Impact (29 page)

Laura's hands pressed against her lips, as though a word would silence Jack forever.

“Let's take a look,” Ryan said, and hurried into the room.

Tollison waited until the rest had followed, then walked to the nurses' station and waited for one to look at him.

“My name is Tollison,” he explained to a pert young woman with a pencil behind her ear. “I'm going home now. When Mrs. Donahue comes out, please tell her I'll come back for her whenever she wants. She can give me a call anytime, day or night. Okay? She's busy, or I'd tell her myself. Her husband seems to be coming out of it.”

“Really? How wonderful.”

“Yes,” he said, and by the time he was home, he believed he believed just that.

Although it was not yet five when he reached Altoona, Tollison shunned the office for his house. Sunk deep within the club chair in his living room, shoes off, coat and tie draped over a faded lampshade, he placed a call to the city.

“Law offices. May I help you?”

“Mr. Hawthorne, please.”

“Just a moment.”

“Martha.”

“Martha, this is Keith Tollison.”

“What can we do for you?”

“Is Alec free? I need to talk to him a minute.”

“I'll check.”

“Keith? What's up?”

“I just wanted to touch base about the SurfAir people I brought in.”

“Of course.”

“The first one, Brenda, I'm still not sure what she's going to do, so maybe you should call her and—”

“She's already retained me, Keith. She signed on last week.”

“Oh. I didn't know. Good. That's great. So the only problem is Laura. She still wants
me
to take her case.”

Hawthorne's pause was indecipherable. “I see.”

“I'm trying to convince her otherwise, but I just wanted to ask, for one thing, how much will I have to advance in costs if I decide to take it on myself?”

“That's hard to say. Expenses in a big case can run to six figures. In the Paris crash, the lawyers advanced two and a half million out of their own pockets, and I've had experts that cost me fifty grand. On the other hand, no one has to go it alone. A plaintiffs' committee has been picked, and at some point the committee will assess a fee from the other plaintiffs, to defray discovery costs.”

“How much of a fee?”

“Several thousand per plaintiff, probably. Five, maybe. Ten.”

“Will I have to put up anything else?”

“Probably not. Except for whatever damage experts you hire.”

“You think experts are the way to go?”

“Saves you a lot of trouble, and if you pick an experienced man, the defense can't mug him on cross-examination the way they can with amateurs.”

“What one do you use?”

“Depends on who's available and how complex the problem is. Litigation Economists is probably the best.”

“How much do they charge?”

“Three twenty-five an hour.”

“You're kidding.”

Hawthorne laughed. “If they get you a million-dollar verdict they're worth it, right?”

“I suppose so. Jesus. The CPAI use charges a hundred bucks a day.”

“I've found in this business you get what you pay for, Keith. But it's up to you.”

“I suppose they'll want money up front.”

“With a new kid on the block like you, probably.”

“The other thing I was going to ask was, What's the chance of me piggybacking along on this thing? Letting you pros do the work on the liability side. It's not so much that I'm lazy, but—”

“I understand. It's a lot to learn for a one-shot deal.”

Hawthorne hesitated for so long Tollison thought he might be laughing at him. But when he spoke, his words contained a mild encouragement. “I don't see why you couldn't tag along. You'd have to prepare your own damage case, though.”

“Sure. No problem.”

“Then why don't you give it a go? If you find yourself in over your head, I can bail you out by substituting as her counsel. I sure didn't charm the lady, though, did I? And her case is such a laydown, especially the loss of consortium.”

“Her husband seems to be coming out of his coma.”

“Yeah? Well, that can go either way. On the plus side, it preserves the pain and suffering. On the minus, the jury may decide that eventually he'll recover completely.” Hawthorne paused again. “She say what it was that turned her off about me? Mrs. Donahue, that is?”

Tollison felt himself redden, somehow responsible for the rebuff since he had made himself the beneficiary of it. “I think the problem is she's been hounded by the insurance lawyer to settle, then she ran into Vic Scallini in the hospital, and between the two of them they convinced her that all lawyers were scum, and—”

Hawthorne laughed with obvious entendre. “All lawyers but you, you mean.”

“Laura and I are—”

“I saw how Laura and you were. Just keep it zippered till after the trial, counselor. She's going to have to convince a jury she's devastated by the loss of her husband's care and comfort. It won't help if Hawley Chambers's private eye tells them she's spending her nights getting care and comfort from her lawyer.”

ONE MARKET PLAZA

SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94105

ATTORNEYS FOR DEFENDANT HASTINGS AIRCRAFT

CORPORATION

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF

CALIFORNIA

INTERROGATORIES TO PLAINTIFF

Pursuant to Rules 26 and 34 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, defendant Hastings Aircraft Corporation (hereinafter “defendant”) requests plaintiff to answer under oath the following interrogatories within 30 days of service. Each interrogatory calls for not only your knowledge, but information available to you by reasonable inquiry and due diligence, including inquiry by your agents and attorneys.

Interrogatory No. 1:

(a) Do you claim that any component system, part, or equipment of the aircraft manufactured by defendant was defectively designed, assembled, or manufactured in any manner which caused or contributed to causing the crash or the death of Rhonda J. Warren and/ or Randolph F. Warren (hereinafter known as the decedents)? If so, please answer the following:

(b) Describe each part or component which you claim was defective.

(c) Describe the nature of each claimed defect.

(d) If a claimed defect was one of design, describe each alternative design which you contend was technically feasible at the time the aircraft was manufactured.

(e) Describe the manner in which you claim each defect caused or contributed to causing the crash.

(f) Identify each document which you contend supports your claim that such defect(s) existed and/or caused or contributed to the crash, and identify each person believed by you to have knowledge of such defects, causes or contributions.

Interrogatory No. 2:

(a) Do you contend that any defects in the design, manufacture; assembly, construction, testing, labeling, instructions, warnings, failure to warn, maintenance, inspection, and servicing of the air craft which allegedly caused the crash or the death of the decedents were created, in whole or in part, by the negligence of defendant? If so, please answer for each such defect the following subparts.

(b) Describe the defect which you contend was negligently created, in whole or in part, by defendant.

(c) Describe the act or omission by defendant which you contend was negligent.

(d) Describe the manner in which you claim the act or omission created the defect.

(e) Identify each document which you contend supports your claim that such act or omission by defendant occurred and/or that such act or omission by defendant was negligent, and identify each person believed by you to have knowledge of such act or omission, and/or that such act or omission was negligent.

Interrogatory No 3:

(a) Do you contend that any component system, part, or equipment of the aircraft which was manufactured by defendant was defective in a manner which caused or contributed to causing the crash as the result of missing, inadequate, incomplete, and/or in correct instructions, warnings, or failures to warn of risks or dangers in any manual or other writing? If so, please answer the following subparts.

(b) Describe each such missing instruction or warning, identifying the flight manual, maintenance manual, technical manual, or other writing where you claim each such missing instruction or warning should have been, describing where in such writing the missing instruction or warning should have been, and describing the manner in which you claim the absence of an Instruction or warning caused or contributed to causing the crash.

(c) State the language of each instruction or warning which you claim was inadequate or incomplete or incorrect, identifying the paragraph(s) of the manual or other writing in which such inadequate or incomplete or incorrect instruction or warning was contained, describing the way in which you claim the instruction or warning should have been written to make it complete, adequate, and correct, and describing the manner in which you claim the inadequate or incomplete or incorrect instruction or warning caused or contributed to causing the crash.

(d) Separately describe all information available to defendant at the time of manufacture of the component system, part or equipment, and subsequent to that time, which did indicate or should have indicated to defendant that written instructions or warnings contained in the manuals and other writing were inadequate, incomplete, and/or incorrect, or that appropriate instructions or warnings were missing.

(e) Identify each person believed by you to have knowledge that warnings or instructions were missing, inadequate, incomplete, and/or incorrect, and/or that the absence of adequate, complete, and correct warnings and instructions caused or contributed to causing the crash, and identify each document you contend supports your claims concerning the adequacy, completeness, correctness, or absence of the warnings or instructions.

DATED: December 4, 1987

Karney, Brunson, McCauley
&
Williams

by

Gerhard X. Williams

Attorneys for Hastings Aircraft Corporation

NINE

Alec Hawthorne glances at a clock set into the hub of a propeller that had fallen off a Cessna at five thousand feet, doffs his coat, loosens his tie, and sits behind his desk. As always, Martha is waiting at the rolltop.

“Good morning,” he says.

Her look is truculent. “I wouldn't know; I've been here all night.”

“Doing what?”

“The pretrial brief in the dog case.”

“Why the marathon?”

“Because I had last week set aside for it, but you sent me to LA to badger the NTSB on Aeromexico.”

“You didn't say anything about—”

“My job is to do what you need me to do when you need me to do it Which is what I did.”

Hawthorne sighs. In the interval since his heart attack, as he has struggled to determine which of the depressions and inspirations that occur within him are real and which are byproducts of his medication, Martha has taken on a raw and grasping air, as though she is scrambling to salvage something off the deck of a sinking ship.

He has seen her infrequently in recent months, and not at all outside the office, so he does not know the source of the ballooning desperation that seems to have at its core the sense that her decision to invest her personal assets entirely in the stock of Alec Hawthorne has been a big mistake. He knows only that he misses the old Martha the way he would miss a pair of comfortable loafers that can no longer be resoled. His guess is that she is finding solace elsewhere, in forms more reliable than the ontologic musings that of late provide his own. In the meantime, it is disconcerting that even within the autocratic confines of his law firm, he no longer knows what to expect when he walks through the door.

“The transcript of the controller deposition came in,” Martha reports, her current claim on him only that he do his duty.

“How'd it go?”

“As expected.”

“That bad?”

“At least.”

When Martha makes no move to leave or to engage in small talk, Hawthorne glances at the current
Wall Street Journal
, which lies at the center of his desk as always, headline up. Nothing above the fold seems to bear upon his job, except to the extent that the market crash of two months before—which reduced his net worth and raised his blood pressure by equally alarming percentages—suggests that he will never manage to stay rich no matter how hard he works or how long he lives.

Martha stirs at the fringe of his consciousness, so he asks her what's on tap for the day. “Nothing much,” she replies tonelessly, then pauses for effect. “Dan Griffin called yesterday.”

He swivels to face her fully. “Returning the SurfAir client, I trust.”

She shakes her head. “He wants me to come work for him.”

“I thought he went with Vic.”

Martha nods. “He and Vic are reorganizing. Getting rid of the drones, hiring fresh troops. Dan says Vic's cut his schedule way back, bought a place in La Jolla, and will spend half the year down there while Dan runs the LA office. They're offering me my own branch up here, plus a senior partnership and my name in the title once Vic is out of the picture completely.”

Hawthorne is sweating. “Are you going to take it?”

She shrugs. “The door will still have Vic's name on it. To say nothing of his reputation.”

As Martha lapses into melancholy, Hawthorne cannot form a reply that encompasses the jeopardy he feels. “So are you going to?” he blurts finally. “Go to work for Vic, I mean?”