by L. J. Taylor
“I object to the taking of any testimony from this witness your Honor. This hearing was not noticed as an evidentiary hearing and we had no notice whatsoever that it would be,” she said.
Judge Jacobs looked sternly at Weisman. “She’s correct, Counselor. This is not an evidentiary hearing and I will not entertain any testimony from any witnesses at this juncture. I have reviewed the motion papers and have a few questions. That’s the only reason I set this oral argument. My first question is the basis for defendants’ argument that information pertaining to the assignment Mr. Wilkes was working on at the time of the accident is confidential. My second question is whether the interests of national security can be served through less drastic means than precluding the discovery altogether. I’ll start with counsel for the defendants first.”
Stewart Weisman walked up to the podium located in between and a few feet in front of counsels’ tables. “To address the first question, your Honor, we have submitted the affidavit of Mr. Donald Peachtree in which he testified that Peachtree Consulting is a government defense contractor that performs operations for the U.S. Government all over the world, many of which are highly classified. He and Mr. Wilkes have submitted affidavits stating that, at the time of the accident, Mr. Wilkes was engaged in duly authorized business of the company. In fact, he was engaged in a highly classified operation at the government’s request. We brought Mr. Bradford here to testify that the U.S. government has an interest in protecting the information sought in some of the very broad ranging discovery served by the Plaintiff in the interests of national security. The dissemination of this highly classified information to the general public would be detrimental to national security interests. With respect to the second question - whether lesser relief would serve the same purpose – we submit that it would not. A confidentiality order, no matter how restrictive, would still tend to place highly confidential information in the hands of persons without the necessary clearance to be read in.”
Judge Jacobs’ face was impassive when he turned to Kathy. She couldn’t tell whether he had been swayed by Weisman’s arguments or not. “Ms. Brooks, any response?”
“Yes, your Honor.” She stood up and headed to the podium. Weisman stepped aside and took his seat.
“First,” she said, ticking the arguments off on her fingers, “although counsel mentioned the words “national security” several times during his argument, nowhere in the affidavits submitted by the defendants in support of their motion does it state that Mr. Wilkes was engaged in a mission vital to national security at the time of the accident. In fact, neither his nor Mr. Peachtree’s affidavit states that he was working on a highly classified matter at the time of the accident. The only indication we have of that is argument of counsel, and, as we all know, argument of counsel is not evidence.”
She turned to look at Weisman and watched as his lips thinned. She then turned back to address the judge. “Second, as your Honor pointed out, any reference to the possible testimony of the assistant U.S. attorney today is improper and cannot be used as evidence.”
Judge Jacobs turned to his computer and tapped a few keys. “The defendants’ affidavits do state that Peachtree Consulting is a defense contractor for the U.S. government and that the information sought by Plaintiff in its discovery is classified. In light of that, and the fact that the defendants are willing to enter into a stipulation that Mr. Wilkes was engaged in authorized company business at the time of the accident, I’m inclined to grant the motion for protective order.”
Damn. The judge was about to grant Peachtree’s motion. She had no choice but to go to her fallback position and ask for less drastic measures even though she knew Charles would not be happy.
“Your honor, even if the Court believes that Peachtree has met its burden of proof, there are less drastic means of safeguarding the information than precluding its production altogether such as the entry of a confidentiality order.” Kathy made the mistake of looking at Charles after she made that last argument. If looks could kill, she would certainly be dead. Didn’t he understand she was fighting for their lives here? Oh well, she’d just have to deal with him later.
Judge Jacobs nodded. He picked up his gavel and rapped it. “Having reviewed the motion papers and heard the arguments of counsel, I have come to a decision. The Motion for Protective Order will be granted, in part, as follows. The discovery shall be produced subject to a confidentiality order. Those documents and information designated by the defendants as highly confidential shall be produced for ‘attorney’s eyes only.’ If there is no other business, the Court is recessed.” He rapped his gavel again, set it down and stood up.
“All rise,” the bailiff called out.
Everyone in the courtroom rose to their feet. Voices erupted as soon as the door to the Judge’s chambers had closed behind him. Reporters raced out of the courtroom - presumably to get to their cell phones and call their editors since only attorneys were allowed to bring such devices into the building.
Kathy returned to the table to face a furious looking Charles. When he opened his mouth, she held up a hand to cut him off. “Not here,” she said, quietly. “And fix your face. There are a million cameras around here. Remember?”
He gave her a grim nod before standing up and heading out of the courtroom. Kathy turned to look at Weisman. She had expected for him to look smug with his little victory, but he was busy talking to his client who looked as furious as Charles did. She followed Charles out of the courtroom.
***
The next day, Charles met his father for lunch at the Grand Bay Hotel. They sat at a corner table where they could have a little bit of privacy. His father dove into his lobster with gusto. Charles narrowed his eyes. “Are you supposed to be eating that?”
His father looked as guilty as a schoolboy caught with his hand in the cookie jar. He held an index finger up to his mouth. “Sssh,” he said. “Don’t tell your mother.” He looked around furtively, as if half expecting his wife to show up any moment and catch him eating the shellfish.
Charles laughed. “Dad, that’s the stuff that gave you gout in the first place. Shouldn’t you give it a rest?”
“Shouldn’t a man be able to eat what he wants to? If I let them keep me from eating my favorite foods, then what’s next? Anyway, we’re not here to talk about me. I invited you out to lunch to find out how you’re doing. I’ve been following the press coverage on your case. You didn’t look too happy on the cameras there, son. How’s that law firm we recommended working out?”
“They’re doing a very good job actually. The lawyer they’ve assigned to my case is pretty sharp and good on her feet.”
“I saw her on the news. She’s good with the press and she’s not bad-looking either.”
“Don’t let Mom find out you’re checking out my attorney.”
His father laughed. “I won’t tell if you don’t, son. So, if the law firm is doing a good job, why are you so unhappy?”
“It’s not the law firm I have a problem with or even how the case is going. It’s working within the confines of civil litigation,” Charles said.
His father looked at him curiously. “In what way?”
Charles swore under his breath. He could have kicked himself for that last statement. He hadn’t told his father about his ultimate plan for Peachtree Consulting. As far as his father was concerned, this was just a wrongful death lawsuit and nothing more. He didn’t want his father to worry about him like he used to do when Charles was in the Corps. But his father was a very astute man and, now that he’d mentioned the confines of civil litigation, he’d have to come clean.
“Well, Dad, my sources tell me that Peachtree’s operative killed Patti and our baby while playing James Bond for the C.I.A. which had no authority to hire Peachtree to conduct operations on U.S. soil in the first place. I’m not in this for the money. I won’t be satisfied with just winning the lawsuit either. I’m not going to be happy until Peachtree loses all of its government contra
cts and goes out of business,” he said.
Charles Morgan, Sr. put down his fork and took a good look at his son. “I don’t need to tell you that you’ve chosen a very dangerous path. Defense contractors like Peachtree are filled with ex-spooks and mercs. They won’t hesitate to take you out if they perceive you to be a threat.” Charles opened his mouth to speak, but closed it when his father held up a hand.
“I’m not finished. I know how much you want to get those bastards. I do too. Don’t forget I lost my daughter-in-law and my future grandchild in that accident. That’s why I was behind you a hundred percent when you said you wanted to sue them. But I don’t want to lose you too. I couldn’t bear that, son.”
Guilt and love for his father warred with Charles’ burning need for revenge. He didn’t want his father to worry about him, but he had to do what he had to do. The big man would just have to understand that. “Look Dad, you know me. I can’t just walk away from this and I don’t appreciate you asking me to. Those bastards have to pay for what they took away from me. A verdict – even a large one – would be nothing more than a drop in the bucket for Peachtree. Their operative was engaged in illegal operations on behalf of the C.I.A. when he rammed his car into Patti’s. I’m going to use the lawsuit to expose them for what they really are.”
Charles Morgan, Sr. leaned forward in his seat, reached across the table, and gripped Charles’ hand. “I know that when you set your mind to something, son, nothing can change it. But have you considered the consequences of putting this plan into action? If you expose an illegal government operation, you’re not only exposing Peachtree but also the government agency that hired the company. That means you’ll not only piss off Peachtree but also the C.I.A. If they even get wind of your intent, they will not hesitate to put your sorry black ass out of commission,” he said
Charles pulled his hand out from under his father’s and sighed. His father had never understood him and never would. “I do understand. You’re just going to have to accept the fact that I have to do this and trust that I have a plan to address that contingency.”
“How exactly do you plan to address it?”
“Once the information is out in the public domain, the damage will have already been done. Taking me out then wouldn’t be a smart move as Peachtree and the C.I.A. would be the most obvious suspects. Plus, they’ll most likely be facing an investigation,” Charles said.
His father sagged back into his chair and stared at him open-mouthed. “That’s your plan? Are you crazy? What’s to stop them from waiting a few months when the public forgets about the case and the investigation is over? Don’t you think they’ll want revenge? What’s your plan for that?”
Charles shrugged. “I’ll handle that like I would any threat if and when the time comes.”
Charles Morgan Sr. shook his head. “No. I am not going to stand by while you go and get yourself killed thinking you can take on the world. Do you hear me? Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some plans of my own to make.” He stood up, threw his napkin onto the table, and walked out of the restaurant.
Charles sighed. He’d just wanted to spend a little time with his father and maybe pick his brain a little about the case. He hadn’t intended to scare the man half to death. Guilt rose within him as he replayed the conversation in his head. A small sliver of doubt about his plan began to rise as well. He hadn’t told his father everything. He couldn’t be sure who was listening.
He looked around the large dining room of the restaurant. It was mostly filled with business men and women wearing expensive suits while they wined and dined clients. The rest of the clientele was the leisurely set one tends to see in Miami during the day – retirees, tourists and young women who either didn’t have to work or who worked at night. No-one seemed out of place. No-one appeared to be watching him either. But a good surveillance team wouldn’t make its presence known unless it wanted to.
Feeling exposed, he got up, dropped some money onto the table and left the restaurant.
CHAPTER V
Kathy sat at the conference room table and looked over her outline one last time. She then picked up her Blackberry and tried to put a dent in the barrage of e-mail she’d received that morning. They were nowhere near trial yet, but, nonetheless, Charles’ case was consuming the lion’s share of her time. If she wasn’t careful, she’d drop a ball or two. She couldn’t allow that to happen.
In response to the court’s ruling, Peachtree Consulting had decided to play hardball. They set Charles for deposition and tried to bury Kathy in paper. Fifty-five boxes of documents had come in. Jim and Kathy had worked for days reviewing them and they still hadn’t made a dent. Kathy needed to assign an associate to the case. She hoped Charles would be okay with that.
There was a knock at the conference room door. Kathy looked up to see Annette leading Charles into the room. His eyes met hers. Her pulse jumped. What was this? Whatever it was, it needed to stop. The last thing she needed was to be this attracted to her client. It would only serve to distract her from the task at hand. She couldn’t afford that.
Charles smiled at her. She smiled back, uncrossed her legs, stood up and held out her hand to shake his. He clasped it warmly. “Good morning, Counselor.”
“Good morning Charles. Please have a seat.” Kathy extracted her hand from his and turned to look at Annette, who stood there, smiling. “Thank you, Annette. Please hold all of my calls for the next few hours.”
“Okay. Give me a call if you need anything. I’ve already arranged for lunch to be brought in.” Annette continued to stand there.
“Okay. I will.” Kathy caught Annette’s eye and jerked her head a little toward the door. Annette cleared her throat and left.
Kathy turned to Charles who sat at the conference room table with an amused expression on his face. She raised her eyebrows. “You’d better watch out for my secretary. She’s quite taken with you.”
Charles grinned and shrugged. “I sometimes have that effect on women.”
“I bet,” she said. “Can I offer you some coffee before we get started?”
“I’ll get it,” he said. He got up and headed over to the credenza. “Do you want some tea while I’m up here?”
Kathy smiled. His question reminded her of something her father used to say about how it would be nice for her to find a “special friend” to make her a nice cup of tea from time to time. Well here was a man offering to do just that and he was off limits.
Why were all the good ones unattainable? They were either married, about to get married or, in this case, untouchable. If only they could have met under different circumstances. It would have been interesting to see just how far it would go. Of course, he’d probably end up being a liar and a cheat like all the other men in her life.
“Yes, I’d like a cup. I just need some hot water. I have my teabag and my sweetener right here,” she said.
She watched as he put two cups into saucers, poured out his coffee and her hot water and grabbed spoons and napkins. He placed her cup in front of her and took his seat. She made her tea. He took a sip of his coffee.
“So,” she said, “I asked you to come in this morning for two reasons. One, defendants have set a date for your deposition and we have to get you ready for that. Two, defendants have produced documents and interrogatory answers in response to the discovery we served on them. Unfortunately, -.”
He put down his coffee cup and sat upright in his chair. “They produced documents and answered the interrogatories? What did they say?”
She held up a hand to ward him off. “As I was saying, unfortunately, they’ve designated every single one of the interrogatory answers and the documents they produced as being highly confidential. That means they’re ‘attorney’s eyes only’ and I can’t show them to you or tell you what they say.”
Charles’ hands balled into fists. “That’s ridiculous! You mean to tell me that every single one of those interrogatory answers and every page of those documents contains highl
y classified information? Come on.”
Kathy shrugged. “I agree. It’s utterly ridiculous for them to have designated all of the discovery responses as being highly confidential. We intend to challenge that. I’ve read the interrogatory answers. They’re so vague and evasive that nothing in them could possibly raise national security concerns. Jim and I have gone through ten of the fifty boxes of documents they produced and, so far, we’ve yet to see a single document raising national security implications.”
“The old bury them in paper trick.” Charles blew out a breath and slumped back into his chair. “This would go so much faster if I could help you look through those documents.”
“I don’t doubt it,” Kathy said. “But look, they’ve played this trick on the wrong law firm. We’re used to dealing with large volumes of discovery. We’ve already scanned and loaded the documents into a document database program and made them fully searchable. Jim and I can log onto the system, access the documents on our laptops and review them anytime from anywhere.”
Charles perked up a little. “Well at least that’s something. So, how long will it take for you and Jim to finish reviewing those documents and for us to make our next move?”
Kathy grimaced. “It’s slow going with just the two of us. It’s going to take us at least another week just to get our arms around what they’ve given us so that we can complain about what they haven’t. Jim is preparing a chart of the types of documents we have and what we can tell is missing. But he needs more direction from an attorney and, at my hourly rate, it’s just not feasible. With your permission, I’d like to bring on an associate to help out. She’d be able to focus on the project and do it at a lower hourly rate.”
He waved a hand. “I told you money wasn’t a problem. Do whatever you have to do.”
She smiled. “Let’s hope you remember this conversation when you get our bill.”
He returned her smile. “I’m more likely to remember it in the event we win.”