Noah's Law (8 page)

All this was swimming in my head when I approached Casey with the bundles of
stapled not paperclipped
documents and asked, ‘Can I sit in on the settlement conference?'

She let out a long sigh. ‘Noah, I really don't have time. If you want a mentor, there's John. God knows he doesn't have my workload. I'm sure he wouldn't mind you tagging along after him.'

‘I won't be
tagging along
. I'll be watching. There's a difference.'

Just then my aunt emerged from her office. ‘Oh, hello there, Casey, Noah. Good news, Casey! The Mallesons finally agreed to the deed of release we proposed.'

‘Well it's about time. Congratulations.'

‘George sent through a bottle of champagne. He's so happy.'

Casey somehow managed to convey her excitement with a tight-lipped smile. ‘That's great,' she said.

Aunt Nirvine was obviously keen to launch into a long conversation but Casey swiftly cut her off.

‘I've got the White settlement conference in an hour and I need to prepare for it. Let's chat this afternoon.'

‘Oh sure, no problem,' Aunt Nirvine said. ‘Are you attending, Noah? The dynamics of settlement conferences can be fascinating.'

‘Do you mind if I do?'

Got you!

I didn't look at Casey but I swear I could feel the heat of her glare on the side of my face. Oh well, too bad.

‘Of course I don't mind. Casey, is that okay with you?'

‘Fine,' she muttered. ‘Now if you'll excuse me I have work to do.'

I spent the next fifty minutes working on John's task. It was pretty tedious and I couldn't help but torture myself by thinking of all the other kids my age, including Amit, who were enjoying their holiday.

As I was working Jacinta popped in, plonking herself down on the chair in front of me.

‘I know my subjects for semester one. Torts with Ian Maklin, who is apparently the best lecturer on campus, and History and Philosophy of Law with Diane Chapman. The campus is amazing. Beautiful old sandstone buildings. Green lawns. I'm so excited! I'm going to join the swimming team too. I'm a fantastic swimmer.'

Jacinta in a swimsuit. I quickly tried to block the image; I hadn't mastered the art of thinking one thing (Jacinta diving into a pool) while looking like I was thinking about something else (the excellent education Jacinta would receive and how happy I should be for her, blah blah).

Casey came by to collect me at five to one. Bernie was with her. He smiled when he saw me.

‘Hello, matey,' he said. ‘Good to see you again.'

‘Hey,' I said, smiling back.

‘Come on, let's get moving,' Casey said in a brisk tone and I followed them to the conference room at the end of the corridor. It was bright and spacious with a long oval table in the centre. A jug of water and a row of glasses were arranged on it.

‘You sit at the end,' Casey said to me. ‘Bernie, you sit here beside me. I'll just go to reception and collect the other side. Please remember, Bernie, don't speak unless I tell you to. It's important that the lawyers maintain control of the conference to ensure nothing unnecessary is said. As for you, Noah, don't speak at all. In fact, to derive some use out of your presence I wouldn't mind if you took notes for me. Here's a notepad and pen.' She dropped them in front of me and turned her attention back to Bernie. ‘Do you have any questions before I let them in?'

‘Nah, I'm right. It should be straightforward, like you said, yeah? I mean, we've got this Rodney guy's statement admitting his guilt, so they don't have a leg to stand on, yeah?'

‘Well, yes, I don't expect he can retract his position given he categorically accepts liability. Anyway, don't worry. Leave it to me. That's what I'm here for.'

She walked out and Bernie leaned back in his chair and let out a heavy sigh.

‘I tell you, matey, I just hate all this. Nothing's simple anymore. Casey's a top-notch lawyer and she knows her stuff, but lawyers in general, they complicate things. I mean, me wife was murdered, right? Her employer admits they didn't have proper safety standards. So case closed. Maureen would have got some compo for that, only she
died
. So why do we have to go through all these meetings and court hearings and conferences? I'll tell you why: so they can get their fees and build bigger houses for themselves. It all comes back to money.'

I wasn't sure if that was altogether true. Sure, my dad loves money and buying expensive things, but I think he'd be happy as a lawyer even if he wasn't earning big bucks. He loves the law. To him, High Court judgments are as good as a thriller.

‘I saw the pictures and stuff of what happened to your wife. It's awful.'

‘Thanks, mate. Let's just hope I win the case.'

Casey walked in, followed by Mr Humphries, the lawyer who had appeared in court the other day, and a tall, broad-chested man with wiry brown hair and sky-blue eyes. Casey motioned for them to take a seat across the table from us.

‘This is my client, Bernie White. This is Noah, who is on work experience with us.'

‘I'm Jeff Humphries and this is my client, Rodney Marks.'

‘Yeah, g'day,' Bernie said roughly, as he shook their hands.

Jeff and Rodney sat down. I watched Rodney closely. He looked like he was going to wet his dacks. He was fidgeting in his seat, his eyes darting around the room.

‘Your claims officer isn't attending?' Casey asked Jeff, as she poured herself a glass of water.

‘Ah, no. But she'll be available on the phone for me to take her instructions.'

‘Well that's good to hear or this would have been a waste of time. Here's a copy of our position paper. It's the same paper I served on you last night only this one has the annexures attached. I haven't received anything from you.'

‘Yes, sorry about that. Here's our paper.'

‘How do you propose to conduct this conference?' Casey asked as she put the position paper to the side. Without letting Jeff respond, she continued, ‘I don't see any point in us rehashing our cases in great detail. We're not here to run a hearing. Perhaps if we just quickly summarise our respective positions we can get on with the purpose of today, which is to arrive at a settlement of this matter.'

From what I'd heard around the office so far, settlement was the best result on a case. Going to court was expensive so coming up with an agreement to pay without getting to the courtroom was what all the lawyers hoped for. I wanted to sit in to see how it all worked. It'd be one big bargaining fight over how much to pay. Like haggling at the markets except this wasn't about getting the best price for a leather jacket. It was Bernie's life. It was about making sure that the guys responsible didn't get away with Maureen's death.

‘That sounds reasonable to me,' Jeff said, as though he had a choice.

‘Okay,' Casey said, shuffling the papers in front of her. ‘Our position is basically this: the deceased expired as a consequence of your client's negligent system of work, which has been admitted by your client. Had she survived the attack, she would have had a case in negligence against your client and, we maintain, would have been entitled to recover damages accordingly. My client is the surviving spouse of the deceased. He has been unemployed for the past ten years having suffered a workplace injury that rendered him permanently incapacitated. He was dependent upon his wife's earnings. He therefore claims the loss of expectation of benefit had the deceased not died and continued working, damages for pain and suffering, his wife's funeral expenses and costs to date.'

Here we go again, I thought. Why did lawyers do that? Instead of using simple sentences, they spoke in long paragraphs and used formal, idiotic phrases (Maureen had expired?! It's not like she was a can of tomatoes with a use-by date.) They acted like we all understood them when really they were just talking to show off to themselves that they'd memorised a textbook. I wasn't being biased; my dad was living proof (
Noah, pursuant to the rules of this household, I would be much obliged if you could extricate your dirty laundry from the bathroom floor forthwith
).

I was trying to take notes but Casey spoke fast – and for all the sense her words made to me she may as well have been speaking Pig Latin in Danish. Even Bernie looked baffled – and it was his case! As for Rodney, I think Casey lost him after ‘O
ur position is basically this
'.

Luckily, Rodney jumped in.

‘Er, sorry, but I haven't got a clue what you just said so my lawyer here is going to have to translate.'

I coughed back a laugh.

Jeff looked slightly mortified. I guessed Rodney had also copped the ‘keep your mouth shut unless I tell you to speak' lecture.

Jeff cleared his throat. Maybe he was uncomfortable at having to present Bernie's case.

‘Well, Rodney—'

‘It's okay,' Casey interrupted. ‘I can simplify things for you, Mr Marks. Maureen died because you, her employer, failed to provide a safe system of work. If she had survived the robbery she would have been able to sue you. But she didn't. So that leaves Bernie here to sue you in her place. He deserves any compensation she would have received from you. Plus Maureen supported him after he was injured at work, so you also need to pay him out for losing her support. Plus some compensation for his pain and suffering, his wife's funeral expenses and his legal costs. That's our case in a nutshell.'

Well why the bloody hell didn't she say that from the start?!

Rodney grimaced but managed a quick nod.

Jeff then launched into his own monologue. ‘I acknowledge that Mr Marks has admitted that his company maintained an unsafe workplace environment.'

‘Yeah, I admit it,' Rodney Marks said in a gruff voice. ‘Now can we just get this over and done with?'

Jeff looked appalled at Rodney's second interruption and flashed Rodney a silencing glare. ‘Leave this to me,' he said quietly but Rodney wouldn't be silenced.

‘I'm sick of this. We're here today to settle. I'm not going to drag this on any longer. I've got a business to run and I've wasted too much time and money on this so far. Yeah, okay, we stuffed up and I'm real sorry for your loss, mate. Now let's stop the talking and start getting into figures so we can wrap this up and we never have to see each other again. You can get on with your life and I can get on with mine.'

‘Me wife's dead,' Bernie said. ‘I ain't getting on with me life any time soon.'

‘Yeah, well, like I said, I'm sorry. Let's just get it all sorted out once and for all.'

‘It's not as simple as that,' Jeff said through gritted teeth. ‘There is an insurer involved and my insurer client is not convinced that the unfortunate accident was entirely the fault of Jenkins Storage World. There is evidence to suggest that the deceased contributed to her death—'

‘WHAT?' Bernie yelled.

‘Hell!' Rodney cried. ‘We've been through this a dozen times, Jeff ! You drag up all that contribution nonsense and we'll be seeing this case through the courts and it won't be over for another year! I know what happens with these cases. They drag on and on and businesses buckle under the pressure. My insurer doesn't know what they're on about! They're clutching at—'

‘Excuse me, Casey,' Jeff said, cutting Rodney off. ‘I need to speak privately with my client.'

‘Certainly,' Casey said, rising from her chair. ‘Call me on extension 869 when you're ready to resume.'

Bernie and I followed Casey out of the room and back into her office. We sat down in front of her desk. She walked over to the window. Her jet black hair glistened in the sunlight. She folded her arms across her chest and frowned. Turning to us, she said, ‘Well, that was an unexpected development.'

‘What the hell is going on?' Bernie demanded. ‘Whatever happened to
straightforward
? We have a confession. Even that Rodney guy is sitting there saying his insurer is coming up with some bogus story. They're trying to screw me over. And what the hell does he mean about Maureen being responsible for her own death?! So now she's supposed to have smashed her head in?'

Casey drummed her fingers against her arms. ‘I'm not sure what this is about, Bernie. This is the first I've heard of it. They must have obtained independent evidence since the last time we met. Evidence to suggest that Maureen was somehow to blame.' Noticing the blood rushing into Bernie's already hot cheeks she quickly added, ‘I'm sure the allegation is without merit. They're desperate. It's a large sum of money to simply hand over without a fight. They wouldn't be too happy with Rodney's admission.'

I was confused all over again.

‘Are there two clients?' I asked. ‘I thought Rodney was the client. Isn't he the employer?'

‘Employers have insurers to cover them for these kinds of cases. So the insurer is the one paying Bernie, not Rodney. The insurer runs the case. It's quite complicated and I don't have time to give you a lesson in it. We have a bit of a problem now, Bernie.'

‘Pigs!'

‘I'm not sure what to make of all this.'

‘Wouldn't it all be set out in their position paper?' I offered.

Casey flashed a menacing look at me but before she had a chance to say anything, Bernie cut in.

‘Yeah, maybe their so-called evidence is in there.'

Casey cleared her throat and reached for the position paper on her desk. ‘I was just about to go through it.'

Yeah, right.

She read the paper silently. Bernie was sitting on the edge of his seat, his right leg jiggling up and down nervously. After several minutes Casey looked up.

‘They have a statement from a former employee who says he saw Maureen asking the manager on duty that day if it was safe to take the money. The manager allegedly told her that if she didn't feel comfortable she could wait half an hour until his shift was finished and he'd accompany her. Apparently Maureen declined the offer, saying she didn't want to be home late as she had to make it to a gym class.'