Tuesday, September 20, 2016
Jack
Morning Ceci! I'll give you a live, blow-by-blow of this first match up with Nancy Grace/CNN.
I'm the first one here. It's a flashy, modern, glass tower office building in Atlanta. Top floor, law firm, conference room. Tom Metier is one of our partners in this case. One of Tom's lawyer buddies here in Atlanta runs this law firm and he offered to let us use their conference room to depose the CNN's executives. Three days ago, I read an article in the news about Tom's buddy. He won a $20,000,000 jury verdict for a Muslim man hit by a truck.
The conference room.
Nobody is here yet. I should have grabbed some breakfast. Caffeine is going to make me jagged on an empty stomach. I usually lead these things. Meaning I do the interrogation, I ask the questions. But Tom is the best civil trial lawyer in the Rocky Mountain West. He will lead while I watch and learn.
The CNN witness and his lawyer are walking in. The witness is male, middle age, average white guy executive. His lawyer is from the premiere media law firm in America. His name is Robert Griffin. Very smart, nervous, likely well-prepared.
Still waiting on Tom and the video crew to show up. We will video the entire deposition.
Damn, should have grabbed a burrito or something.
Ceci
You'll do great! You know what you're doing!
Jack
Thanks.
5 minutes till start. No Tom.
Everybody is wearing business suits. Tom just rolled in. He's in jeans, flannel shirt, and hiking boots. His hair is snow white and he's started a stubbly white beard. With his twinkling eyes, Tom looks like a cowboy-thin Santa Claus.
Bunch of laptops and electronic devices are coming out on all sides. Court reporter and video crew still late and lost. Tom is unfolding his binders and equipment from a large gray high-tech equipment case on wheels, something like what you might see an astronaut pulling behind him before he climbs aboard for lift off.
I'm watching Tom. He's in a zone. He just apologized to me for something he didn't actually do. I'm getting out of his way. Working on my poem. The CNN entourage is getting so fidgety we cut them loose till the lost video crew arrives.
Will extra cream and sugar in my tea substitute for breakfast?
Ceci
Yes
Easy on sugar
Jack
Thank you.
May get dicey once we start, so I'll fill in some stuff now. Tom is, and will be, nice as Jesus in this deposition. Surprisingly, brutal interrogation, like torture, does not work. It's for losers, lawyers with low self-esteem. Sweetness is the way. It's all about the love. When I face a lawyer who is a dick, we are already halfway to victory. Who wants to reward an asshole? Definitely not a jury. When I face someone who is kind and reasonable, that is a lethal opponent. Makes me nervous. Sometimes leads to a race to see who can be the most beautific. Today, Tom will be carefully laying the foundation for the extraction of every single page of hidden documents held by Nancy Grace and CNN. He will also get all the admissions that slip from a witness who is caught unprepared for Tom's flanking maneuvers of respect and compassion.
Tom is standing up, patting me on the shoulder, winks, and walking out for a quick break.
He is ready.
Court reporter arrived.
Still waiting on the video crew.
Video guy here. He's rushing around, sparking up his equipment.
We begin.
The witness is sworn in...
Going well. We are walking the witness slowly, very slowly, into our trap. In short, the trap is to have the witness disclose that despite the Court's Order to investigate and disclose documents, the defendant corporation failed to investigate and disclose anything.
Lunch.
So here's the secret trap. This is a Rule 30b6 deposition. 30b6 depos are routinely underestimated by corporate defendants and their lawyers. They are usually a big nothing. A nameless corporate exec shows up to identify docs and confirm business structure. Big yawn. But today we are using it as our invasion point to an undefended beach. Why? Because the executive is nearly always poorly prepared on the meat of the case. Why? Because corporations typically fail to do anything that is required for these exams. They blow it off. And Plaintiff's lawyers rarely call them on their lapse. This morning, in this deposition, CNN has, beyond our wildest dreams, walked directly into the set-up.
Lunch over. Back into the killing room.
CNN's defense lawyer is smart. Getting anxious. Objecting a lot. Splashing around in deeper and deeper water.
CNNs corporate lawyer is also here. She's getting impatient, frustrated, rapidly texting.
Taking a break before the next witness. CNN's two lawyers left the room. They don't seem to be talking.
The first witness was a CNN Vice President. No idea who's up next.
Ceci
Ha! Nice, they're nervous.
Jack
Witness number two is another CNN Vice President, Very impressive Corporate Fortune 100 resume. Former senior executive at [Large Multinational Corporation], etc....blah, blah, blah....
This V.P. deals with Nielsen Ratings and focus groups.
2:30pm ......sleepy.... nappy time.....
No, MUST STAY AWAKE!!
Ceci
I hear that.
Jack
☺
I like this witness. Very direct, matter of fact, but she too has not anticipated Tom's advance.
They have figured us out! They are objecting to every question, but it's too late, man.
Deposition over!
Tom and I having a beer.
I fly home at 10pm.
Ceci
Cheers!
Jack
Thanks. But I still owe you this poem. I'm stuck on a line....
Jack
The Poem
And Heaven and nature sing,
when she smiles,
and I bubble like Red Pop,
till my grin is watermelon in July.
She sees this.
Notes my illness.
Shakes her head,
and thinks I am silly.
And I am.
Full Stop: Yes, of course, I am old enough to know better.
But she might be coming down with something.
Maybe a fever,
her voice feels a little warm.
And she may be smiling more than is healthy.
I see this.
Note her symptoms.
Shake my head,
and think she is silly.
And Heaven and nature sing.
[Note: Later that night, Jack flies from Atlanta to Denver. While driving home, he is rear-ended on the freeway by a driver who flees the scene. Jack's car is totaled.]
[⭐Vote⭐ for poetry and airbags!]
Photo 1: Car Accident Fire by Vainodesositis, 2017 (Pixabay # 2789841).
Photos 2-3: Taken and owned by the authors, 2016.