Scott Winslow Legal Mysteries

Chapter 3-2

Garner shrugged. “I"m sorry, man. Just doing my job.”

Justin nodded. “You know what, Sean? I was too,” he replied and then turned and walked towards the parking structure elevators.

Garner spoke to his back. “Nothing personal man.”

Justin stopped in his tracks and looked back at Garner, outrage in his eyes. He shook his head and said, “Are you kidding? This is about as personal as it gets.”

Garner gave a nod and then turned and got back into one of the elevators. Before moving into the garage elevator, Justin dialed Marty"s cell and waited.

“Hi, Justin. How was it?”

“Where are you?” Justin asked.

“I was the first wave escorted out. I"m at Francine"s Café, waiting for you. I was pretty sure you"d be following along shortly.”

“I guess Francine"s is our new office. I"ll meet you there in fifteen minutes.”

* * *

Justin walked into Francine"s Café and took a seat across from Marty. He shook his head. “Holy s**t. Did we make a mistake?” he asked.

“I don"t know,” Marty replied, shaking his head. “I"m feeling a lot less secure about all this than I did yesterday.”

“Yeah, Justin replied. I knew that this might happen at some point, but I didn"t expect it in twenty-four hours.”

“I guess we both thought that there would be some warning it was coming. We send him a memo yesterday and we"re escorted out today. I feel like I just got hit by a truck.”

“I agree. And do you know what else?” Justin asked.

“What else?”

“Sean Garner is an asshole. It"s not just that he"s doing Cook"s dirty work, it"s that you can see he is taken some kind of perverse pleasure in it.”

Marty nodded. “He really did seem to be in his glory as he carried out this execution. His moment in the spotlight.”

“Is Art still employed?” Justin asked.

Marty nodded solemnly. “Yeah, he"s still there. I think what happened to us conveys a pretty strong message that he needs to silently launch the product without objection.”

“Do you think we can get him to help us?” Marty posed.

Justin shook his head. “This morning I would have said that there is no doubt. After the message that our abrupt ouster communicates, he probably wouldn"t dare. I think we have to be careful about what we ask him to do.”

Marty reflected and then replied, “I think you"re right. He"s been good to us for a long time and I don"t want to hang his a*s out to dry.”

* * *

Donna walked Marty and Justin to the conference room. “Here are the retainers for your review. If you have any questions, discuss them with Scott before you sign.”

“Shall do,” Marty responded. “Thanks.”

Scott entered the conference room about two minutes later, and both men handed him their signed retainers. “No questions?” Scott asked.

“Nope, I"m good with the agreement,” Justin responded.

“Yeah, me too,” Marty said.

“So, Cook pulled the trigger today?” Scott asked.

“Yeah, and gave us this letter in response to ours,” Marty said, handing Scott a copy.

Scott reviewed the carefully worded response to the complaints that Marty and Justin had delivered to Cook.

Thank you for your letter. Please know that the Company will seriously consider the points you raised in connection with our further assessment of the Delexane studies that are under way. We are excited about the promise of this new d**g. At the same time, we want to assure that all information is considered.

Thank you for your letter. Please know that the Company will seriously consider the points you raised in connection with our further assessment of the Delexane studies that are under way. We are excited about the promise of this new d**g. At the same time, we want to assure that all information is considered.Scott smiled. “This guy is no fool. He"s working hard to create some doubt about the reasons for your terminations. He"s also trying to sound like he cares about the new d**g"s safety issues you raised, to negate any inference that your complaints were the reason you were terminated.” Scott was quiet for a moment, and then asked, “Do either of you have any documentation concerning the d**g and its performance in the trials?”

“Not yet,” Justin said. “We were walked out suddenly and without notice. I"m kicking myself for not having taken a copy of the phase three results home. Now I"m hoping we can get Art to help us.”

“But he"s not here today because he is risk adverse, right?” Scott asked. “I mean he wants to survive the next five years at Aligor so that he can retire.”

“Yeah, that"s true. So it will be hard to expose him to the risk of helping us.”

“We"ll have to think about the best way to handle that issue,” Scott said. “Once we file the lawsuit, I will send Aligor a demand for production of documents that they have to respond to under oath. It would be nice if we knew we had the real thing just in case what they give us isn"t it, but we have time to work on whether there is a way to get it.” Scott was quiet and then said, “In a couple of days, we"ll have the lawsuit done and ready for your review. Once you review the document and tell us that we have the facts right, we can get it filed. Can you guys come in the next few days to look it over?”

“Sure,” Marty replied. “My schedule is suddenly much lighter,” he offered with a sardonic smile.

“Me too.” Justin offered, “I suddenly have time on my hands.”

Scott smiled. “Okay, gents. We"ll call you to set it up as soon as the lawsuit has been drafted.”

“See you then,” Marty offered. He and Justin left the building silently, feeling the weight of their decision.

* * *

Donna sat in the conference room with Marty and Justin. When they finished their review of the proposed lawsuit, Justin said, “I made just a couple of minor date corrections.” He handed the document to Donna.

“Likewise,” Marty replied. He paused and then added, “You guys did a good job of describing the retaliation and the whole scenario leading up to it.” He handed her his copy of the lawsuit and handwritten complaints.

Donna reviewed the changes they had made and said, “Like I mentioned, Scott"s in court this morning, but I"m confident he will have no issue with your corrections. I will make them for his review and in all likelihood the Complaint will be filed in court tomorrow. We"ll get it served within the next few days and we"re off and running,” she added.

“Thank you, Donna. We appreciate you guys already.”

“We"ll keep you posted,” Donna said. “Please provide us with any other documents you locate concerning your performance, raises, bonuses, promotions, accomplishments and everything positive you can find. The more evidence supporting our claims the better.”

“Okay,” Marty replied. “I"ll dig through old documents. I need a project anyway.”

They shook hands and the two men left the law offices and walked out to the parking lot. “Should be an interesting ride,” Justin offered as some consolation to the loss they shared.

Marty shook his head. “I guess, but I"d rather be back at work having too much to do. We have too much time to think about all this.”

“Right. Even when I"m supposed to be sleeping, I"m playing all of this over in my head. Mostly, I"m just pissed off that the company would do this to me because I want them to tell everyone the truth about the results.”

“They say that losing a career is like losing a loved one and I can see how that is true. I think I"m grieving the loss. I"m helpless, angry and mostly sad.”

“Want to get some breakfast?” Justin asked. “I"m hungry as well as pissed off.”

“I know I have time for that. I don"t even need to check my calendar.”

They laughed as they climbed into their cars and headed for Barney"s Coffee Shop. Maybe bacon, eggs, and a lot of coffee would fix the problem and make them feel better.