Chapter 14

Sunday morning. I wake up and realize that I forgot to set my alarm clock. I have officially overslept and missed church. It had been a long time since I missed. I hit the bathroom, got dressed and let the dog out so that he could relieve himself. Breakfast was a simple bowl of cereal and coffee. It was a most forgettable day. Tessa didn't come over, Maureen didn't call, Ashlee texted me asking how things were going and that turned into a text conversation that last a few minutes, but again, nothing interesting happened.

Monday on the other hand was different. I called my lawyer and spoke to him about the meeting on Friday how I planned on having pictures of the family members posted in his conference room to help move things along in the negotiations and bring this whole thing to a tidy resolution. I am not going to do this for the money, but I do want these people to understand what was taken from me and hopefully get an official apology from each of them written on paper. I am not going to take everything from them, but I am going to get handwritten letters from each of them.

I found a good picture of each of my family members and had them blown up and printed on poster board ready for the meeting. I chose a picture of Samantha pre-baby wearing a dress she wore to one of my reunions. Her hair was done up with professionally applied makeup. She looked fabulous. The boys on the other hand, I had to look far and wide for a good photo of them. Almost everything I found of them was taken with a cell phone while participating at events or sitting on the floor opening gifts. This was tough. The more pictures I saw, the more memories came flooding back to me and the tougher it was to finish going through them.

I finally chose a picture of them taken at Bass Pro just before last year's Christmas. They had dressed for the occasion and looked so cute.

Before I was done, I also picked a photo of the entire family together. It was a picture that Krystal, our neighbor, had taken a few years ago. It was in black and white, but she had colorized our shirts since we had all worn red at the same time. A really good picture. This one was the last photo I had blown up. The collection would be very moving.

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday flew by with work and trying to get people to stay interested in technology and attend classes on a regular basis. Ashlee and I would eat lunch together chatting. We sometimes were joined by other people at school and on Thursday, we had 6 people around a table that could barely hold 4. Tight, but we got along. No worries.

Friday morning, get dressed and head to the lawyer's office. I walk in with my posters and his secretary greets me and helps me set them up in the conference room. Each one set so that no matter where you sit, you see them looking and smiling at you. I chit chat with the secretary while we wait for the others to arrive.

We didn't have to wait long. Four men walk in, the two lawyers I saw last week and two new men who can only be the owners of the tire place and the trucking company. The two lawyers saw me sitting in the office and they nudged their clients and pointed me out. They approached me and I stood to greet them.

"Mr. Johnson, thank you for meeting with us again. I think that we have come to agreement about what would be fair settlement for this sad event."

"Thank you. I am sure that my lawyer and I will be happy to hear your proposal."

The secretary showed us all into the conference room and the four new people were surprised when they saw the pictures that I had posted around the room. All of them looked the pictures over before sitting down at the table. I could tell that it got to them, which is what I was hoping for. I didn't want them comfortable, I wanted them to understand the gravity of the situation they were facing and if seeing the faces of my dead family would help them to come to terms with what has happened, and then so be it.

My lawyer finally came into the room and welcomed everyone and offered coffee, sodas or water and no one wanted anything. Then the meeting began.

Craig, my lawyer, sat next to me while the other four men sat opposite us. Rob Taylor, the tire company's lawyer, started first. "Are these your family members?" he asked pointing to the pictures I had posted.

"Yes they are. This is, or was, my wife Samantha." I said pointing at my wife's picture. "That photo of us was taken a couple of years ago as part of our Christmas card photo session we had. The two boys are David and Joshua. David is the older one. He was a Boy Scout and a quarter the way to being an eagle scout." I paused for a moment. Memories of our camping trips came rushing back to me. Our times spent in the woods with the other men cutting trees, building fires, cooking meals together. It just hit me.

"Joshua was my youngest and he just started Cub Scouts. I think he was going to follow his brother and try for his Eagle Scout as well when he got older. Both of them really enjoyed the scouting experience and it gave me a real chance to bond with them when we did scouting activities." I sighed. "I am not going to beat you up about what I am going to miss or what they are going to miss. I just wanted you to see the faces of the victims of this accident. To make it real that real people lost their lives."

I sat back down in my chair and was quiet. The men on the other side of the table squirmed a bit. I think that this may have struck home with them.

Jose Garcia, the trucking company lawyer, leaned in and spoke with his client, an older man with grey hair who sat up straight and looked like he was ready for anything. The two spoke for a bit and then Rob did the same thing to his client.

"Would you excuse us for a minute to talk?" Jose asked.

Craig and I accepted and we stepped out of the conference room.

"How do you think this is working out Craig?" I asked.

"I think that you made an impact with those photos. Those men are not comfortable sitting there with your family looking at them like that. I saw the man from the tire company really squirming when you did introductions. I think they are going to break and give you want you want out of them. I have a good feeling about this."

"Ya, I hope so. I would like to move on with my life and not have to deal with this much longer."

We stood around for a bit longer looking out the window and what not. Craig had pulled out his phone and checked it. I didn't ask, but I figure he was checking e-mail or text messages. "Be right back, have to make a call."

He stepped away while I took a seat in the lobby near his secretary who seems to be always on the phone dealing with this and that.

"Mr. Johnson, I think we have come to an agreement. Would you like to come back in?" It was Rob Taylor.

I looked up at him and nodded and followed him into the conference room and took my seat.

"Before we get to the heart of the matter, everyone here is very sorry for what happened. Let me just start off by saying that."

"Thank you" I said from my chair and let him continue.

"We understand how devastated you must be from the accident. We know that we can't bring your family back to you, but we hope that the offer we have come to will make it better for you."

Jose slid a piece of paper across the table to me and as I took it from him, Craig came back into the room and sat down next to me. "What did I miss?"

Jose spoke up first. "We were just telling your client how sad we all are about his loss and I just passed him our offer. We think that it will be much closer to what we think is fair."

Craig and I looked at the note.

Tire Company:

$1 million for your wife's death

$500 thousand for the loss of your children

Truck Company:

$1 million for your wife's death

$500 thousand for the loss of your children

"Is this your final offer?" Craig asked them.

"We think it is a very fair offer." Rob answered.

Craig looked at me, looking for a sign. I looked at him and made the slightest shake of my head and mouthed 'No' ever so slightly.

He turned back to the men across from us. "This is closer to what we were looking for, but the punitive damages that the courts are handing out against large companies who don't take the time to ensure that their work doesn't hurt others have been far greater than this. If we take this to court, the jury will not look favorably on your behavior and will most likely shut down both of your companies." Craig took a breath and a sip of water from the glass that he had in front of him. "You have come to us looking to settle this out of court. You have brought with you numbers that you think are fair for the damage that was done to my client. We are not going to take this further than this room. It would just take too much time and still not get to the heart of the matter. The actions of your companies have damaged my client's life and all he is asking for is this."

Craig took a slip of paper from his coat pocket and slid it across the table to the men. It contained what I wanted from these men. What I thought was fair and equitable.

They looked it over, passed it back and forth among themselves and the gentlemen from the trucking company spoke first. "My mother taught me from a young age to respect others stuff. She would make sure my dad knew about my mistakes and if need be, he would take me out to the woodshed. I hated that, but I learned my lesson and made sure that I didn't do the same thing twice. They are both gone now, but if they were here now, dad would take me out to the woodshed about what happened. I have insurance to cover this sort of situation so the money is not a problem. That I agree to. The letter, will take some time." He pursed his lips and stroked his chin. "I'll write it and get it to you fair and square."