyrone Square Mall.

"I've spent a lot of money on (phone book) ads, and that's never really panned out too well," says chiropractor John P. Baker, whose office is a block south of the mall. "I just wanted to be innovative and put that money toward something that would work for me."

Baker says he began leasing the kiosk a year ago for about $1,800 per month. Usually unstaffed, it features his brochures and business cards, a continuous-loop DVD about Baker Chiropractic and a telephone that automatically dials his office when someone lifts the receiver.

To keep things fresh, Baker changed the signage several months ago from messages about medical symptoms - back pain, numbness, tingling - to the more compelling "Auto Accident Information Center."

Recently, husband and wife personal injury lawyers Kathryn Fenderson Scott and Charles Scott, Baker's good friends, asked if they could sublet some ad space. Today, Kathryn Scott's smiling face graces the Auto Accident kiosk, much like it does a Scott & Fenderson billboard a couple of blocks away at Tyrone Boulevard and 22nd Avenue N.

The one-stop shop for car crash survivors hasn't been a huge success. Prankster kids are behind most of the automatic phone calls to Baker's office. The kiosk probably generates enough business to pay for itself, but no more.

Still, Baker likes it.

"It's good exposure," he says.

- SCOTT BARANCIK, Times staff writer

[Last modified June 5, 2006, 06:42:35]