Hit With the Rear (eBook)
200 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
978-1-946989-33-8 (ISBN)
Life may seem heavenly if you're a good-looking, well-heeled partner in a successful New York law firm who was once a world tennis champion. Add a wonderful wife who's one of the best appeals lawyers in town, and what could spoil your day? In Bill Andrews' case, it's boredom. He's fed up with his lucrative specialty, insurance defense, and he wants some excitement. Beware of what you wish for. His excitement begins with a gourmet baker who loves to brag telling folks that he has a $3-million auto insurance policy. A scammer who hears of it stages an accident, seriously injuring his uncle, by backing up at speed into the baker's car. The scammer's lawyer doesn't know that-and it's his first big case. Then Bill, who's representing the baker's auto insurer, runs into a judge who hates all insurance companies but especially this one, which he believes once treated him very badly, and he'll do everything he can to turn Bill's life into a nightmare and make sure he loses the case. Will Bill find a way to outsmart this reckless judge and win the case? And will he still be bored at the end of it?
CHAPTER TWO
Justice Frank Mckenna, the administrative judge of Bronx County, was seated behind his desk, going over a draft of a report the chief administrative judge had asked for. Frank completed his second reading, removed his rimless glasses, and was wiping his eyes when the intercom buzzed.
“Yes, Alice.”
“Judge McKenna, there’s a couple of lawyers from one of the big firms. They say it’s an emergency.”
“Have them see Mr. Coleman,” his law secretary.
“They have, Your Honor. He thinks you should speak to them.”
McKenna sighed. “Okay, send them in.”
“Judge McKenna,” said the shorter of the two, “I’m Mark Linstrom. I’m a partner in Franklin, Powers and Rush. This is Alex Tietel, our associate.”
“Good firm,” replied the judge with a nod. “What’s the emergency?”
“Judge Robbins is in the process of imprisoning my partner, Bill Andrews, in the Tombs, because Bill refused to hand over his defense file so that the judge could read it out loud to the plaintiff’s attorney.”
The judge grimaced. “You’re kidding. He has no right to your file.”
“I know it, and Bill knows it, but it appears that this is one of Judge Robbins’s regular practices. When the case was last on before him, he had his court officer yank the file out of the hands of the attorney then representing the defendant, and the judge told the plaintiff’s counsel that there was a three-million-dollar policy.”
“…Who can verify this?” the judge asked.
“I can give you proof positive of most of it. When Bill heard what’d happened to his predecessor, he decided to cover himself by breaking a rule. He had his associate record everything surreptitiously. He can play it for you.”
Judge McKenna shook his head. “You know you’re not supposed to do that… . But let’s hear it.”
Alex removed a recorder the size and shape of a large pen from his breast pocket and pushed Play. For the next half hour they listened to a crystal clear recording of both the conference and the court hearing.
The judge pushed back a lock of curly white hair from his near-ebony-colored brow. “I think this should be handled informally. Why don’t you gentlemen go out for lunch and come back in about an hour?”
“We’ll do that, Your Honor. Let’s go, Alex. The judge has just gotten you a lunch on the firm.”
When the lawyers had departed, McKenna pressed the intercom. “Alice, please call Judge Robbins and ask him to join me—and have him keep Mr. Andrews in this building until after our meeting is over.”
Twenty minutes later, Robbins showed up and settled himself on a visitor’s chair. He was dressed in a black suit, which McKenna found amusing. “You wanted to see me, Frank?”
“Yes, Harry. Thanks for your promptness.” There was no smile on McKenna’s face, who leaned back in his chair and contemplated him.
“…You’re welcome,” the chubby man said, breaking the uncomfortable silence. “What’s up?”
“I’ve just heard that you’ve been sending big-firm partners to jail.”
Robbins forced a smile. “Only one, and he deserved it.”
“Oh? What’d he do?”
“Frank, are you my supervisor?”
McKenna chuckled and tapped his finger on the desk. “Among other things. I’m here to keep this court looking good—and jailing lawyers, except in extreme cases, does not enhance our image. Fill me in!”
Robbins’s face reddened. “The man is a snot. He dissed me, and he refused to obey my orders.”
“I assume you have a record of all that?”
Robbins’s lips parted with the first hint of uncertainty. “The—the refusal to obey an order is.”
“And what was the order?” McKenna laced his fingers together over his woolen vest.
“He gave me some frivolous crap about a staged accident. Said the plaintiff’s driver intentionally backed into the defendant’s car. He said it was substantiated in his file. When I ordered him to give me his file to inspect it, he refused.”
McKenna was already shaking his head, and his eyes bored into the other’s. “What right do you have to his file? The next thing you’ll be inspecting his wallet or his underwear.”
Robbins turned grim. “Come on, Frank. When I was in practice, if a judge wanted to see my file, I’d let him.”
“If that ever happened, Harry, you were a damn fool. Now you listen good to me. If you sign a commitment order and send Andrews to the Tombs, his firm’ll get it reversed so fast it’ll make your head spin. Worse than that, the Law Journal article will make you, and this court, look stupid, and you’ll be on your way back to civil court.”
“You can’t do that,” Robbins nearly shouted. “I’ll see Williams.”
McKenna shook his head. “The county leader? County leaders have no sway at the appellate division, but I went to law school with the P.J. So I strongly recommend that you kill the commitment order, and, while you’re at it, you tell the reporter to shred the tape. It would also be a good idea, I’d say, to recuse yourself from the case.”
Robbins was grim. “Okay, I’ll let Andrews off the hook—but I’m keeping the case.”
McKenna shrugged. There were limits, he knew, though he ground his teeth for a moment. “Suit yourself… . And please send Andrews to see me after you remove his cuffs.”
SHORTLY AFTER ROBBINS LEFT, McKenna decided it was time to eat. He frequently had lunch in his chambers, and this was one of those days. His wife was a good cook, and leftovers made very tasty sandwiches. He was just finishing an excellent pot roast with gravy, on Italian bread, heated in the microwave and washed down by strong black coffee, when the intercom buzzed. “Yes, Alice?”
“There are three lawyers waiting to see you, Judge.”
“Is one of them Mr. Andrews?”
“Yes, Your Honor.”
“Send him in, and ask the other gentlemen to wait.”
As I entered, the judge rose and stuck out his hand. “Mr. Andrews, I’m Judge McKenna.” He motioned me to a seat.
“Good to meet you, Your Honor.”
The judge smiled warmly. “I see you’re no longer wearing handcuffs.”
I suppressed a chuckle. “I was fortunate in that department. The court officer didn’t have a pair. He told me that my Tombs escort from the sheriff’s department probably had some.”
The judge scratched his head. “Do you know why you’re here?”
“Not entirely. Judge Robbins said to come here, and not to run away. My colleagues told me about their meeting with you, and that you had listened to my unauthorized tape.”
The judge forced a frown that evolved into an awkward grin. “Yes, using that tape is prohibited. I suggest you don’t make a practice of it.”
“I’ll try not to, but from what I’d heard about Judge Robbins, I thought my back needed coverage.”
“I understand, but save it for dire emergencies.”
“Like today?”
Judge McKenna nodded. “…Your staged accident defense—can you prove it?”
“Not yet. The client is adamant that the plaintiff’s car intentionally backed into him. The insurer has investigators on it, but from what I understand they don’t have anything yet.”
***“Sounds like you have a tough case. Might be a good idea to settle. In my experience, the longer an unsuccessful investigation takes, the higher the settlement will be.”
“You’re probably right, but fortunately for me it’s not my decision. I will pass on your advice.” I was enjoying the meeting. This judge seemed like a good guy.
The judge crushed his sandwich wrappings into the waste basket. “Has Judge Robbins told you anything new about your contempt conviction?”
“No, he just sent me to you.”
“Let me give you my prediction.”
“I’d welcome it.”
“He’ll probably tell you that he’s decided to give you a break, because it’s a first offense. I suspect that you’ll make a motion for him to recuse himself and want to use the record to back it up.”
“Makes sense.”
“I don’t think you’ll find a record of today’s events to support it. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t pursue the missing transcript. To do so would cause very bad publicity for the judicial system.” The judge winced.
I...
| Erscheint lt. Verlag | 27.5.2019 |
|---|---|
| Sprache | englisch |
| Themenwelt | Literatur ► Krimi / Thriller / Horror |
| ISBN-10 | 1-946989-33-9 / 1946989339 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1-946989-33-8 / 9781946989338 |
| Informationen gemäß Produktsicherheitsverordnung (GPSR) | |
| Haben Sie eine Frage zum Produkt? |
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