by David Cooper
The façade suddenly crumbled and Karen burst into tears, coinciding with Neeta putting her head round Karen’s door. An astonished look crossed her face, leaving Dawn to step up to the mark.
“Come on. Group hug.”
Karen took a while to recover her composure. She realised that she needed to let Lennie know exactly what had been happening, especially how she had accidentally stumbled upon what had led to Avery’s unexpected settlement proposal. Lennie was quick to share his thoughts.
“First things first. The offer. It may be that Wayne never had the funds to back it up in the first place. And he certainly won’t have the funds now that you’ve told the delightful Mr Allason exactly what you think of him. So if you did decide to accept Wayne’s offer, it might be a long time before you saw the colour of his money…”
“Don’t worry about that now. He can stick his offer where the sun doesn’t shine. I’m going the distance.”
“I thought you might say that. You know the risk of taking it all the way and losing, especially when he’s moved the goalposts, so I won’t harp on about that again. But it brings me to the next point.”
“What’s that?”
“We now know that his costs are covered by insurance. Wagstaff’s never let on about that so far. He’s not under any duty to tell me, not as far as the rules are concerned, but morally it stinks. What it means is that as long as he can keep the insurers satisfied that it’s still a fifty-fifty case, they’ll keep the funding in place. In theory, he has to keep reporting to them, and he has to remember he’s under as much of a duty to them as he is to Wayne. But for anyone whose morals aren’t completely up to scratch, insurance cover’s just a licence to rack up costs.”
Karen sighed.
“So Wayne’s under no personal pressure on costs at all?”
“No, only for any damages awarded against him, and for any injunction that might put a spanner in the works for Wave Recruitment. Not for costs. Not unless there was any reason for the insurers to make out they’d been lied to. And that would need a real can of worms to come open at the trial.”
“OK, fair enough. But I’m still not interested in settling. Not at that level, anyway. Twenty grand and an injunction, maybe…”
“Do you want me to put that back to them?”
Karen paused.
“If you think it would do me any good, be my guest.”
“OK.”
“Anyway, do you think we can use any of this?”
It was Lennie’s turn to hesitate.
“Um…frankly, I’d rather avoid it. Most of it’s completely irrelevant to whether Wayne’s in breach of contract. The real villain in all of this is Allason. In one sense, you can’t really blame Wayne for letting himself get drawn in when he was approached…”
“Yes, just like me. But what about this business that Allason described at the beginning? Making out he’s got solid chapter and verse about my rocky state? It sounds as if that little shit knocked off my last non-redacted management accounts, just before he jumped. Christ knows how he could have got his hands on them.”
“I did wonder about that. It’s not that far away from what he hinted at in his first witness statement, the one he used to oppose the injunction application. But we can’t prove anything, so I’d rather let it go. It’s better than making a fuss now and letting them know he’s got under your skin again. Anyway, there’s something else we can play on.”
“What’s that?”
“Wayne will know by now that Allason’s email was accidentally copied to you. He’s going to be crapping himself over what we’ll say about that and when we’ll say it. But if we say nothing at all for now, he’ll have that hanging over him all the way to trial. And I can’t imagine Soraya showing him any mercy if she thinks it’s worth using when he’s in the box.”
“Fair enough.”
Karen ended the call just as Dawn returned, handing over a sheaf of papers.
“Chapter and verse on TARL Associates right here. You’ll obviously have everything you need on Piers Allason already…”
“That would be telling!” Karen smiled coyly.
“…so here’s the lowdown on Karl Steiner. He didn’t seem to be anything more than a middle manager, so I’ve also uncovered the main man via LinkedIn. Or should I say main woman.”
“Really?”
“Yes, her name’s Clare Bickley.”
“Interesting. I might give her a call. I can’t imagine for one minute she’d want any of this to come out in public. Bribery and corruption par excellence.”
Although Karen was unable to speak directly with Clare Bickley when she took the initiative and made the call, she succeeded in obtaining a direct email address from her PA and took the opportunity to forward the message that had accidentally been copied to her earlier, adding her own polite but firm analysis. The response arrived midway through the afternoon.
‘My dear Karen
It saddens me that an employee of this firm could have behaved in such a manner. I cannot of course turn the clock back and airbrush these embarrassing events out of history, but it may at least be of some comfort to you that I have initiated disciplinary action and suspended Mr Allason ahead of a formal hearing later this week. It is at least possible that he will no longer be with this firm in consequence of that hearing.
I will of course be doing whatever I can to ensure that none of this sees the light of day or is ever discussed further. I hope that you will have the magnanimity to respond in kind. May I also assure you that in the event that you ever needed the services of a firm such as ours, it would be my pleasure to waive all fees that would ordinarily be involved.
Once again, my apologies.
Yours ever, Clare.’
Karen’s response was grateful but brief. She knew that she would never be able to bring herself to have any involvement with TARL Associates for as long as she continued in the recruitment industry. Allason’s double dealing, at a time when she had hoped that he might become something more than a friend, had been an insult to injury that she would never be able to forgive.
Thursday 23 rd May
The lift doors opened outside the litigation department floor early on the Thursday afternoon, releasing Craven and his three lunch companions. They were all still deep in conversation. Over the previous hour and a half, Craven had been made to feel more welcome than had ever been the case before, since joining the firm.
Consistently with the example that Blake had set in organising the lunch in the first place, both Niall Cook and Laurie Dougall had politely but discreetly encouraged Craven to tell them more about himself. For his own part, Craven had listened with genuine interest to what the others had shared with him. When Cook began to refer to a member of his congregation, Craven had initially feared the worst, but soon realised that Cook only wanted to share a story of how problematic it had been to come to terms with an autistic son.
For another reason, the meal could not have been better timed. That morning, having been away for the two previous days, Squire had returned to the office and to Ralph Stuermer’s scathing account of what had taken place at the Dawley Vale Projects meeting two days earlier. Paying little attention to Craven’s cautious but brave point that the meeting was a mistake all along, Squire had vented his anger in no uncertain terms, telling Craven that he ought to ‘man up’ when he felt that he was facing a difficult opponent. Craven had tried to defend himself by suggesting it was better to avoid confrontation with someone who would not listen to reason, but Squire had abruptly ended the discussion with ‘that’s what litigation’s all about – you’d better start getting used to it’.
Blake had done his best, before deliberately steering the lunch conversation away from work, to reassure Craven that Squire must have been having a bad day, and that it was out of character for him to have been so angry. Craven decided to keep his thoughts to himself. He still had no reason to believe that coming clean with Squire had brought him any greater sympat
hy or understanding.
Craven glanced at the emails that had come in during his absence and saw one from Jackie Browning headed ‘Tomorrow’. He opened it and was surprised at what he found himself reading.
‘Paul,
Don’t come up to my office tomorrow. Meet me in the House of Fraser café at 1.00. I’ll get there 5-10 minutes earlier. I’ll explain then.
Jackie’
The message made little sense to Craven. He could not understand the need for a change to their customary Friday routine, especially involving a new meeting place that was completely unfamiliar to him. But he felt that it would be best not to question Jackie’s decision. A short detour from his walk to the station later that afternoon, to find out exactly where Jackie had proposed they should meet, would not put him out too much.
* * * * *
Two hours earlier, Lennie had found himself on the receiving end of two missives from Wagstaff. The first, brusquely rejecting the counter-proposal that he had made on Karen’s behalf, was only to be expected. The second was far more surprising. It left him in no doubt that the application before the judge on the following morning, for wider disclosure of relevant documents that Avery had failed to produce, was going to be contested in full.
Lennie forwarded the incoming papers to Karen and in turn to Soraya, who was all set to deal with the application on the following day, and he was soon speaking to Karen to explain what lay ahead.
“Wagstaff’s refused to cough up the Wave Recruitment bank statements. That’s a bad move. All that Wayne’s said is that they’re commercially sensitive and irrelevant to liability, as we thought he might. He’s not come anywhere near addressing our point about his pattern of dealing in his early days.”
“I realise that. If he had any fee income through Wave very early on, it’s almost certain to have been at my expense, isn’t it?”
“Exactly. Then we get to the phone records and all the rest. We predicted all of this. He’s making out that he never receives paper bills with itemised records, and he’s saying all his texts and emails are auto-erased after a week, and he never keeps any transcripts of his voice recordings. We obviously can’t force him to produce anything he swears he doesn’t have, unless he’s lying and we can prove he’s lying. But yet again he’s left himself wide open.”
“Where?”
“Getting historical phone records off his service provider. He hasn’t tried to claim he can’t get any. That just wouldn’t wash anyway. He’s just strayed into argument. Making out that it would double the size of the trial bundle, and prolong the trial if we had to look at every single itemised call that might or might not be relevant. In one sense it’s a fair point. We have to make sure everything’s proportionate nowadays.”
“So how are we going to get over that?”
“Soraya’s got it all covered. She’s lodging her written argument with the judge’s clerk as we speak. There’s no sign that they’ve instructed Counsel, so it looks as if Wagstaff’s dealing with it himself again. I thought he might have learned his lesson after the last hearing, but obviously not.”
“OK, I’ll see you there. Remember to stop me belting Wayne if he dares to turn up. Oh yes, nearly forgot. What do we do about my counter-offer being turned down?”
“Absolutely nothing. Just leave it as it is. I deliberately didn’t put a deadline on it. I just left it completely open ended. And before I forget, you’ll be pleased to know that Piers Allason has been permanently blacklisted from any social do that we ever hold from now on. Someone from our corporate department had worked with him before. Never had any idea what he was really like.”
“Thanks.” Karen winced. She knew that there were some details from what had taken place over the previous week that she could never bring herself to share with Lennie.
Friday 24 th May
“Please be seated.”
As tradition dictated, everyone present in the courtroom rose to their feet when the statuesque Judge Marian Banks made her entrance. Never one to insist on standing on ceremony for its own sake, she wasted no time in bringing the ritual to a close. The clerk remained stood for his formal announcement of the action that was before the court that morning.
“In the matter of Rutherford Professional and Legal Recruitment (Birmingham) Limited versus Wayne Avery and Wave Professional Recruitment Limited.”
As the clerk sat down, Soraya stood.
“Your Honour, I represent the Claimant in this application for specific disclosure, and my friend Mr Anthony Wagstaff appears for the Defendants…”
Unexpectedly, the judge cut Soraya off in mid flow.
“Yes, Miss Modaresi, you needn’t trouble me further for now. I’ve read your client’s application and your skeleton. I don’t think I need you to expand upon it. Mr Wagstaff, is this application still opposed?”
Wagstaff was caught off his guard, not expecting to be called upon quite so soon.
“Er…yes, Your Honour. May I refer you to Mr Avery’s statement in opposition…”
“I don’t seem to have one. When was it served?”
“Yesterday afternoon, Your Honour.”
“Well, it’s not on the case file. Court users ought to know by now that if they leave it that late to respond to an application, it’s at their own risk if reply evidence doesn’t reach the judge in time. It’s exactly what the rules are supposed to discourage. Do you have a spare?”
Wagstaff flicked through his papers. Lennie saw an opportunity and passed his copy to Soraya, who in turn handed it to the judge’s clerk. Judge Banks took it from the clerk and gave it a cursory glance.
“Mr Wagstaff, we all know that bank statements contain sensitive commercial information. That’s why we have rules against collateral use. They’re a cornerstone of fair disclosure. What do you have to say about the pattern of early dealing that the bank statements might show?”
Lennie gave Karen a brief whispered explanation of the rule that prevented litigants making wider use of documents that their opponents had been compelled to disclose against their will. Karen nodded her understanding as Wagstaff found a less than satisfactory answer to the judge’s question.
“My instructions are that there is nothing relevant to the dispute in the bank statements, and that it took some time before Mr Avery actually earned a commission through Wave Recruitment.”
“Not one of your best points, Mr Wagstaff. The Claimant is entitled to go beyond whatever your instructions may be, and make sure that the assertion is correct, especially in a case like this. Mr Avery’s word is not enough.”
Judge Banks looked meaningfully in the direction of the row of seats behind Wagstaff, occupied solely by an unkempt figure whom she quickly sensed was not Avery himself. It would have been of no interest to her that Jake Hutchings had accompanied Wagstaff to court once more at Squire’s insistence, partly for training experience and partly to ensure that Squire was kept up to date with every development. She had noted that Karen, unlike Avery, had taken the trouble to attend the hearing.
“Er…if you’re not with me on that category, Your Honour, I must ask for official consent that before actual disclosure, the figures are redacted…”
Soraya made to stand, but was beaten to the point she had intended to make.
“No. I shall insist upon clean and fully legible copies. If the Claimant’s case is correct, the amounts may be relevant to whether any confidential pricing policies have been misused. And if I am faced with the need to progress beyond a liability finding, I will aim to deal with quantum straight away if I can.”
Having lost the first battle, Wagstaff scribbled a note. He was given little respite.
“Now, your clients are also opposing the request that they trace and produce copies of their itemised phone records. They’re surely not suggesting that they cannot obtain them? I can see that Mr Avery’s statement is ambiguous upon this issue, but there’s no mobile phone provider in this day and age who won’t provide data by return if they
want to keep the customer happy.”
“No, there’s no suggestion that records are unobtainable, Your Honour, but it may take longer than the seven day deadline my opponent has asked for. But I’d like to come back to that in a moment. I would respectfully submit that the request is disproportionate. Judging by the period that the Claimant’s request would cover, and Mr Avery’s professed usage of his phone, there is every chance that the written records would almost double the size of the trial bundle in their own right. And if there’s any suggestion of asking witnesses to comment upon call records or text records line by line, this might endanger the time estimate for the trial. I believe this is a view shared by the Defendants’ trial counsel, Grant Collins…”
“Could he not have been here today, if there were any outstanding case management issues to discuss?” The judge’s further interruption again threw Wagstaff off balance.
“Unfortunately not, Your Honour.” Wagstaff was not minded to share the fact that Avery’s legal expenses insurance cover would not extend to the fee that had been proposed for Collins’ attendance, nor that he had assumed that he could brush Karen’s disclosure application aside on his own rather than brief a more junior barrister. “My key point here is that we need to keep an eye on proportionality, and this is just as much for the Claimant to bear in mind as the Defendant.”
“I see.” Judge Banks sighed. “Anything else?” Wagstaff responded with a slow shake of his head. “Miss Modaresi?”
“Two points, Your Honour. Firstly, my instructing solicitor has just informed me that he uses the same mobile phone service provider as Mr Avery. He can gain access to his own historical records for calls and texts via his personal online account, within a matter of seconds. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.” The judge nodded. “Secondly, in order to meet the very point on proportionality that my friend has just made, my solicitor has instructed me that once he has the records, he would then prepare a schedule of relevant calls and texts, identified as far as possible from the number of the person that Mr Avery was contacting. In all probability, it would reduce the records to ten pages’ worth of summary at most. He would then submit this for my friend’s agreement. If this was not forthcoming, he would ensure that it was appended to Miss Rutherford’s statement for cross-reference at trial.”
