Read Family Counsel (The Samuel Collins Series Book 2) for Free Online Page B

It
didn’t matter how stupid the song was, Maddie would gleefully sing it at the
top of her lungs. “Don’t get her started,” I told Oliver.
    Maddie laughed. “Come on, honey,” she said, reaching over and
trying to take my hand. “Sing it with me!”
    I looked at my two-year-old.  “Let’s get out of here, Max!” and
I lifted the sheets over our head and we disappeared under the covers
laughing.  And before the four of us fell asleep that night, Oliver had learned all the words to the song.

Chapter 4
    After a night of passion and romance with my long-lost wife, I
attacked my work at the office the next morning with renewed vigor.  The storm
had left an incredible day in its wake, with clear skies and cool morning
temperatures, but with the promise of a hot afternoon.  I’m not a vacation kind
of guy, but it was the kind of day that made me want to reform and take off for
the beach. 
    My first order of business was to schedule mediation in a race
discrimination case I had pending in court.  Every once in a while an attorney
comes across a defendant whose behavior is so appalling, that he knows he has a
gold mine of a case.  Maddie’s lawsuit had been like that, and my gut feeling was
that the DIFCO lawsuit would be the same. 
    I was representing the plaintiff, a 30-year-old black male
named Earl Jefferson, who worked for DIFCO, an auto parts manufacturer. 
According to Earl’s stories, he had endured more racial slurs and
racially-based harassment in the two years he had worked there,  than would
normally happen to a guy in a lifetime, even assuming he was black.  Either my
client was a really good liar, which was always a possibility, or DIFCO’s
management team was the most inept, unprofessional, and immoral group of idiots
I’d ever had the pleasure of suing.  They’d been adversarial from the start,
which was the way I liked it.  When I sent DIFCO’s president a courtesy letter
offering to settle the matter before we filed suit, not only did they not agree
to settle, but their response consisted of two words:  “Fuck off.”  I actually
laughed out loud.  I could just imagine what their attorneys would say when
they got hold of the document. 
    Of course, there were big differences in this plaintiff and
Maddie, and the way a jury perceives a plaintiff is every bit as important, if
not more so, than the way they view the defendant.  In Maddie’s case, she’d
have won the jury hands down.  She was attractive and well-spoken; extremely
likable as a witness.  I hadn’t spent all that much time with Earl, so I wasn’t
sure how the jury would take to him.  He wasn’t exactly what you’d call
attractive, although he certainly wasn’t ugly.  It was his teeth, mainly; there
were just too damn many of them.   Plus, the guy was huge; not fat, just
enormous.  And right or wrong, that would have a bearing on the jury’s
perception of him too.  For some reason, juries equate physical size with
emotional endurance, and a big guy like Earl would be expected to put up with
more crap than an average size guy.  But even if there was just a fraction of
truth to what Earl had told me, no jury in their right mind could ignore what
he’d had to put up with at DIFCO, regardless of his size.  
    I buzzed my secretary and he picked up with one ring.
    “Sir!”
    “What dates am I available next month for the DIFCO mediation? 
I’m going to need a full day.”
    “Stand by.”  I could hear paper shuffling as he turned the page
on the calendar.  “You’ve got the 16 th , 17 th and 18 th available, or the 26 th through 28 th .”
    “Call opposing counsel and see if any of those dates are okay.”
    “Yes, sir.  Sir, I’ve got Felicia Armstrong holding on line 2.”
    “You don’t have to call me, sir, Russ.”
    “Very good, sir.  What should I tell Miss Armstrong?”
    “I’ll talk to her.”  I hit the button for line 2.  “Good
morning, Felicia.”
    “Hi, Sam.  Have you