Chapter 7

Frank was a hard worker and with his marriage ending he became even more of a hard worker. He was anxious to get to the courtroom and do his thing with a jury in convincing them to make sizeable awards to his clients. He did have a few cases that had the potential of large verdicts.

The people in his office had in some way been made aware of Frank’s situation. No one said anything to Frank about that but he could see by how they acted they were in his corner and supported him. He mentally thanked them for their support.

In the years that Frank had been practicing law, he had observed several trends that were occurring. One of these trends was the increase in the amount a jury would award in a death claim or serious injury. There were significant increases in these awards but the problem with that was that the amount of liability insurance the average automobile owner had did not keep pace with these increases which made collecting those large verdict amounts almost impossible.

Initially, Frank had some success in going after insurance companies for acting in bad faith on behalf of their insured in handling injury claims, but the insurance companies had wised up and given their employees the needed training to avoid that from happening. That caused Frank to determine what was the purpose or the reason the defendant was driving the car. This was an attempt to try and establish an agency situation between the driver and his employer. Establishing an agency relationship with a large corporation would give Frank a big pockets defendant to collect the verdict from.

Frank’s social life as it pertained to women on a scale of one to ten was now a zero. Some friends wanted to set Frank up with blind dates but he was reluctant to do that. He wanted through his efforts alone be able to meet women. Specifically, the right woman for him, but how to do that currently eluded him. There were women he met in the course of doing his work that interested him but he didn’t have the nerve or the opportunity to ask them out. It would have to be the right situation where he would be comfortable asking a woman out on a date. If he was as smart as people said he was he should be able to figure out how to go about doing that.

Currently, Frank was involved in trying a case. His client was a young widow who had one child, a four-year-old boy. Her husband was riding his motorcycle and was killed when a sales representative for a paint manufacturer who was on his way to call on a customer made a left turn in front of him. This man was killed as he was thrown from his motorcycle. The facts of the accident were confirmed by two witnesses and were not in question. It boiled down to what was the death of this twenty-nine-year-old married man and father of a four-year-old child worth.

Representing one of the defendants was Linda Fenger a very competent defense attorney. Not only was she a good attorney, but she was also in Frank’s opinion a classy lady. He knew that she was single and she had a way about her that Frank admired. He would like to take her out to dinner and get to know her better but he didn’t know how to go about doing that, especially with them being on opposing sides.

The judge on this trial was Kathleen Callahan. She too was attractive and competent. He would also like to date her, but then again he had no idea how to go about doing that.

When the trial was concluded for the day and the jury dismissed, the judge asked all the attorneys to meet with her in her chambers. Once they all were there she went over the proposed jury instructions and stated the time limits she would give the attorneys on closing arguments.

There were no problems with what the judge said. The attorneys were leaving her chambers when Kathleen asked Frank to stay for a minute.

After everyone but Frank had left she said, “I am sorry to hear about your divorce. How are you doing?”

“I am doing okay but it’s hard to adjust to being single.”

‘I know how you feel.”

Frank knew that the Judge herself had divorced about two years ago. He had nothing to lose so he thought he would give it a shot.

“Your honor, I know you are divorced yourself and I also know with you being a judge on this trial you need to be impartial. What I don’t know is if you are involved with anyone. That being the case would you consider going out to dinner with me after this trial is over.”

“Frank you know that asking me that while a trial is going on is completely improper.”

Hearing her response was a disappointment and she was taking him to the woodshed for asking her out on a date. Oh well, he thought, he gave it the old college try.

With a smile on her face, she said, “You can ask me that when the trial is over. Here is a card that has my phone number on it.”

“Yes your honor,” he said and left her chambers with a smile on his face and a little bit of a bounce in his step.

He now knew good things can happen if he isn’t hesitant to ask. He started wondering about Kathleen and while she was a judge she was also a woman. He definitely would be asking her out to dinner when the trial was over.

In giving his closing argument the next day Frank discussed the facts of the accident which were not in question. He pointed out that the defendant said he was coming from one sales call and was on his way to make another sales call when he made this left turn in from of the motorcycle that resulted in the death of the driver. The defendant therefore was acting as an agent for his employer and they are both responsible for the accident. Frank said that there was nothing that the plaintiff, now deceased could have done to avoid the accident. He asked the jury to put themselves in the place of the widow and to award a sum they thought would be fair for the death of her husband. He hit hard that this wife was now a widow and this young boy had no father.

He finished by thanking the jury for their service and said he knows they will do what is right.