DAY 71
Laura looked at the plaintiffs. There were forty seven AK's, four BK's, three upper arm amputations, six Simes, six hip disarticulates, and three hemipelvectomies. There were three on the list who would never see the courtroom. These were represented by their estate. They had taken their lives. Laura's eyes filled with tears. Many of these seventy-two, in fact well over half, were unnecessary amputations. Which ones, nobody knew for sure, nor was there any way to tell. And were it known, there were more out there, at least double that number. One thing, none of the seventy-two had any signs of cancer and blood tests had been such that only five had any chemo, all of them short regimens. They were "cured" by surgery, something very unlikely. If anyone had looked at the numbers it would have been obvious something was amiss.
The courtroom was full. Sam had filed the seventy-two plaintiffs together, all had agreed to the joint representation. The suit was filed against seventeen defendants. They included Dr. Abdul, General, Memorial, Drs. Davis, Klemek, Morris, Wilt, Samis, Jackson, Merris, and Raver. Also filed as defendants were two HMO's, three insurance companies, and a managed care organization. Three malpractice firms were also represented. Each had a legal team of at least two in the courtroom. In all, there were over fifty lawyers in the courtroom. The usually spacious-looking room was crowded with tables and people. Terri Jackson, Mike Lamb, Lois Marks and Jack Hurn were seated with Sam. It was four young lawyers and the lawyer who was esteemed by his peers only for his integrity against the array of corporate big guns. Jack Hurn did the arithmetic, thirteen to one. And that was counting only the front line. He remembered the theme of the Marines, "the few, the proud". He also knew that his alternative to this assignment was unemployment.
When he realized the size of the case Sam called the two largest Personal Injury law firms in town and met together with Mark Frig and Dave Ellis. He explained the case and his position. He was one person, with a small staff. He expected to face twenty defense attorneys. He could use the help. He would prefer to work with "home town" people. Would either Frig or Ellis want to participate? Both agreed. It took them twenty minutes to iron out the deal. Frig and Ellis would each give two people plus staff time. Sam would set strategy and control the case. His office would keep sixty percent of the fee. The others would get twenty each. Sam expected to have to drive a hard bargain to keep half. And they agreed to have Sam lead any follow-up litigation on the same basis. He later learned that the four lawyers they offered were not Frig and Ellis partner material. Neither of them considered this a likely win and wanted to commit minimal resources, to cash in if Sam won and to not risk much if he lost.
The session opened, there were many defense motions to dismiss and eighteen to excuse various of the defendants. They took over two hours to hear and all were denied. Judge Sylvia Rolls asked if the parties had tried for a settlement. All responded that they had, all offers had failed. The judge called in the first thirty jurors. Fifteen were excused because they knew someone involved or had worked for a party in the action. The judge called for thirty more and seventeen were excused. On the third call thirty-five were left.
At ten fifty the judge called a fifteen-minute recess to the jury selection. Seventeen were left. By lunch the pool had been reduced to twelve. By three thirty after calling thirty more potential jurors there were sixteen jurors. Judge Sylvia set opening arguments for nine the next morning.
DAY 74
When court opened at nine seven of the defense attorneys were on their feet. Judge Sylvia began taking motions. By the time they were handled six jurors were eliminated. It took till nearly eleven to qualify and seat enough replacements to have twelve plus the six alternates the judge decided were needed. The judge was about to call a short recess. She looked over at Sam. "Mr. Stitt. You have been uncustomary silent. Are you planning to challenge the whole jury in one motion when we come back?"
"No your honor. I like the jury my colleagues have picked. I could not have done better." Ten objections were made to his comment. It took over eight minutes to dispose of them. All centered around Sam tainting the jury by implying that the defense was trying to manipulate the jury selection. All objections were overruled. The judge continued.
