The Litigators

CHAPTER 19


The official name of the gathering was a discovery conference, and it was typically a brief lawyers’ get-together in front of the judge to discuss the initial stages of the lawsuit. No record was kept, just informal notes taken by a clerk. Often, and especially in the courtroom of Harry Seawright, the judge himself begged off and sent a magistrate to pinch-hit.

Today, however, Judge Seawright was presiding. As the senior judge in the Northern District of Illinois he had a large courtroom, a splendid and spacious layout on the twenty-third floor of the Dirksen Federal Building on Dearborn Street in downtown Chicago. The courtroom was lined with dark, oak-paneled walls, and there were plenty of thick leather chairs for the various players. On the right side, and to the judge’s left, was the plaintiffs’ team of Wally Figg and David Zinc. On the left side, and to the judge’s right, was the team of about a dozen or so Rogan Rothberg lawyers toiling away on behalf of Varrick Laboratories. Their leader, of course, was Nadine Karros, the only female lawyer present, and for the occasion she was modeling a classic Armani navy suit, skirt just above the knees, nude legs, and designer platform pumps with four-inch heels.

Wally couldn’t take his eyes off the shoes, the skirt, the entire package. “Maybe we should come to federal court more often,” he’d quipped to David, who was in no mood for humor. Nor was Wally, to be honest. For both of them, it was their first venture into a federal courtroom. Wally claimed he handled cases in federal court all the time, but David was doubtful. Oscar, senior partner, who was supposed to be there with them, taking on the twin Goliaths of Rogan Rothberg and Varrick, had called in sick.

Oscar wasn’t the only no-show. The great Jerry Alisandros and his team of world-class litigators were all lined up to blast into Chicago for an impressive display of strength, but a last-minute emergency hearing in Boston had become more important. Wally freaked out when he got the call from one of Alisandros’s underlings. “It’s just a discovery conference,” the young man said. Driving to court, Wally had expressed skepticism about Zell & Potter.

For David, the moment was extremely uncomfortable. He was sitting in a federal courtroom for the first time knowing that he would not say a word because he had no idea what to say, and his opposition was a team of well-dressed and highly skilled lawyers from a firm he’d once been loyal to, a firm that had recruited him, trained him, paid him a top salary, and promised him a long career, and a firm that he had jilted, rejected. In favor of … Finley & Figg? He could almost hear them snickering behind their legal pads. David, with his pedigree and Harvard diploma, belonged over there, where they billed by the hour, not on the plaintiffs’ side, where you beat the streets looking for clients. David did not want to be where he was. Nor did Wally.

Judge Seawright settled himself into his perch and wasted no time. “Where’s Mr. Alisandros?” he growled in the direction of Wally and David.

Wally jumped to his feet, offered a greasy smile, and said, “He’s in Boston, sir.”

“So he will not be here today?”

“That’s right, Your Honor. He was on his way but got sidetracked with some emergency in Boston.”

“I see. He’s an attorney of record for the plaintiffs in this case. The next time we get together, tell him to be here. I will fine him $1,000 for missing the conference.”

“Yes sir.”

“And you’re Mr. Figg?”

“That’s correct, Your Honor, and this is my associate, David Zinc.” David tried to smile. He could almost see every Rogan Rothberg lawyer craning to have a look.

“Welcome to federal court,” the judge said sarcastically. He looked at the defense and said, “I suppose you’re Ms. Karros?”

She stood, and every eye in the courtroom locked onto her. “I am, Your Honor, and this is my co-counsel, Luther Hotchkin.”

“Who are all of those other people?”

“This is our defense team, Your Honor.”

“Do you really need all these people for a simple discovery conference?”

Give ’em hell, Wally thought, still staring at the skirt.

“We do indeed, Your Honor. This is a large and complicated case.”

“So I’ve heard. You may keep your seats for the remainder of this hearing.” Judge Seawright picked up some notes and adjusted his reading glasses. “Now, I’ve spoken to two of my colleagues in Florida, and we are not sure if these cases will proceed in a multi-district litigation. It appears as if the plaintiffs’ lawyers are having some difficulty getting themselves organized. Many, it seems, want a bigger piece of the pie, which is not surprising. At any rate, we have no choice but to proceed with discovery in this case. Mr. Figg, who are your experts?”

Mr. Figg had no experts and had no idea when he might retain them. He was relying on the increasingly unreliable Jerry Alisandros to find the experts because that’s what he promised to do. Wally stood slowly, knowing that any hesitation would look bad. “We’ll have them next week, Your Honor. As you know, we are partnering with the law firm of Zell & Potter, a well-known firm specializing in mass torts, and with the flurry of activity around the country it’s been difficult to lock up the best experts. But we’re definitely making progress.”

“That’s nice. Please sit down. So you actually filed this lawsuit before you consulted with any experts?”

“Well, yes, Your Honor, and that’s not unusual.”

Judge Seawright doubted if Mr. Figg knew what was usual or unusual, but he decided not to embarrass the guy this early in the game. He picked up a pen and said, “You have ten days to designate your experts, then the defense will be allowed to depose them without delay.”

“Yes sir,” Wally said, falling back into his chair.

“Thank you. Now, we have eight death cases here, so we’re dealing with eight families. To start with, I want you to take the depositions of the personal representatives of all eight. Mr. Figg, when can you make these people available?”

“Tomorrow,” Wally said.

The judge turned to Nadine Karros and said, “That soon enough?”

She smiled and said, “We prefer reasonable notice, Your Honor.”

“I’m sure you have a busy trial calendar, Ms. Karros.”

“As always, yes.”

“And you also have unlimited resources. I count eleven lawyers taking notes right now, and I’m sure there are hundreds more back at the firm. These are just depositions, nothing complicated, so on Wednesday of next week you’re going to depose four of the plaintiffs, and on Thursday you’ll do the other four. Two hours max per plaintiff; if you need more time, we’ll do them later. If you can’t be there, Ms. Karros, just pick out five or six from your squad, and I’m sure they can handle the depositions.”

“I’ll be there, Your Honor,” she said coolly.

“Mr. Figg?”

“We’ll be there.”

“I’ll get my clerk to arrange the time, schedule, details, and we’ll e-mail it to you by tomorrow. Then, as soon as Mr. Figg designates his experts, we will schedule their depositions. Ms. Karros, when your experts are in place, please provide the necessary information, and we’ll go from there. I want these initial depositions out of the way within sixty days. Any questions?” There were none.

He continued: “Now, I have reviewed three other lawsuits involving this defendant and its products, and, frankly, I’m not impressed with Varrick’s integrity or its ability to abide by the rules of discovery. The company, it seems, has a great deal of trouble turning over documents to the other side. It has been caught red-handed concealing documents. It has been sanctioned by judges at the state and federal levels. It has been embarrassed before juries and paid dearly with large verdicts, yet it continues to hide documents. At least three times, its executives have been charged with perjury. Ms. Karros, how can you assure me that your client will play by the rules?”

She glared at the judge, paused for a moment in a stare-down, then said, “I was not the attorney for Varrick Labs in those other cases, Your Honor, and I don’t know what happened there. I will not be tainted by lawsuits I had nothing to do with. I know the rules inside and out, and my clients always play by the rules.”

“We’ll see. Your client needs to be warned that I am watching closely. At the first hint of a discovery violation, I will haul the CEO into this courtroom and draw blood. Do you understand me, Ms. Karros?”

“I do.”

“Mr. Figg, you have not yet made a request for documents. When might this happen?”

“We’re working on that now, Your Honor,” Wally said with as much confidence as possible. “We should have it in a couple of weeks.” Alisandros had promised an exhaustive list of documents to be sought from Varrick but had yet to come through.

“I’m waiting on you,” Seawright said. “This is your lawsuit. You filed it, now let’s get going.”

“Yes sir,” Wally replied anxiously.

“Anything else?” he asked.

Most of the lawyers shook their heads. His Honor seemed to relax somewhat as he chewed on the cap of his pen. He said, “I’m thinking this case might do well under Local Rule 83:19. Have you considered this, Mr. Figg?”

Mr. Figg had not, because Mr. Figg was not aware of Local Rule 83:19. He opened his mouth, but only dry came forth. David quickly picked up the flag and spoke his first words in court: “We’ve considered that, Your Honor, but we have not yet discussed it with Mr. Alisandros. We should make a decision within the week.”

Seawright looked at Nadine Karros and said, “And your response?”

“We are the defense, Your Honor, and we are never eager to go to trial.” Her candor amused the judge.

Wally whispered to David, “What the hell’s Rule 83:19?”

David whispered back, “The Rocket Docket. Streamline the case. Balls to the wall.”

“We don’t want that, do we?” Wally hissed.

“No. We want to settle and cash in.”

“No need to file a motion, Mr. Figg,” His Honor said. “I’m placing this case in 83:19 status. On the fast track, Mr. Figg, so let’s get things moving along.”

“Yes sir,” Wally managed to mumble.

Judge Seawright tapped his gavel and said, “We’ll meet again in sixty days, and I expect Mr. Alisandros to be here. Adjourned.”

As David and Wally were stuffing files and notepads into their briefcases in hopes of a fast exit, Nadine Karros sauntered over for a quick hello. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Figg, Mr. Zinc,” she said with a smile that made Wally’s nervous heart skip another beat.

“A pleasure,” he said. David returned the smile as he shook her hand.

“This promises to be a long, bruising fight,” she said, “with a lot of money on the table. I try to keep things on a professional level and hard feelings at a minimum. I’m sure your firm feels the same way.”

“Oh yes,” Wally gushed, and almost asked her to go have a drink. David wasn’t as easily manipulated. He saw her as a pretty face and a warm facade, but just below the surface was a ruthless combatant who would enjoy watching you bleed in open court.

“I guess I’ll see you next Wednesday,” she said.

“If not sooner,” Wally said, a lame attempt at humor.

As she stepped away, David grabbed Wally by the arm and said, “Let’s get out of here.”