Plantation A Legal Thriller

by J M S Macfarlane

  Chapter 24

  After Ashby had disposed of Thomas & Associates, he passed on the news to Simon Wells.

  “Doesn’t that put us in a spot ?” asked Wells. “If there’s no-one to represent us, are we going to get someone else to replace them ? It’s not a good position to be in, one week from a hearing.”

  “I know but it can’t be helped. The lawyers Whittingham was using had already given up, so it would have made no difference. We could have done just as well on our own. We’d still have lost, whatever we did – and had to pay them handsomely into the bargain. But.....do you know any good lawyers who do marine cases ? They don’t have to be the best but they do have to give us hope – if we lose hands down and have to pay twenty million, we need to be able to work around it somehow.”

  “Well....I could name you half a dozen who do marine work – ha, they’re always inviting us out to lunch or conferences or to the pub. So….we want someone fired up who will try and get us a result, even though we’re probably on a loser. That’s a fair assessment, isn’t it ? Well….let me see….what about Meredith….Ed Meredith of Meredith & Macready ? Do you know him at all ?”

  “No, I haven’t had much to do with solicitors because I’ve been in the States and before that, I was training and taking exams. You know them better than me. What’s he like, this Meredith ?”

  “He’s a bit older than you. He used to work at one of the largest law firms. Then he left. The large ones are rather stuffy and full of themselves – Oxbridge and all that. He wanted to set up his own outfit. Last time I saw him, he was apparently doing well. If we can get him and he isn’t on holiday or whatever, I think he’d give them a run for their money. If he knows we have five other large claims in addition to the Captain Stratos, he’ll want to get them too, I’d imagine. So, all in all, I would expect that he would be out to impress you. If he takes us on, he’ll roll his sleeves up and clear the decks between now and next week to get everything in place, well, as far as he can anyway within the limited time we’ve got.”

  “He must be someone who will fight our corner for us – we’re battling for our survival here so I don’t want someone who’s just going to go through the motions and then send us a bill.”

  After Wells reassured him, Ashby said : “Alright then, let’s see him – get him here after lunch if you can and we’ll go through it. You’d better tell Liz and Guy what’s going on and fix up all the paperwork so that we can get it to Meredith if he’ll take on the case. I’ve arranged to see Stuart Grant of the brokers at five. That should give us a couple of hours to explain it to Meredith and see his reaction.”

  Later that afternoon at half past two, as Wells had predicted, Meredith arrived promptly and after meeting Ashby, Cordery and Rutherford, took a seat in the board room.

  There was a carry-over of the seventies in Meredith’s appearance : some of his more conservative clients thought that he was in need of a haircut as his thick, black hair hung over his collar. Added to this, was a short moustache which gave him an old-fashioned, Victorian look. His public school accent was rapid and jovial but he was more of a listener than a conversationalist.

  “I was told on the ‘phone there’s a four day hearing starting next week. And Clive Thomas is no longer representing you ?”

  “That’s right,” said Ashby. “I replaced him because he didn’t seem to care whether we were going to win or lose our case. Do you know Thomas ? The barristers we saw were William Stonehouse and Edward Fulton.”

  “I know Thomas but I don’t know the other two. I doubt they’re marine specialists because I’ve never come across them before.”

  “That doesn’t surprise me. Anyway, let me fill you in on the background to the claim. Then you can decide if you can help us or not.”

  Ashby went over the well-rehearsed facts and said he considered them unreliable : working backwards, there were inconsistencies in the story ; the Stratos had no apparent reason to meet with an accident. The claim was based on mere supposition. There was a hint of fraud. He couldn’t prove anything as yet but that was the direction in which he’d be heading. When he’d finished, he said “Well, what do you think ?”

  Meredith was silent for a moment and then said, “All of the witnesses’ versions of events are against you. Are you saying that they’re all wrong ?”

  “Not necessarily. But it looks as though no-one has gone through the precise chain of events. Each link in the chain hasn’t been tested on the strength of probability. For example, no-one knows what sank the ship but they all say it sank in the storm.”

  “Yes, well from what you’ve told me and based solely on the facts known to us today, I would say you have a five per cent chance of resisting payment. I am interested – as long as it’s understood that I can’t perform miracles.”

  “We appreciate that.”

  “Your main problem, as I see it,” said Meredith, “is that, at this late stage, you need more time to carry out your investigations. From what you tell me, scant information has been supplied by the Portuguese coastguard or the other vessels who attended the scene where the ship is supposed to have gone down. By the sound of it, no-one actually knows where it sank.”

  “Does it sometimes happen that ships are scuttled ?”

  “It’s certainly not unknown. I’m sure Simon knows better than all of us what owners and charterers can sometimes get up to – but the sea can also be a dangerous place at times. Captains and crews often lose their lives battling the elements. Whether something untoward might have happened.....well, only a detailed review of the evidence could point us in the right direction. In any event, we can go through all of that more closely in the next day or so. Now, you’ll need someone to present the case at court.”

  “What about you ?”

  “Me ? Well….I do a fair amount of advocacy but I can’t do trials like this. Only barristers have higher rights of audience in the Admiralty Court. Demarcation and all that.”

  “Couldn’t you try and ask the judge to delay the hearing for six months ? To give us a chance of getting it ready ? Robert’s father only passed away a few days ago. He was the main person dealing with the claim at Plantation.”

  Meredith’s brow was creased. “I’m sorry to hear about your father, Mr Ashby – but I don’t think that a judge is likely to sympathise, unfortunately. You will have to be ready next Wednesday to go through it all in court and that’s that. We could ask for an adjournment but we’re more likely to be rapped over the knuckles and told to get on with it.”

  “That’s quite alright,” said Ashby. “I expected that. Well, to sum up then – you’ll take on the work, we will give you every assistance we can, we’ll go through it all with you – should we say, the day after tomorrow – Thursday – and we can pay you something now to oil the works, so to speak. We also have five other huge claims, some of them larger than this one, for which we need guidance. Perhaps you could give us a price for the lot, after the Stratos hearing ?”

  “Certainly – I could give you an estimate of sorts a bit later on. But let’s deal with the most urgent first because I can tell you now, we’re going to have our work cut out for us between today and Wednesday morning.”