Chapter 46: Money Matters

Wednesday, October 19, 1983

We’d been practicing hard trying to get ‘Pride and Prejudice’ ready, and Steffie called a break today. Rehearsals were going quite well, all things considered. As everyone had expected, Jess was a fast learner and very motivated. She was going to be one heck of an act to follow, and I was the one who had to do the most following.

Most likely she was going to make me look good, rather than the other way around, but then everyone’s goal was to make everyone else look good, anyway. One for all, and all for one.

While we were hanging out and chatting, I received a note from the office. It was from Mom, and asked me to call between classes.

I checked with Steffie and got permission to use the phone in the little office area she and Meg shared.

When I got her, Mom said, “Steve, thanks for calling back so quickly. Can you come right home after school?”

“I can. What’s up?” I said, perhaps sounding a little worried.

“Oh, nothing bad. It’s good! Mr. Lancaster called and said there’s a solid settlement offer and he felt that it was good enough to share with everyone. We have to accept it — well, or not, but either way. Dad wanted you to be the one to actually decide, so I wanted to let him know whether you’d be here.”

“I can be there. They want to meet at the house?”

“That’s what he said,” Mom said, sounding a little amused.

“Okay. I’ll be there. I assume Jasmine should come along, too?”

“Definitely. I’m going to call Camille and see if she wants to be there. I bet she will.”

“Me, too!” I said. “I’ll go tell Jas. And Angie, for that matter, and Paige...”

She chuckled. “Paige is invited, too, if she wants to, I’m sure.”

“Thanks, Mom!”

Paige, as it turned out, wanted to join us. Imagine that!

Debate went slowly, but the drive home went quickly, with all of us speculating at the outcome. I had to guess that a settlement offer he would drive out to deliver in person would be a good one. Still, it didn’t behoove any of us to act like we’d won the lottery when we didn’t even know what the offer was.

When we got there, Mr. Lancaster was sitting at the dining room table, along with Dad, Mom, and Camille. We hugged everyone (except for Mr. Lancaster, who had to make do with handshakes) and got seated. Mom had already put out the extra chairs.

“Well,” Mr. Lancaster said, “I want to preface this by saying that I’ve seldom seen a case take a turn like this one. We were going to win no matter what, but the settlement is much higher than I’d expected it would be until about two weeks ago.”

“That sounds like good news,” I said. Everyone else nodded agreement.

“I’m not sure if you’ve heard the story,” he said, looking at Camille.

“Jasmine told me enough,” she said.

“As you all know, then,” he said, then watched everyone nod, “Things went a bit haywire at the deposition. I gave them a one-week ultimatum. That’s not uncommon. Most lawyers won’t actually stick to them, and they know that. I would have — and they probably knew that — but even then, my taking action would’ve just upped the ante a bit. We’d still be months away from a trial, and they’d slow-walk any trial.”

“But they didn’t,” Mom said.

“No. I’m pretty sure that his insurance company was not pleased. His statement was under oath, it’s admissible with the right string of questioning, and you would be an extremely sympathetic witness after the press coverage you’ve received.”

Everyone nodded.

“So...?” Dad said.

Mr. Lancaster smiled. “Overall, the total settlement is much larger than I originally expected. We went back and forth a few times with the other side, and eventually settled on $90,000. Your share of it, after attorney fees, is $60,000.”

There were gasps at that. There should be — that was most likely nearly two years of Dad’s salary. I’d never been completely sure what he was making in 1983, but simple math told me that.

“Jasmine’s settlement is much smaller: $7,500 for pain, suffering, and missing the tournament in Austin. That’s $5,000 after attorney’s fees.”

Camille nodded, but still looked pleased. Jas did, too.

“If you accept...”

We were both nodding.

“I have the paperwork here, and we can sign the agreement and get everything moving. I’m going to step outside for a few minutes so you can discuss it amongst yourselves.”

He did. There was very little discussion, really. I said, “I’m more than pleased with that,” and Jasmine said, “Me, too,” and that was about it. Camille was happy, while Mom and Dad were thrilled for me, if still indignant about Mr. McBride.

We signed the papers. Of course, they precluded us from disclosing the terms of the settlement and his statements at the deposition.

Mr. Lancaster assured us that we should receive our checks within a week, and that was that.

There were lots more hugs when he left, and a general mood of celebration, which led to us deciding to go out to Steak and Ale (with Francis meeting us there). No ale was consumed, but we all had some champagne. I was pretty sure it wasn’t quite up to Camille and Francis’s standards, but it was good enough for me and Mom and Dad seemed to like it.

We didn’t have much, of course. It would be ridiculously ironic to get drunk, and later in trouble, while celebrating a legal victory in a drunk driving case!

I pulled Dad aside briefly when we got home.

“I’d like to work with an investment adviser as well as a lawyer. Until I’m eighteen, I can’t do much with this — although, of course, you can sign off for me — but that will help get things in order. Also, I’ll probably need a tax accountant, just to make sure I don’t mess up my income taxes inadvertently. I mean, not with the settlement itself, but anything I do with the money.”

“That all makes sense,” Dad said. “I’ll sign whatever paperwork you need, of course, but I’d like you to handle it yourself as much as you can. That’s ... that’s a lot of money, and I’d be worried with most teenagers, but if we trust you to go where you want and do what you want, I can trust you to manage it well.” He chuckled a bit, then said, “It helps that you’ve got a plan, though.”

“It does,” I said, smiling. Of course, my plan was much bigger than Dad knew, but this would get several things in motion.

I headed to my room after talking to Dad. No time like the present to get a head start on finding a lawyer!

My first call was to Lewis Mayrink, Dave’s dad. Fortunately, he was already home. It took him a few minutes to come to the phone, but the wait wasn’t bad.

The phone crackled as he picked it up, and then Lewis said, “Steve! It’s been too long! How are you?”

“Great, sir. Busy, but great.”

“Call me Lewis. You’re certainly entitled to it! I read the article about you. Well, three of them, actually. Quite something! Dave is doing great. I know that’s all him, but I still think you had a lot to do with it. If nothing else, simply by giving him an example.”

“Whatever I did, I’m happy to have done. I saw Dave at Westwood, and he and Adam did great. I’m not sure if I’m looking forward to competing against him.”

“I’d love to watch that round! Anyway, I’m sure you didn’t call just to catch up on that.”

“Nope. I called because I need a recommendation.”

“I don’t do criminal law!” he said, chuckling.

“Thankfully, I don’t need that kind of lawyer! I — well, technically my dad, but Dad put me in charge of it — just settled a liability case. A drunk driver smashed my car, then punched me in the face. It was quite something.”

“Sounds like it!”

“The settlement is sizable enough that I’d like to put someone on retainer as I work through some of the things I want to do with it. Someone who’s good at tax law, commercial law, investments, that sort of thing. I’ve got some plans in that area. It’s not a lot by commercial standards, and I won’t be eighteen for another six months, so I’m a bit hamstrung there, but someone sharp but up-and-coming, who’d be willing to work on the basis of a non-refundable retainer — to get around my ability to void a contract — would be ideal. I’ll probably also need a tax accountant, but I have someone else to ask there, though if my lawyer had someone he worked with, that might be ideal.”

“Let me ... hmm ... I have a few...” I could hear him start rummaging around.

He continued, saying, “Okay. I’ll start off by saying it’s not going to be our firm. Call me back when you’ve got about a million in sales; that’s our low end.”

I chuckled, then replied, “I knew that already.”

“Good! You’re ahead of a lot of the calls we get. Okay ... so ... I’ve got three potential references for you.”

He gave me three names with phone numbers. One was a colleague’s son, just a couple of years out of law school and on his own. The second was a friend’s son in a very similar situation. The third was a guy who’d made it to junior partner at Lewis’s law firm but then decided to head off on his own.