Chapter 16
Bev went back into her tiny office and sorted through the demand letters and new lawsuits. She took them to the copier and scanned each of them separately, then she emailed the batch of documents to Pariente and to Rita Wentzel. She said she agreed that they needed to have a meeting as soon as it could be arranged. She suggested Pariente come to Stanforth to see the restaurant and get a feel for the town – and meet the Mazzolis. She asked if Rita wanted to be involved with that. Rita begged off, saying she wanted to stay one step removed from the day-to-day litigation. Pariente suggested a meeting on Tuesday.
Bev asked Paul to block out the day and to find out when the Mazzolis would be available to meet with Pariente. Paul was reluctant to subject them to a meeting with yet another outsider. She said it couldn't be avoided. Pariente had to build a rapport with Mazzoli in the event any of the cases did go to trial. Paul said he understood, but it was clear he would have a difficult time making Mazzoli understand.
Pariente said he would be there by 9:30 AM the next day, and he'd need most of the day. He would be bringing an associate and two paralegals, and asked for the use of Paul's conference room when they were in Stanforth.
After hanging up from that call, Bev placed a call to Tim Peters. They chatted about the weather for a few minutes. As soon as politeness allowed, Bev said, “Tim, is there any way you can reign in some of the other lawyers? I think you and I could do business together, and believe me we appreciate your willingness to be accommodating on the litigation front. Nobody is ready to move forward with that. Unfortunately, some of the other attorneys seem to have other opinions. I think a couple of them are going to try to build a career on this claim. Simply put, that's not going to happen and you and I both know it.”
He didn't answer right away. Finally, he said, “I know. You're right. It would be much easier for everybody if they would all let me handle the claims. Frankly, I'd take your million-plus and tell my clients that's all there is. I don't see any point in putting the Mazzoli's in the poor house. Most of my clients are insured for their medical expenses. The ones who are from Stanforth understand the situation. I think most of them would be inclined not to be punitive. The ones who are giving us problems are people who were in the Prescott's party. Their family attorney is an ass and he's stirring the pot among the relatives.”
“Who is there to inherit the estate?”
“The bride's older brother has a kid who's three. Kid was with a babysitter in Cincinnati on the night of the fire.”
“Don't tell me, let me guess. The family attorney is the trustee.”
“Yup. He thinks he can make a big score.”
“Have you explained to him the reality of the situation?”
“I have tried, but he's a family lawyer. He does estates, wills, trusts and what not. He's seeing dollar signs to put into the trust, taking his cut, of course.”
“But there are people in the hospital who need the money more than the Prescott family. I'm sure they are well insured and have plenty of investments.”
“Well, the way I hear it the Prescott's were living in a financial house of cards. As I'm sure you've figured out by now, Dr. Prescott was a so-so surgeon. His malpractice carrier had paid a couple of big claims. He has a couple pending and at least two more that might make claims against the estate in the near future. Between his exorbitant insurance premiums and his dwindling clientèle due to the bad publicity, his estate is not what you would expect. Add to that a wife who liked to shop and a daughter who, together with her mother, was planning a wedding only slightly less grandiose than the marriage of Charles and Diana.”
“Whoa. Poor Dr. Prescott.”
“Literally.”
“Is the family attorney representing the Prescott family?”
“No. I am, but I can tell you the family attorney is my client and he's already showing signs of being seriously uncontrollable.”
“Who else is going to give me problems.”
“Couple of Prescott's relatives who survived and are in the burns unit are represented by Sid Carmichael.”
“I thought he was retired.”
“He is. Lives part time in Miami and part time in the Bahamas. Somebody who knew somebody called him and he decided to come out from retirement for this one.”
“This is not big enough for him.”
“I tried to tell him that when we spoke. He's digging around to see if he can come up with a bigger pot.”
“Such as?”
“Such as the fire department that didn't shut the restaurant down due to lack of smoke detectors. The people who installed all that old barn-wood, maybe. I don't know, the people who vented the kitchen causing the fire to flame when they opened the door. Have you ever worked with Sid before? He'll sue everybody who ever did any work on that restaurant, down to the the produce supplier.”
“I've come up against Sid a few times. He's a slimy bastard, but he's actually not a bad lawyer. Or, more accurately, he had a pretty good staff. You're right, he's very good at dragging in as many people as necessary to a lawsuit in order to have more pickets to get his hands into. I have to admit, in this case, that's not a bad idea ... except for the fact that I can't see that there's anybody at fault here other than the person who set the fire.”
Peters paused and then asked, with a casual tone that both of them knew was forced, “And who might that be?”
“You tell me.”
“You mean you haven't figured out yet that Denworth set the fire.”
“I'm not going to comment on my investigation. What do you know about Denworth?”
“Probably not much more than you do. My PI keeps tripping over Frank Rittenhaus, so I'm thinking we're both barking up the same tree. We think Denworth got out of the building. Can you comment on that? What do you know about the crime lab's intentions about identifying that last body?”
Bev chewed on her lip for a minute and then said, “My understanding is that the cops are going to identify that body as Donna Sonderland.”
“That's good. The Sonderland family has been up in arms about that. They'll be glad to get that out of the way.”
“You representing the Sonderlands also?”
“Yes.”
“Are you and Sid working together?”
He laughed, “Sid works alone. He only cooperates with other lawyers when he can be lead counsel.”
“You have a similar reputation.”
“So it would appear that you are dealing with two plaintiff's prima donnas and a few small fry who smell a big score.”
“Lucky me.”
“How much do you have to work with?”
“I think you already have a good idea about that. I will tell you, it isn't enough for you by yourself much less you and Sid. Never mind the local lawyers trying to score big; they worry me most. You and Sid know how to do the math. If you can bring in more parties to sit on my side of the table, fine. I don't think you're going to get far with that, but it could muddy the waters, which may help in the long run.”
“What about the agent who sold them such a paltry policy for the huge exposure.”
“You can try it, but I've seen the guy's file. It's clean. He has good documentation that year in and year out he recommended the Mazzolis buy higher limits and sprinkler the building. They refused. In fact, as you will no doubt know, they were paying a higher rate than they would have if they sprinklered the building, and the agent made them specifically sign an acknowledgment of that.”
“So we've got a lot of dead and badly hurt people and not much money to work with.”
“Unless Sid can get very creative very fast.”
“This is going to be a bitch.”
“Yep.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I'm still investigating the cause, remember?”
“Oh. I see.”
“I have very few actual demands on hand. I'm not going to th
row in my limits and walk away to let you guys pick my insureds' bones clean unless I have to. I'd rather get a global release.”
“I don't see how you're going to get that.”
“I'm thinking I can get it from a judge.”
“You going to file a dec action?”
“I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I'm still investigating the cause of the fire. I do know that things would go more smoothly if you and or Sid can reign in your pack of wolves and get them to listen to reason.”
“That won't be easy.”
“I understand, but I'm telling you I want to get a global release for the Mazzoli family.”
“I don't see that happening.”
“At least discuss it with your buddies.”
“How much are you prepared to put on the table.”
“I'm not putting anything on the table. As I told you, I'm still investigating. I'm simply telling you that if I do make an offer, in response to a global demand, it will be for a number that will be substantially less than any one of your clients want and way the hell less than all of them combined probably deserve.”
He laughed, “I never in my life thought I'd hear an adjuster say a thing like that.”
“Hear me. I'm not saying that the Mazzolis were negligent in any way. As a matter of fact, to be honest, I'd feel perfectly within my rights to deny all of the claims. As far as I know, the Mazzolis did not set the fire. They passed all their fire inspections. They passed their insurance inspections. Maybe they should have sprinklered the building. If it comes to that, I might consider putting some money on the table for that to avoid the cost of litigation, but by and large, the cause of the deaths and horrible injuries to the victims was the fire, that was evidently set by a waiter.
“I'll add one more thing in support of my contention that the Mazzoli's ran a clean shop. The restaurant had been open for fifty years, and they had one claim. A lady broke a tooth on an olive pit. That claim happened more than thirty years ago. They go through the olives and beans and anything else that could cause a similar injury by hand every day. These people were committed to the safety and comfort of their customers.”
“That will play well in front of a jury.”
“Don't get your hopes up. This will never see a jury, at least not while I'm still involved.”
“I hear your message. I'll see if I manage the expectations of my clients as well as the other attorneys.”
“Tell Sid this is not the Rockingham Hotel chain he's dealing with.”
“How much did you pay him for that one?”
“I'm not saying but I think I deserve an invitation to his house in the Bahamas. I pretty much paid for the damned thing.”
“I hear you.”
“Good. We understand each other.”
“Yes. We understand each other, and neither of us is making any admissions or waiving any rights or defenses.”
“Exactly.”
“Pleasure doing business with you, Bev.”
“I hope it stays that way.”
She reviewed her notes from her conversation and put them in her file. She decided to hold off on updating Pariente or Wentzel about that conversation. With luck, they'd never have to know. She checked in with her assistant who told her everything was under control back at the ranch. She not-so-respectfully told Bev to go out an solve the mystery of the fire, and leave her the hell alone. Bev said, “It's so nice to be loved by your staff.”
“Yeah, we do love you and we miss you. Get this one done so you can get back to business.”
“You got anything else hot for me?”
“Nothing you need to be concerned with right now.”
There were still a few hours before she'd have to pick up Emily at school. She decided to go for a bike ride to clear her mind and work the kinks out of her back. She rode hard and fast for more than an hour and managed to get to school just in time for Emily to call her on the phone to tell her she was staying after school to work on a science project and she'd get a ride home.
After the Fire Page 16