All's Fair

Not Really a Florida Girl

Employees at Shell-Morr industries had to get in their cars and drive two miles just to get a sandwich.  And at that, the closest and best possibilities were a Burger King and a Taco Bell.  She sighed, as her stomach rumbled.  If her flight had been on time, she could have talked Jack into stopping for a quick lunch and bringing her up to speed on the case.   Given Jack's hint of complications to come, this was probably going to be a long meeting. 

If the single story building was unprepossessing, then Morrie Goldstein's office on the inside was even more of a culture shock from the modern offices of RKO in Philadelphia.  Huge trophies of stuffed fish were mounted on the wall.  A bobble-head batter on his desk reminded visitors to "Gimme your best pitch."   A glassed bookcase on the far wall housed an assortment of soccer trophies awarded to the Shell-Morr Torpedoes, a team Morrie apparently either sponsored or coached.

Morrie got up from his chair, leaning across the desk to pump Jack's hand enthusiastically.  When he shook hands with Grace, she noted that his hands were fleshy and soft, but his grip was firm.  Morrie looked like he was in his mid-50's, a stocky solid man whose presence was so large you only noticed his short stature as a sort of afterthought. 

He settled back down into his chair, across the desk from Grace and Jack, and looked at her speculatively. 

"So you're the lawyer from that fancy firm?"

"My office represents RKO."

"Philadelphia lawyer." He nodded, pursing his lips, and Grace felt defensive in spite of herself. 

"Mr. Goldstein, I'm here to do what –"

"Morrie," he said.  "No need to stand on formality here."

"Morrie," she said, continuing.  "I'm here to do whatever I can to resolve this sexual harassment case so that we can get the deal closed.   I specialize in these cases," she said, reaching into her briefcase to pull out a slim laptop and a legal pad.  "I'd just like to take some notes and –"

"Yeah, yeah, fine, it's all a big misunderstanding."

Grace looked up.  "I'm afraid it's a bit more than a misunderstanding, Mr. Gol-  Morrie.  A lawsuit has been filed against both you and the company in federal court. That's a serious matter."

"Federal, schmederal."

"Morrie." Jack's eyes seemed amused – Grace couldn't imagine why, unless the client and the lawyer had both gone mad – but his voice was serious.  "You promised you'd cooperate with RKO's counsel."

"Well, I am, Jack," Morrie insisted, looking affronted.  "Is it my fault Shelley got some bug up her –"

Jack cleared his throat, and Morrie looked over at Grace. 

"My client isn't always this crude," Jack said.  "He's been under a bit of a strain lately."

"Damned right," Morrie said, nodding.  "Where was I?  Oh, yeah.  Shelley got some crazy idea–"

"Shelley?  That's Michelle Sherman, right?"

"Yeah.  Michelle, Shelley, whatever.  You lawyers ever stop talking long enough, maybe I can get a whole sentence in." 

He looked back and forth between them then, apparently satisfied that there were no immediate interruptions, continued.

"So Shelley comes up to me and it's nag, nag, nag about a problem with this new product line, see?  And she just won't let it go.  'You're the head of R&D,' I say, 'you solve it.'  Then she gets all in a huff about how I don't take her work seriously, then she drops the big one."

"The big one?"

"If you won't invest what I need in R&D, Morrie, then no more sex."

"You were involved in a sexual relationship with your Director of R&D?" Grace said faintly.

"Well, only at the office," Morrie said.

"Only at the office?"

"Yeah," he said, looking as if that made it perfectly okay. 

"And now she's suing you for sexual harassment."

"I should be suing her!  Talk about harassment."

"So is she claiming that once she broke off this . . . relationship, you pressured her to continue to have sex?"

Jack spoke up.  "The allegation is that when Shelley refused to have sex with Morrie, he fired her."

"So, Morrie, what were the reasons for termination of Ms. Sherman's employment?"  Grace held her Monte Blanc pen (a law school graduation present from her mom) poised over her legal pad, ready to take notes.

"I told her she was way out of line.  Who the hell did she think she was, mixing sex and business like that.  Refusing to sleep with me unless I agreed to invest in more research for that new product line – when we're slap in the middle of negotiations to sell the company!  I don't have to put up with that crap.  Not from Shelley."  He nodded smugly.  

"So you told her  . . . no more sex in the workplace?"

"Hell, no, I told her get out, you're fired."

Grace looked over at Jack, who was grinning.  She frowned.  "I don't know what you find amusing about this situation –"

"Damn straight," Morrie said.

"Oh there's more," Jack said, leaning back in his chair.

The intercom on Morrie's desk crackled, and his secretary's raspy voice broke in. 

"Mr. Goldstein?"

"I'm in a meeting.  Didn't I tell you no calls?"

"She's here." The secretary lowered her voice.

"WHAT?  I told you she was barred from the property!  Call security at once and have her re-"

The door to his office opened and a tall, stylish woman swept in, followed by an earnest-looking young man in a business suit.

She looked past Morrie, and focused in on Jack.  "My attorney and I would like a word with you, Jack."

"Now just a gosh, dang minute, Shelley," Morrie said, rising up from his chair.  "You can't hire that lawyer."

"Hi, Dad," the young man said, then walked over to Grace and extended his hand.  "Robert Goldstein," he said.  "And this is my client, Shelley Sherman."