Scott Winslow Legal Mysteries

Chapter 4-1

Sandi and Art Underwood walked down the street from their downtown apartment to Francine"s Café for their Sunday morning brunch, a ritual that had been part of their lives ever since they sold their big suburban home and moved to an apartment in the city five years ago. Art took his wife"s hand and gave her a troubled smile. He looked at her and still saw the beautiful girl he had married so many years ago. Sandi was one of those people who always looked younger than her age, something that"s a problem when you"re twenty but a blessing when you"re in your sixties and still look fifty. Her hair was black and flipped under at her shoulders. Her green eyes were almost liquid and seemed to drink in everything around her. She had a natural beauty and an unpretentious manner about her.

The streets were less congested than they were during the week, but the sidewalks were busy with pedestrians taking a walk, looking in store windows, or finding a spot at one of many restaurants offering elaborate Sunday brunch. Sandi and Art bypassed the street seating and walked into Francine"s where the hostess waited. Their usual table was saved for them at the same time every Sunday. As they were seated and given menus, Sandi studied her husband"s expression. After thirty-two years of marriage, she knew her husband as well as she knew herself, and she hadn"t seen Art this distracted for a long time. He was uncharacteristically quiet and withdrawn. His usual Sunday morning smile had been replaced by a look of concern.

“Are you all right?” she asked, putting her hand on his.

He nodded. “I"m okay.”

“But not really,” she replied. “I know you too well, partner.”

He gave her a pained smile. “I feel a little trapped. I haven"t been fired, but in order to be deemed loyal and protect my career, I have to keep a bad secret and I don"t feel good about it.” He sat back in his chair and added, “I"m staying quiet just to save my own skin; it"s like I lack the courage to do what"s right the way Marty and Justin did.”

“Marty and Justin are young. They have long careers ahead and can take a chance on a lawsuit at this junction in their lives. You and I need these last few years with Aligor. You and I both love our jobs, right? You still love the challenge and excitement of your job. It"s the same way I feel about nursing.”

“Yeah, that"s all true. It just doesn"t make me feel any better. I don"t feel like a profile in courage when I watch my co-workers gamble everything to do what they think is right and I just watch it all from the sidelines.”

“So, you"re feeling like a coward for not standing up?”

He nodded and gave her a downturned expression. “Exactly.”

“You"re still you on the inside. So, maybe there is some way you will be able to help when it matters. Who knows where this goes from here, but we are a long way from the conclusion of all this, right?”

He considered her offering and nodded. Maybe he could give them a statement or summon the strength to support them in some other significant way. “You have always been able to find a way to make me feel better, no matter how bad things look. No wonder I adore you.” He gave her a wide smile and then said, “Let"s order a great brunch and then catch a good movie. I"ll worry about all of this tomorrow.”

“Try not to worry so much, sweetheart. I think a time will come when you can help the cause without losing everything. We just have to be patient and wait for the right moment.”

“Thanks for understanding, Sandi. I want to support Marty and Justin because in my heart I know that what they are doing is right.” He considered a moment and then said, “This is not just a problem for Marty and Justin, it"s a problem for sick people who need help. Thousands of people are desperate for any last-minute cancer treatment they can find. They"ve already been told that doctors can only make things less painful until their time comes. Now Aligor is telling them that there"s an answer that there will be improvements in two out of three people. It"s just not true.”

She nodded thoughtfully. “And that"s another good reason to assist them in this fight. As for me, I"m going to do my best to convince my hospital not to buy Delexane, but the influence I can have is equivalent to one bucket of water in a lake. I want this fight to play out and I want you to support Marty and Justin, too. I just think that maybe we can do that best with you on the inside.”

He nodded. “The third round of the trials told us that only one in eight can expect to see positive results from the d**g, and even then, some people will have side effects that weren"t previously in the mix.” He shook his head. “These stricken folks will want to try anything that might help, whatever the odds. We just have to be sure that they are not getting bad information as a basis to make a life or death decision.” It was her turn to smile widely. “What?” He asked.

“I was listening to how much you care. Now you know the reason I"m supportive of you. You"re a good man, Charlie Brown.”

* * *

Nikki, the receptionist, buzzed Scott.

“What"s up, Nikki?”

“I"m heading out for the day and Doug Gibson is on line 1.” Doug was a senior partner with Gentry Marsden, a law firm three hundred lawyers strong, who had been retained to defend Aligor in the lawsuit brought by Marty and Justin.

“Thanks, Nikki. Have a good evening.” He punched a button and said, “Scott Winslow.”

“Scott, Doug Gibson.”

“Hi, Doug. What"s up?”

“As you know, our firm represents Aligor in the action you brought on behalf of Cardenas and Palmer.”

“I am aware of that, yes.”

“I wanted to introduce myself as I will be lead counsel for the defense.” Which meant there would be two other lawyers doing the day to day grunt work on the case and Gibson would be calling the shots.

“Okay, good to meet you, Doug. I"ve had cases against several of your partners in the past.”

“Yeah, I know that. I also wanted to call you to tell you personally that we have serious problems with your demand for production of documents.”

“What problems do you have?”

“These are confidential and proprietary materials.”

“First of all,” Scott replied, “the personnel documents of my clients and their employment histories are not protected. As to the d**g testing documents we are seeking, any confidentiality claims are easily handled. We sign a confidentiality agreement stating that the responsive documents will only be used for prosecution of this case and not otherwise disclosed.”

There was a silence and then Gibson said, “That is not enough.”

“Okay, I"ll give you a first draft choice for next season as well.”

“Funny. Scott, the information requested is Aligor proprietary material, and it implicates third party privacy rights.”

“I wish you guys cared as much about privacy when you take my clients" deposition and try to invade theirs at every turn.”

“Look,” Gibson replied with an angry edge to his voice, “I was just giving you a heads-up.”

“A heads-up that you are planning to disregard your discovery obligations. This is an easy fix. In the first round you provide statistical from the Delexane trials without identifying specific patients. If we need more, we"ll fight for it.”

“I"m afraid that won"t do it, Scott.”

“Because?”

“Because it"s both proprietary and confidential, like I said.”

“And why doesn"t my solution work?” Scott asked.

“You would definitely want individual information, and that is protected by the right to privacy of all those patients.”

“Wait, let me make sure I have this right. You"re not going to give me the statistical data that doesn"t include names because you think I"ll want more?”

“Right.”

“So, if I want more and you don"t agree that I"m entitled to it, you object to further production at that time.”

“No, I don"t think so. Anyway, you"ll be receiving our objections in the next day or two.”

“That"s not going to do it for me, Doug. We will be making a motion to compel production of documents and the court will decide.”

“Fine. Go for it.” With that, Gibson was gone. It was the tough guy posturing that seemed to happen at the beginning of a case when both sides were staking out their territory. He made notes about the content of the call so that the argument he had been given for why he was to be stiffed could be recited to the court. It was time to pull some corporate teeth to get the documents he needed.

* * *

Marty Cardenas and Justin Palmer carried their cups of coffee into the conference room. Scott Winslow walked into the room and greeted them as they took a seat. “Hi gentlemen, how are you?”

“Good now,” Justin said, pointing to his cup. “You guys make really good coffee.”

“I hear that often,” Scott said. “Maybe we should add that to our website. “Employment counseling, employment litigation and great coffee.”

“I think so,” Marty said. “The Firm that has it all.”

Scott said, “What is it that you guys wanted to discuss? From Justin"s call, it sounds like you have some good news.”

“That"s right,” Justin said. “We know that you are getting ready to argue motions about whether we get the Delexane trials data, and we"ve been concerned that the court might buy Aligor"s arguments and not give us the data. So, we found a better way.”

“Lay it on me,” Scott replied. “I"m always open to better ways.”

“After wrestling with whether to put him in the pariah position that we occupy, I decided to talk to Art Underwood. He wants to help if he can and he will make a copy of the critical data for us, provided we don"t disclose where it came from,” Justin offered. “Even though he won"t be part of any lawsuit, I think he may step up to help us get the documents because he believes in the cause.”

“We owe him a beer or two,” Marty suggested with a smile.

“You probably do, but it"s a little more complicated than that,” Scott interjected.

“How so?” Marty asked.

“This is proprietary information. The lawyer representing the Company will accuse you of theft and may even file a cross-complaint against you for stealing Company secrets. They will also take your depositions in the case and ask you where you got this confidential material.”

“Well,” Marty offered, “we sure as hell won"t tell them that we got it from Art.”

“There"s the rub, guys. You are under oath and can"t lie in your depositions, and I can"t be a party to lying in your depositions.”