Post by Exildo Wonsetler Briggs III on Jul 9, 2008 7:49:40 GMT -6
This is a quick weekend read and another in a long line of legal thrillers by John Grisham. Personally, I was a bit disappointed but it's still worth a read.
The story involves a gazillionaire who ran a chemical plant in a small town where people began dying of cancer (wow . . . I'm sure Grisham stayed up all night thinking this up!). The water became contaminated (allegedly, of course!) from the poisonous chemicals illegally dumped in order to save money. The chemical plant had long-since closed down and moved to Mexico. It was years later that folks began dying.
One brave lady decided to fight the company after her young child died. A big lawsuit was filed and over the ensuring years fighting it the small husband and wife law team nearly went bankrupt due to the costs of the lawsuit. The small local bank had loaned them hundreds of thousands of dollars that they were unable to pay back in a timely fashion, creating other problems for the lawyers.
At trial, the chemical company was hit with a total $41 million dollar verdict. Not good for the company as their stock went to shit and the owner lost a billion dollars in one day of trading. Bummer.
Well of COURSE there was an appeal and the law firm, in hock over their head, began doing slip-and-falls to make a buck here. a buck there. Meanwhile, the owner of the chemical plant bought up the local bank and SURPRISE - called the loan. He wasn't going to let two backwoods lawyers get him . . .
The state (Mississippi) Supreme Court would here the appeal. Trouble was, the court was plaintiff friendly and would likely uphold the verdict 5-4. The owner couldn't have that, now could he? He targets a particularly Liberal judge with a smear campaign in order to get his boy elected Judge, a special hoo-hum lawyer with conservative credentials that would make Ronald Reagan look like John Kerry. Naturally, this pisses off the liberal judge, who wasn't even aware at first that anyone would run against her. Dumb ass.
The election was a hard fought contest, as the plaintiff's bar came out in full force to support the liberal judge. Who would win? The results of the Appeal of the verdict would be decided by this election.
(IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS, STOP HERE!!
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OK. . . . so imagine you wins the election? Obviously, the Chemical Company owners hand-picked boy does, the liberal judge is out on her ass. The verdict comes up for appeal and it's OVERTURNED with prejudice, meaning it can't be heard again. The gazillionaire meanwhile had been buying up his cheap-ass stock and after the verdict was overtuned, was sitting pretty.
End of story.
I was like, WTF?? Grisham spent significant time developing this tension between the Chemical plant owner and everyone else. Much of the story is about how he intends to take over one spot on the Court to get the vote. They guy makes JR Ewing of Dallas fame seem like snow white . . . you get to the point you want to kill the asshole who obviously cares nothing about anyone else but himself and sees the deaths of the folks from his chemical plant as a minor "byproduct" of his fame and glory.
You're just WAITING for the ass to get nailed, when if fact he wins the Appeal and WHAM, the story ends. You don't even find out exactly how the law firm husband and wife team ultimately fair, though they declare bankruptcy and move on. All this tension goes down the drain . . .
It seemed like Grisham at one point just said, "OK, I'm tired of writing this. Let's end it here . . . "
It's still a good book, but the ending truly sucks.
The story involves a gazillionaire who ran a chemical plant in a small town where people began dying of cancer (wow . . . I'm sure Grisham stayed up all night thinking this up!). The water became contaminated (allegedly, of course!) from the poisonous chemicals illegally dumped in order to save money. The chemical plant had long-since closed down and moved to Mexico. It was years later that folks began dying.
One brave lady decided to fight the company after her young child died. A big lawsuit was filed and over the ensuring years fighting it the small husband and wife law team nearly went bankrupt due to the costs of the lawsuit. The small local bank had loaned them hundreds of thousands of dollars that they were unable to pay back in a timely fashion, creating other problems for the lawyers.
At trial, the chemical company was hit with a total $41 million dollar verdict. Not good for the company as their stock went to shit and the owner lost a billion dollars in one day of trading. Bummer.
Well of COURSE there was an appeal and the law firm, in hock over their head, began doing slip-and-falls to make a buck here. a buck there. Meanwhile, the owner of the chemical plant bought up the local bank and SURPRISE - called the loan. He wasn't going to let two backwoods lawyers get him . . .
The state (Mississippi) Supreme Court would here the appeal. Trouble was, the court was plaintiff friendly and would likely uphold the verdict 5-4. The owner couldn't have that, now could he? He targets a particularly Liberal judge with a smear campaign in order to get his boy elected Judge, a special hoo-hum lawyer with conservative credentials that would make Ronald Reagan look like John Kerry. Naturally, this pisses off the liberal judge, who wasn't even aware at first that anyone would run against her. Dumb ass.
The election was a hard fought contest, as the plaintiff's bar came out in full force to support the liberal judge. Who would win? The results of the Appeal of the verdict would be decided by this election.
(IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS, STOP HERE!!
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
OK. . . . so imagine you wins the election? Obviously, the Chemical Company owners hand-picked boy does, the liberal judge is out on her ass. The verdict comes up for appeal and it's OVERTURNED with prejudice, meaning it can't be heard again. The gazillionaire meanwhile had been buying up his cheap-ass stock and after the verdict was overtuned, was sitting pretty.
End of story.
I was like, WTF?? Grisham spent significant time developing this tension between the Chemical plant owner and everyone else. Much of the story is about how he intends to take over one spot on the Court to get the vote. They guy makes JR Ewing of Dallas fame seem like snow white . . . you get to the point you want to kill the asshole who obviously cares nothing about anyone else but himself and sees the deaths of the folks from his chemical plant as a minor "byproduct" of his fame and glory.
You're just WAITING for the ass to get nailed, when if fact he wins the Appeal and WHAM, the story ends. You don't even find out exactly how the law firm husband and wife team ultimately fair, though they declare bankruptcy and move on. All this tension goes down the drain . . .
It seemed like Grisham at one point just said, "OK, I'm tired of writing this. Let's end it here . . . "
It's still a good book, but the ending truly sucks.
