Hard Options

"Assault"/huntemann                                                                                                                                             Page 897

Chapter Ten

Scene [8]

Hard Options

         Ed Daley had asked me to come in June ninth to discuss the cases. He said, “Bring your computer. We need to discuss objectives.”

         So the night before, I worked up a spreadsheet for Renee's financials, made estimates for Mass Health costs and lawyers’ expenses.

Meeting with Ed Daley
2000/06/09 10:42-11:59 Friday [Don]

         He updated me on the bankruptcy case and had me sign a paper he needed to file to become part of that Delaware case.

         One more damn court; makes it four.

         Nina needed to file one, too. He gave me a copy for her to sign since we were going to see her the next afternoon anyway. The forms were needed to make a baseline estimate for the award we were going to seek. The Bankruptcy Court had to know of all potential creditors.

         We discussed my spreadsheet and I was surprised that I was only off by 50% from his ballpark figure.

         It looked like he wanted to ask for $1.5M for Renee and maybe $15M for Kimee. Renee's continuing care needs ended with her death, but Kimee's care continues thus the big difference.

         I asked, “Is the intended use of the funds disclosed to the jury?”

         He said, “No, that isn't allowed, but the jury will know any award becomes an estate for Renee, subject to reimbursable costs for her previous care.”

         “How?”

         “We’ll tell them.”

         I thought about that for a second. Hum, more lawyer tricks. “So, rather than let them think we’ll just go out and buy a yacht, you’ll simply lay out the future expenses.”

         “Pretty much. Putting myths aside, awards are typically based on real numbers, especially for Kimee. Her long term care could cost $100,000 a year... for decades. We have to hedge for that.”

         “That’s what Ferne and I have discussed. We’re concern for Kimee's funding after the money runs out from any award. If she doesn't get a lot, she may have to go back on Mass Health. If we aren’t around, who would monitor her care?”

         “Michelle could help you with that. It could be stipulated in your wills.”

         “Yeah, but still who? Nina and Neil are great kids, but that would be a huge burden for them.”

         “Unless it was worth their while. Managing an estate can be a satisfying job. Especially if it has a continuing source of funds.”

         I gulped, then said, “You mean like royalties from a book or a movie?”

         Ferne and I were still concerned about publicity. Any book author would have to have impeccable credentials to avoid the ‘sleaze factor’ associated with so many books about family tragedies. Too much has already been written about Renee’s case by reporters with poor fact checking.

         If we agreed to it, we would have to ask everyone to open all of their notes to that one author and let the story be told completely... even if that might make us look bad for some of the decisions we had to make.

         But Ed was interested in telling the legal aspects of the case. He suggested that Jonathan Harr, who wrote "A Civil Action," may be the kind of author we may want. “I know many of the players in that book. His descriptions of the people, events and proceedings were quite accurate.”


         As for other expenses, Ed said, “Michelle has been paid up front by us... up to now. However, for wills, estate planning and handling Renee’s assets, she might be willing to wait to be paid until after the award. You need to talk to her directly about that.”

         On my way back from Ed’s office, I stopped by Barnes & Noble and picked up the book he had suggested: Jonathan Harr's "A Civil Action." I didn't find it in Fiction/Nonfiction section... it was in the Law section. (ISBN: 0-679-77267-7)


Northhampton, MA
2000/06/10 16:58-22:00 Saturday [Nina, Ferne and Don]
         The next day, we drove down to Northhampton, Massachusetts to visit Nina who was in graduate school at U. Mass. We checked in, had a great dinner with her at the Northhampton Inn and talked about the book project. I said, “Ed likes the legal aspects of the story.”

         Nina said, “I’d like to write about Renee, too, but in a more personal way. I’d want to interview her friends and people down in Boston to trace her life after leaving home. Try to figure out why she did it....”

         I didn’t want to think about the reasons why she did it. We may want to do separate stories.


Family
2000/06/11 09:00-10:30 Sunday [Nina, Ferne and Don]
         The next day, Sunday, Nina joined us and took us to a special breakfast place. It reminded me of the long lost hippy culture of LA beaches when I was in college. Oh, to be in college again.

         We checked out of the Inn and drove to Shelburne Falls, stopping along the way to see some junk shops.

         For four hours of shopping in Shelburne Falls I held Nina’s hand, talked to her about school and thoroughly enjoyed my daughter. We watched glassblowing.


         That evening we had supper at Nina's. I moved some of her stuff into the car to bring back home. (Kids are always moving something somewhere.)

         We talked some more about who could write the book. “Do it yourself, Dad.”

         She signed Ed's papers.


Story
2000/06/12-13 [Don]
         With Nina’s words ringing in my head, I attacked Jonathan Harr's book Monday and Tuesday. Sometimes it’s nice to be under-employed. Plenty of reading time.

         But, I noticed myself more analyzing the book than just reading and enjoying it. I like his style and I may use something like it for my own work.

         What? Who am I kidding? Harr is a real author. I haven’t written anything much more than a trip report.

         Harr spent over eight years following the Woburn case. He was given almost unlimited access to the major players for the plaintiffs and significant access to the defendant's council. Since he was considered an outsider from the case, he probably received much more access to the defendants than I would. That would be a major consideration for us if we decide to actually do an analytical book. The defendants might be more willing to open up to a third party than to the plaintiffs ourselves.

         Then, again, the main character in his book may have behaved with a little more bravado knowing that his every action was being documented by a writer. This phenomena is called feed-forward in electronic circuits where the output is exaggerated by the previous events. Poll takers must contend with sampling techniques that are influenced by the participant's knowledge that they are being recorded.

         Medical testing of new drug therapies are done with what they call "double-blind" testing where neither the doctors nor the patients know if they are getting a placebo or the new drug. There, knowledge of participation in the test doesn't effect the differences in the results.

         In our case, I doubted that the police, district attorney, defendant, probate judges, guardian ad litums, nursing homes, doctors, nurses, administrators, or social workers would actually talk to us with the candor a documentary would require. They'd fear a lawsuit for sure.

         So, maybe I should just make a resource file. Those who may get access to the other players' thoughts could piece together a comprehensive novel. Gosh, the grits for just about every emotion humans can experience is here and a good story teller could make a block-buster out of it.

         I had also rented the movie "A Civil Action" on video and watched it right after finishing the book. As I've noticed with many books made into movies, since reading and viewing "On The Beach" in 1958, significant portions of the book had to be left out of the movie because of time requirements. Some events were combined into one and elaboration of certain characters were cursory. However, the movie didn't change the gist of the book too much, for which I would be thankful if that happens to Renee's story.


Renee’s place
2000/06/25 13:10-13:20 Sunday [Ferne and Don]
         We fixed up Renee's grave. Disposed of the dead flowers and watered the live ones. I asked her, “How should we tell your story? Should we?”


NEPC
2000/06/27 14:50 Tuesday [VM]
         Carrie Raft, Social Worker from NEPC, left a message to tell us, “Kimee was fitted for a wheelchair today. She is doing fine in it. Call me back at your convenience.”

          “Wheelchair?” Kimee was growing. And she has a story, too.


Pages: 8
Words: 1,432