Rage Of Angels Part 20

Jennifer was not listening to him. She was staring at the name on the back of the truck. It read Nationwide Motors Corporation. Nationwide Motors Corporation. She stood there watching, long after the truck had disappeared from sight. Then she turned and hurried back to the office. She stood there watching, long after the truck had disappeared from sight. Then she turned and hurried back to the office.

"Is Ken here?" she asked Cynthia.

"Yes. He's in his office."

She went in to see him. "Ken, can you check out Nationwide Motors Corporation? We need a list of all the accident cases their trucks have been involved in for the past five years."

"That's going to take a while."

"Use LEXIS." That was the national legal computer.

"You want to tell me what's going on?"

"I'm not sure yet, Ken. It's just a hunch. I'll let you know if anything comes of it."

She had overlooked something in the case of Connie Garrett, that lovely quadruple amputee who was destined to spend the rest of her life as a freak. The driver may have had a good record, but what about the trucks trucks? Maybe somebody was liable, after all.

The next morning Ken Bailey laid a report in front of Jennifer. "Whatever the h.e.l.l you're after, looks like you've hit the jackpot. Nationwide Motors Corporation has had fifteen accidents in the last five years, and some of their trucks have been recalled."

Jennifer felt an excitement begin to build in her. "What was the problem?"

"A deficiency in the braking system that causes the rear end of the truck to swing around when the brakes are hit hard."

It was the rear end of the truck that had hit Connie Garrett.

Jennifer called a staff meeting with Dan Martin, Ted Harris and Ken Bailey. "We're going into court on the Connie Garrett case," Jennifer announced.

Ted Harris stared at her through his milk-bottle gla.s.ses. "Wait a minute, Jennifer, I checked that out. She lost on appeal. We're going to get hit with res judicata." res judicata."

"What's res judicata res judicata?" Ken Bailey asked.

Jennifer explained, "It means for civil cases what double jeopardy means for criminal cases. 'There must be an end to litigation.'"

Ted Harris added, "Once a final judgment has been made on the merits of a case, it can only be opened again under very special circ.u.mstances. We have no grounds to reopen."

"Yes, we have. We're going after them on discovery. discovery."

The principle of discovery read: Mutual knowledge of all relevant facts gathered by both parties is essential to proper litigation. Mutual knowledge of all relevant facts gathered by both parties is essential to proper litigation.

"The deep-pocket defendant is Nationwide Motors. They held back information from Connie Garrett's attorney. There's a deficiency in the braking system of their trucks and they kept it out of the record."

She looked at the two lawyers. "Here's what I think we should do..."

Two hours later, Jennifer was seated in Connie Garrett's living room.

"I want to move for a new trial. I believe we have a case."

"No. I couldn't go through another trial."

"Connie-"

"Look at me, Jennifer. I'm a freak. Every time I look in the mirror I want to kill myself. Do you know why I don't?" Her voice sank to a whisper. "Because I can't. I can't can't!"

Jennifer sat there, shaken. How could she have been so insensitive?

"Suppose I try for an out-of-court settlement? I think that when they hear the evidence they'll be willing to settle without going to trial."

The offices of Maguire and Guthrie, the attorneys who represented the Nationwide Motors Corporation, were located on upper Fifth Avenue in a modern gla.s.s and chrome building with a splas.h.i.+ng fountain in front. Jennifer announced herself at the reception desk. The receptionist asked her to be seated, and fifteen minutes later Jennifer was escorted into the offices of Patrick Maguire. He was the senior partner in the firm, a tough, hard-bitten Irishman with sharp eyes that missed nothing.

He motioned Jennifer to a chair. "It's nice to meet you, Miss Parker. You've gotten yourself quite a reputation around town."

"Not all bad, I hope."

"They say you're tough. You don't look it."

"I hope not."

"Coffee? Or some good Irish whiskey?"

"Coffee, please."

Patrick Maguire rang and a secretary brought in two cups of coffee on a sterling silver tray.

Maguire said, "Now what is it I can do for you?"

"It's about the Connie Garrett case."

"Ah, yes. As I recall, she lost the case and the appeal."

As I recall. Jennifer would have bet her life that Patrick Maguire could have recited every statistic in the case. Jennifer would have bet her life that Patrick Maguire could have recited every statistic in the case.

"I'm going to file for a new trial."

"Really? On what grounds?" Maguire asked politely.

Jennifer opened her attache case and took out the brief she had prepared. She handed it to him.

"I'm requesting a reopening on failure to disclose."

Maguire leafed through the papers, unperturbed. "Oh, yes," he said. "That brake business."

"You knew about it?"

"Of course." He tapped the file with a stubby finger. "Miss Parker, this won't get you anywhere. You would have to prove that the same truck involved in the accident had a faulty brake system. It's probably been overhauled a dozen times since the accident, so there would be no way of proving what its condition was then." He pushed the file back toward her. "You have no case."

Jennifer took a sip of her coffee. "All I have to do is prove what a bad safety record those trucks have. Ordinary diligence should have made your client know that they were defective."

Maguire said casually, "What is it you're proposing?"

"I have a client in her early twenties who's sitting in a room she'll never leave for the rest of her life because she has no arms or legs. I'd like to get a settlement that would make up a little bit for the anguish she's going through."

Patrick Maguire took a sip of his coffee. "What kind of settlement did you have in mind?"

"Two million dollars."

He smiled. "That's a great deal of money for someone with no case."

"If I go to court, Mr. Maguire, I promise you I'll have a case. And I'll win a lot more than that. If you force us to sue, we're going to sue for five million dollars."

He smiled again. "You're scaring the bejeezus out of me. More coffee?"

"No, thanks." Jennifer arose.

"Wait a minute! Sit down, please. I haven't said no."

"You haven't said yes."

"Have some more coffee. We brew it ourselves."

Jennifer thought of Adam and the Kenya coffee.

"Two million dollars is a lot of money, Miss Parker."

Jennifer said nothing.

"Now, if we were talking about a lesser amount, I might be able to-" He waved his hands expressively.

Jennifer remained silent.

Finally Patrick Maguire said, "You really want two million, don't you?"

"I really want five million, Mr. Maguire."

"All right. I suppose we might be able to arrange something."

It had been easy!

"I have to leave for London in the morning, but I'll be back next week."

"I want to wrap this up. I'd appreciate it if you would talk to your client as soon as possible. I'd like to give my client a check next week."

Patrick Maguire nodded. "That can probably be worked out."

All the way back to the office, Jennifer was filled with a sense of unease. It had been too simple.

That night on her way home, Jennifer stopped at a drugstore. When she came out and started across the street, she saw Ken Bailey walking with a handsome young blond man. Jennifer hesitated, then turned into a side street so that she would not be seen. Ken's private life was his own business.

On the day that Jennifer was scheduled to meet with Patrick Maguire, she received a call from his secretary.

"Mr. Maguire asked me to give you his apologies, Miss Parker. He's going to be tied up in meetings all day. He'll be happy to meet with you at your convenience tomorrow."

"Fine," Jennifer said. "Thank you."

The call sounded an alarm in Jennifer's mind. Her instincts had been right. Patrick Maguire was up to something.

"Hold all my calls," she told Cynthia.

She locked herself in her office, pacing back and forth, trying to think of every possible angle. Patrick Maguire had first told Jennifer she had no case. With almost no persuasion, he had then agreed to pay Connie Garrett two million dollars. Jennifer remembered how uneasy she had been at the time. Since then, Patrick Maguire had been unavailable. First London-if he had really gone to London-and then the conferences that had kept him from returning Jennifer's telephone calls all week. And now another delay.

But why? The only reason would be if-Jennifer stopped pacing and picked up the interoffice telephone and called Dan Martin.

"Check on the date of Connie Garrett's accident, would you, Dan? I want to know when the statute of limitations is up."

Twenty minutes later, Dan Martin walked into Jennifer's office, his face white.

"We blew it," he said. "Your hunch was right. The statute of limitations ran out today."

She felt suddenly sick. "There's no chance of a mistake?"

"None. I'm sorry, Jennifer. One of us should have checked it out before. It-it just never occurred to me."

"Or me." Jennifer picked up the telephone and dialed a number. "Patrick Maguire, please. Jennifer Parker."

She waited for what seemed an eternity, and then she said brightly into the telephone, "h.e.l.lo there, Mr. Maguire. How was London?" She listened. "No, I've never been there...Ah, well, one of these days...The reason I'm calling," she said casually, "is that I just talked to Connie Garrett. As I told you before, she really doesn't want to go to court unless she has to. So if we could settle this today-"

Patrick Maguire's laugh boomed through the receiver. "Nice try, Miss Parker. The statute of limitations is up today. No one is going to sue anybody. If you'd like to settle for a lunch sometime we can talk about the fickle finger of fate."

Jennifer tried to keep the anger out of her voice. "That's a pretty rotten trick, friend."

"It's a pretty rotten world, friend," Patrick Maguire chuckled.

"It's not how you play the game, it's whether you win or not, right?"