“You sound so, I don’t know, so normal about everything,” she said when he finished. “How is that possible? You lost a great job and ended up in a legal ICU unit watching our father’s law practice die a slow, painful death.”
“That is a super helpful way to put it,” Ray replied. “Could you repeat it so I can tell Cindy exactly what you said?”
“Sorry.” Roxy winced. “It’s just the way it looks to me.”
“If you’re right, then all I can say is that God has given me grace to deal with what’s happened. And I hope he doesn’t cut off the flow.”
Roxy paused for a moment. “I’ve been experiencing a kind of grace myself, mostly through Peter.”
It was Ray’s turn to listen. As she talked, Roxy found herself reinforcing in her own mind what had been going on between her and Peter and, in some way, God himself. She avoided any mention of her feelings toward Corbin.
“When am I going to meet this guy?” Ray asked. “And does any of this mean you’re ready to reopen communication with Dad? You’d have to apologize, since he’s still mad at you for the way you treated him when he stopped by to see you.”
“No,” Roxy said. “Not yet. But I do want you and Cindy to meet Peter.”
“We could drive down to Atlanta, or the two of you could come here. With all that’s happened in my life, I haven’t done anything about Mom’s estate.”
Normally Ray’s admission would have irritated Roxy, but today it didn’t.
“That’s okay. Let me think about the best way for us to connect. I think it should be you and Cindy first, then Dad.”
“Yeah. He can fill a room by himself.” Ray was silent for a moment. “I came in early this morning and pulled some cases I can start working on ASAP. I hear him now, so I’d better go.”
“Thanks for calling,” Roxy said as sincerely as she could muster. “I’m, uh, proud of you for the way you’re handling all this.”
“I’m certainly not copying your paper in eleventh-grade English on this one.”
Roxy slowly lowered her cell phone.
Corbin poured a cup of black coffee and took a few sips before walking into Ray’s office. He knew the first item on the morning agenda would be to tell Ray about the AA meeting.
“Good morning,” he said. “I wanted to—”
“Hey,” Ray interrupted, putting his hand on a stack of folders on the desk. “I went through all the open files and think I can help with these immediately. Will you sit down with me for a couple of hours to make sure I understand what to do?”
“When do you want to do it?”
“Right now if you have the time.”
“Okay. Meet me in the conference room in ten minutes. Did you look at any of the files I keep in my office?”
Ray shook his head no.
“I’ll pick a few of those for us to discuss too.”
Corbin stepped over to Janelle’s desk. She had her headset on and was transcribing dictation. Corbin cleared his throat and moved to the left so he was in her line of sight, but she didn’t look up.
“Janelle!” he said.
The secretary lifted her hands from the keyboard and eyed him irritably. “Can’t you see I’m working?”
“Yes, what are you typing?”
“A thirty-minute memo Ray dictated sometime between when I left last night and I arrived this morning. There’s no way I can keep up this pace. And praying about it isn’t going to change anything.”
“Okay, okay,” Corbin replied. “We’re going to talk about the open cases in a few minutes and sort out your duties as well.”
“You’d better.”
Janelle returned the headset to its place, and Corbin retreated to his office. There were five phone messages on his desk; one was from Nate Stamper with a reference line for the Colfax case. Corbin picked up the phone to return the call, then changed his mind. Ray might end up doing a lot of legwork on the case. It would be good if he listened in on the initial conversation with opposing counsel.
Corbin gathered several files that were haphazardly scattered around his office. When he went into the conference room, Ray was already sitting at the table with a folder open in front of him. Corbin saw a repair invoice from a car dealership and knew which case it was.
“The plaintiff isn’t going to make a good witness,” he said. “He’s an angry old man, and no jury is going to like him. There’s not much money involved either. Maybe we should drop it.”
Ray didn’t seem to hear him. “I think we can convince a jury that ruling in the plaintiff’s favor is good for society, not just for him. The reason a person goes to a mechanic is to get a car fixed, not have it come out worse than it was. And the car wasn’t safe to drive. Someone could have been hurt or killed if the second mechanic hadn’t fixed the problem. Everyone believes in safety.”
“Nice work.” Corbin nodded. “Call the second mechanic and see what he says about the car being dangerous.”
“I already did,” Ray replied. “I caught him early this morning before he had his arms in grease up to his elbows. He says a bad bump in the road would have caused a total loss of control in the steering mechanism.”
Over the next three hours, they went back and forth about the open files. It had been so many years since Corbin had another lawyer to bounce things off of that he’d forgotten how valuable and mentally stimulating it could be. Most of the files ended up in front of Ray, who still had the zealous enthusiasm of a young lawyer running through his veins.
“Are you sure you want to assume primary responsibility for all of these?” Corbin asked, motioning to the stack.
“Yes. I also saw the past due bills on the corner of Janelle’s desk when I came in this morning. How bad is the cash flow situation?”
“I’m working on it,” Corbin replied vaguely. “With you here I can focus more on the business side of the practice.”
Ray seemed unconvinced.
“I need to return a call from Nate Stamper about the Colfax litigation,” Corbin continued. “Do you want to listen in?”
“Yeah, I guess there has to be a first time for me to line up against him on a civil case.”
“And trust me,” Corbin replied. “It won’t be the last.”
THIRTY-TWO
Corbin put the phone on speaker while the receptionist paged Nate.
“Well, Corbin,” the defense lawyer began. “Thanks to you I’ve opened a brand-new Colfax file.”
“And lost a good associate.”
“Yeah, I regret that.”
Corbin glanced up at Ray, who was staring straight ahead. “Is there no way around it?”
“Just a minute,” Nate replied.
Corbin and Ray heard a door close.
“Should you tell him I’m on the call?” Ray whispered.
Corbin shook his head.
“It’s not how I voted,” Nate said when he returned. “But I’m not the only partner, and hiring decisions for associates have to be unanimous. It wouldn’t be right for me to tell you exactly how it shook down, but—”
“Of course not. But I appreciate the sentiment.”
Corbin looked at Ray, who shrugged. Nate was not wearing his black adversarial hat this morning.
“Look,” Nate said. “I know you were in court when Judge Ellington issued the criminal fine to the company, but I can assure you this matter was investigated for months and months, and there isn’t a connection between my client’s business and the sick boys. We’re sorry, but you’re going to spin your wheels into the ground and not have anything to show for it. The Colfax corporate board was very upset about the disposition of the criminal case and didn’t drop the matter after it was over. They hired a high-priced consulting company to perform a supplemental review of the situation. I wish we’d had their report when we went to the hearing in front of Judge Ellington, because it rebuts every major allegation in the state EPA file. Have you hired an expert yet?”
“I’m interviewing people.”
>
“Are you relying on the presence of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid in the company’s new herbicide product?”
Corbin shifted uneasily in his seat. “It’s a possibility.”
“Well, I’ve read the public record information that’s available and three peer review articles about 2,4-D and possible links to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The initial suspicions raised by the studies in Sweden, Kansas, Nebraska, and Canada have been disproved by subsequent research.”
Corbin swallowed. He’d not mentioned any of this information in the complaint. All he did was allege that chemicals in the ground contaminated the drinking water in nearby wells used by the plaintiff families and caused the boys to contract cancer. Nate was talking as if he’d been looking over Corbin’s shoulder.
The defense lawyer continued.
“Also, the area of Colfax’s property where this occurred is over two hundred yards from where your closest plaintiff lives. It’s too remote to be relevant. Who did the testing on their wells, and what did they find? You may as well tell me now because you know I have a right to the information.”
Corbin looked at Ray, who had a questioning look on his face too.
“I appreciate the education,” Corbin replied, “but I’d rather respond formally pursuant to a discovery.”
“Suit yourself. It’s on the way to you today. And neither Mr. Hathaway nor Mr. Simpkin suggested that I call you. I did this on my own to save everyone a lot of wasted time, energy, and money.” Nate paused. “And embarrassment.”
“You’re already filing an answer?” Corbin asked, ignoring the final comment. “It’s not due yet.”
“Why wait? I’m going to push hard to move this case along. And we’ll follow up with a Section 9-15-14 claim for costs and attorney fees.” Nate’s congenial tone was gone.
“You know where I am. You’ll hear from either Ray or me.”
“Ray’s working for you?”
“He is and I’m glad to have him.”
“Give him my regards,” Nate said.
“Will do.”
The call ended. Corbin pushed his hair out of his face.
“Please tell me you had the well water tested before you filed suit,” Ray said.
“No, I was going to hire an expert who could advise me what to look for and how to do the test. I thought I could rely on the state EPA findings to get things going.”
“Maybe, but their investigation had a different purpose. They proved a discharge of chemicals on the ground above safe levels. There wasn’t any evidence of ongoing harm to the public, and Colfax stopped as soon as the state EPA got involved.” Ray leaned forward. “We’ve got to prove a causal connection between a specific chemical or chemicals and two boys getting cancer.”
“I know, I know,” Corbin replied. He felt like Ray was cross-examining him on the witness stand. “Did you hear Nate send his regards? He still respects you. I could hear it in his voice.”
“Don’t change the subject. I’ve been in criminal, not civil, court for the past six years, but even I know it’s hard for a defendant to get an award of costs and attorney fees against a plaintiff for filing a frivolous lawsuit. However, if we don’t come up with something, that’s exactly what will happen. And the Simpkin firm is going to churn this case like crazy—thousands of dollars a week in billing. Which judge has the case?”
“Ellington. I was able to sweet-talk June at the clerk’s office into helping me out with the judicial lottery.”
“Congratulations. But June can’t maneuver us around what’s coming.”
“You’re right.” Corbin paused and cleared his throat. “Speaking of help, how are we going to prioritize our work for Janelle so she doesn’t walk out on us?”
Corbin resisted the urge to slip over to Red’s for lunch and order a cool glass of mountain water. Instead he convinced a reluctant Ray to join him for a sandwich at a local delicatessen. Corbin ordered a Rueben piled high with sauerkraut. Ray selected a ham and cheese.
“I assume you don’t have to be in court today,” Ray said. “If so, they’ll be able to smell your breath before you cross the street in front of the courthouse.”
“No.” Corbin smiled. “And I always keep a few breath mints in my desk.”
“In case you have a drink during the day and don’t want to smell like a distillery?”
Ray had been moody since the phone call with Nate Stamper.
“I’m doing something about that,” Corbin replied, trying not to become defensive. “I’ve been to several more AA meetings, including yesterday evening. Would you like to know what happened?”
Ray was about to take a bite of his sandwich, but lowered it. “I’m listening.”
Corbin told him what he could without betraying the guidelines of the group.
“Before last night I was kicking the tires of AA but hadn’t made a serious commitment. Admitting that I am . . .” Corbin hesitated, but he could see that Ray wasn’t going to say anything to get him off the hook. “Admitting that I’m an alcoholic was a huge step toward recovery. But it’s only the first step.”
“What are the other eleven?” Ray asked in a friendlier tone of voice.
Corbin recited them, ticking them off on his fingers, but stopped one short. “I’m leaving one out,” he said. “Maybe it will come to me in a few minutes.”
“That’s still impressive,” Ray replied. “Have you had any cravings to drink today?”
Corbin nodded. “I wanted to sneak off to Red’s but asked you to come here instead.”
Ray took a sip of sweet tea and nibbled on a potato chip. “You know that if you really stick with AA it will help your DUI case.”
“Spending the night in jail, along with worrying about you and Cindy cutting me off from Billy, is what got me motivated.” Corbin took a bite from his sandwich, savoring the sharp tang of the sauerkraut. “When are you going to file an appearance of counsel on my behalf?” he asked. “And are you sure you want to do it? I’m sure Cameron Burke would take me on as a client.”
Ray shook his head. “Cameron does a better job getting people to hire him than representing them when they do.”
“It’d be different with me because I know what he should do.”
“Let’s make Cameron backup plan B,” Ray replied. “Or maybe F. When it comes down to it, I believe I can work something out with either one of the judges.”
“You’re going to find their attitude shifts when you’re no longer representing the state.”
“Then it’s a good idea to let me practice on you,” Ray said and grinned.
Corbin grunted and picked up his sandwich.
All day Roxy’s mind drifted in the direction of Alto as she wondered what was going on between her father and Ray at the law office. Finally, late in the afternoon, she popped a caramel into her mouth and called Peter to tell him about her father and brother joining forces.
“That’s unexpected, right?” he asked.
“Totally. For it to work, they’re both going to have to undergo massive change. My father will have to yield his will and Ray will have to find his.”
“Could you repeat that last sentence?” Peter replied. “I’m not sure I got it.”
Roxy laughed.
“Or you could laugh again,” Peter said. “It’s a sound I live for.”
“I want to see you,” Roxy blurted out. “Tonight.”
“I thought you had to work late.”
She bit down on the last morsel of caramel. “I know,” she replied with a sigh. “But I’m getting to the place where if I don’t see you every day my world isn’t right.”
“Could you repeat that sentence?” Peter replied.
Roxy did so, only a bit slower.
“You’re putting a lot of pressure on me,” Peter said. “I can try to move things around, but I’m not the only one affected, and—”
“No, no,” Roxy cut in. “I don’t want you to get into trouble. But I’m glad I let you know how I feel.”
“Me too.”
Roxy suddenly found herself on the verge of telling Peter she loved him, but stopped. That needed to be done face-to-face.
“So when will I see you?” she asked.
“Why don’t I join you tomorrow for your morning run? I’ll try to keep up.”
“Great. See you in front of my place at six.”
“Okay, but I’ll be so excited that it will be tough to sleep.”
“You’re ridiculous,” Roxy said, “but I like it.”
“Bye.”
Roxy lowered her phone with a smile on her face.
“Who’s ridiculous but you like it?” a voice asked.
Mr. Caldweller was standing outside the open door of her office.
“Personal call,” Roxy managed. “I finished the first draft of answers to interrogatories in the Spandale case a few minutes ago, and I’m staying late tonight to get a head start prepping for the depositions next week in New Orleans.”
“That will have to wait,” Caldweller interrupted her. “In an hour I’m going to have a conference call with Kennedy Goings.”
Roxy sat up straighter in her chair. Her boss had received her summary of the Dr. Sellers interview, and Roxy suddenly wondered if she was in trouble.
“What’s the purpose for the call?” she managed. Mr. Goings was the COO who supervised all litigation for one of the firm’s biggest clients.
“Settlement of the case you’ve been working on.”
“I thought we weren’t going to explore that until mediation.”
“Revenue from the drugs involved has dipped, and according to an e-mail I received from Goings this morning, it’s making less and less sense to fund a lawsuit with money they can use to buy an extra month or so of peace with the generic manufacturers.”
Roxy relaxed. At least it didn’t sound like she was in trouble.
“Why do you want me on the call?” she asked.
“To tell them why they’re wrong. You’ll have the rudder of the ship, and I want you to assure him that the cost benefit analysis of pressing forward with the litigation is going to benefit the company more than rolling over now.”
A House Divided Page 23
