A Class Action Read online

  “Myra honey, that ship’s already sailed. I’ve got a hypothetical question to ask you. What if a person orders a large item from out of state – something like a piece of furniture, like an armoire, and when it gets delivered she opens it up to find a dead body. Would she be in any trouble?”

  “I already told you I was busy today Peter, so let’s cut the crap. Which one of your idiot friends got stuck with a body? No, never mind… it has to be either Jack, Stuart or Vinnie, and I’d guess that the body’s already at Victor’s place, right? Okay. Your silence is enough of an answer. I’ll send a team out there to get it. And Peter…”

  “Yes my dear?”

  “Make sure that whichever of the three stooges is involved in this farce stays in town for a while, because we’ll have to get a full statement.”

  She always did have the ability to see right through me. I tell her she’s right about it being at Victor’s place, but don’t give her any more information, hiding behind the attorney-client privilege. She isn’t too happy with that, but must be just too busy to argue with me. I guess those exploding Suburban cases are giving her some problems. I’m glad Indovine took that one back, because it looks like it turned into a real hot potato.

  I’ve got some far out theories on the exploding Suburbans cases, but extensive investigation will probably be involved and my office would never authorize an expense like that on a case we don’t have anymore. I figure that Indovine will jump at the chance to spend some of Uniman’s money, so I call his office. I must be an important person, because this is the second time today that I call a big shot and get put right through.

  “Indovine here, what do you want Sharp?”

  I would have felt a lot more confident if he would have used my first name, but he took the call, and that’s the important thing.

  “Charles, I want to do some investigation on your Suburban class action case, and it’s going to cost some money. I’d like your authorization.”

  “Sharp, you’re no longer on that case. Our class action department has it, and they’re quite capable of doing their own investigation.”

  “Okay Charles. I know you’re a busy guy, so I’ll only say this once. Last time we had a discussion like this, you also turned me down. And if you remember, I wound up saving your client over a million bucks and at the same time made a schmuck out of you… which isn’t too hard to do when you pull one of your arrogant acts. Now listen to me. If I can show that the class action has no merit whatsoever, it’ll save your client a multi-million dollar settlement, and my investigation will cost a lot less than those assholes in your class action department wasted in buying and tearing apart that brand new Suburban. Furthermore, I’ll give you my word that if I save your client’s ass again this time, I’ll make it look like it was all your idea. Now all you have to do is say yes or no. I’m going to do the investigation anyway, and whoever’s dime it’s on will get all the credit. Do we have a deal?”

  After a few seconds of silence, I get what I expected – a grumbling acceptance.

  With Indovine now paying for the investigation I might be able to kill a couple of birds with one stone, one of which being the answers behind the I.R.S. company that sells cars to Stuart. If nothing else, they certainly are generous. No other dealer I’m aware of would include a free dead body with the purchase of a car.

  To keep things going smoothly, I advise Stuart to not say anything to his New ‘Joisy’ supplier, and to keep ordering vehicles as if nothing happened. Once Myra gets that body from Victor, I’ll make some deal with her to try and keep it out of the papers so that the New Jersey car company won’t know that an investigation is going on out here. I warn Stuart that on all future deliveries, he must make sure that each trunk is open and inspected before he accepts a vehicle. If another body turns up, we want it to be the car-carrier company who gets stuck with it before the car gets driven into Stuart’s garage.

  While I’m on the phone giving Stuart all his instructions, he lets me know that Vinnie and Olive finally confessed to the fact that Olive didn’t know how to drive when she accepted the armored truck job from him. He was still feeling guilty about those guns in the glove box that caused their arrest, so he accepted her apology and enrolled her in a real driving school. Maybe now I’m off the hook for promising to let her drive my Hummer.

  Also following my advice, Stuart doesn’t tell the dynamic duo that they were driving around with a dead body in the trunk. Olive had a bad experience with a cadaver being delivered to Victor’s place last year, and I don’t want to see her upset like that again. Stuart begs out of the conversation because another load of six cars is being delivered, and he intends to videotape the opening and inspection of each trunk.

  Jack B. came up with some new info about Joe Morgan. His bank account shows some deposits that exceed his salary at the dealership. Too many coincidences are popping up here. I hope that no one else starts connecting the dots, because it looks like Joe Morgan may be heading for a fall.

  It’s time that I found out more about the New Jersey company where Stuart gets his cars. Now that Indovine will be reimbursing our expenses, I send Jack B. to New Jersey. His assignment is to pretend like he owns a used car dealership in the San Fernando Valley and was referred to them by Stuart. I’ve already prepped Stuart to back up Jack’s cover story.

  Jack calls from the east coast to let me know that the car company returned his phone call and he’ll be meeting with a guy named Billy tomorrow afternoon. I tell him to check with New Jersey’s Motor Vehicle Records Department to try and locate the previous owners of the cars that Stuart purchased – especially the one in which the body was found. If he can get to interview an owner or two, he’s to find out the details about their cars: when they were stolen, who the insurance companies involved are, when they were paid off, and which police precinct they made their stolen vehicle report to.

  I want to see if there are any inconsistencies in the chain of information. A timeline is involved, and if anything is out of place, it should stick out like a sore thumb. Each owner should have made a stolen car report within twenty-four hours of the theft and they should also have collected their policy benefits from the insurance company thirty days later. After the insurance company recovers the cars, they should have records of sales to I.R.S., and if Stuart is the final customer, he should get the car no sooner than two weeks later – and that’s if everything is done as efficiently as possible. If any step along the way occurs before or after it’s supposed to, I’ll catch it.

  There’s plenty of action going on, but I’m not getting paid for any of it. Fortunately for my bank account, the kid’s Marina clientele is still active. Her stepfather was retained to represent the apartment building and slip owners in their actions against non-paying tenants. There are thousands of apartment and boat slip tenants, so legal action is usually required on a steady basis. The most common problem that occurs is when the owner of an old boat decides that he doesn’t want it anymore – usually about a year or so after its engine freezes up. They get tired of paying several hundred dollars a month slip rental for a junk boat that doesn’t even run, so they abandon it.

  The landlords have provisions in their slip rental agreements giving them the right to auction off any abandoned boat after judgment is obtained against the owner for non-payment of slip rent. The legal work is almost identical on every case. All Suzi has to do is change the name of the boat, the name of the defendant, the dates, and the amounts. The cases get filed with the court by mail, and the papers are sent out for service with either Jack Bibberman or the Marshal’s office. The only thing that an attorney like me is needed for is to provide a name and a State Bar membership number in the upper left hand corner of the complaints that get filed.

  I don’t have to do much other than front the kid’s law practice. It doesn’t pay a hell of a lot, but the Marina lets us park our boat in the slip and pays a minimum retainer, so we’ll always have a place to live.

  Jack
checks in from New Jersey. He’s done everything I asked him to do and he’s returning late this afternoon, so I make arrangements to have him picked up at the airport. Olive has her learner’s permit and she’s desperate for places to drive, so she and Vinnie will be at LAX when Jack’s plane lands. I’m looking forward to getting his reports, so they’ll all be stopping by for dinner on their way back from the airport. Stuart must have gotten a tip from the kid that the Asian boys are bringing Chinese food over tonight, so he’ll be here too… about the same time that the food gets delivered. Suzi’s already made arrangements for plenty of extra portions to be included in the delivery.

  While the Asian boys are spreading out the food, we’re all spreading out Jack’s reports. The boat’s a hub of activity, with ten people aboard. The dog is watching dog food commercials on television. Suzi grabs the remote and turns up the volume because she sees Myra on the screen.

  The reporter is interviewing her about an arrest that was made of a suspect in the double homicide caused by that exploding Suburban. It’s Joe Morgan. I knew he was going to get busted sooner or later, but I didn’t think it would be this soon.

  Myra was asked about any information they may have learned from Morgan as to his motive. Her answer was a surprise to all of us. “We haven’t interrogated Mister Morgan because he has counsel - the law firm of Charles Indovine, the same firm that represents the dealership where Mister Morgan is employed. They have informed this office that we are not to question him until his attorney is present. They intend to assign this criminal case to an associate of theirs, attorney Peter Sharp, who I’m sure you all know is familiar to this office.”

  It looks like I’m back in business. I had a hunch that Morgan was involved, but I didn’t think that Myra would go after him just because he’s a Muslim. I can’t imagine what else she has on him, but I’m sure I’ll find out soon enough. Rather than break protocol by calling her at home this evening, I think it best to meet at her office tomorrow morning. I want to play this one strictly by the book, because it may turn into a high-profile case.

  This meeting is the first one I’ve had here on a case since Myra got elected. I don’t know how much she knows, so instead of trying to convince her that my client is innocent, I decide to let her talk. A long time ago I was told that you can’t learn anything while you’re talking – only when you’re listening. Besides, I haven’t even had a chance to interview my client.

  Indovine called first thing this morning, assigned the case to me, and messengered over a retainer check for over ten thousand dollars, which is just the beginning on a case that might lead to the prosecutor going for the death penalty. Before the call got to me, the kid let him know about the investigation expenses, so that was added to the check too.

  Myra explains to me that Morgan was arrested for the usual reasons – motive, means, and opportunity, along with the fact that they found explosive devices in his house.

  I already knew about his capability and opportunity, but was curious as to what she considered to be his motive for these crimes.

  Myra explains that two of the owners of the vehicles have been customers at the dealership for over twenty years. During that period of time they were always bringing their cars in for service, and if there was a decision to be made as to whether or not a repair is covered by the factory warranty, it was always made by Joe Morgan.

  The owners admitted to a long-running scheme of bribing Morgan to make decisions to have the warranty cover many unauthorized repairs. After the successful prosecution of a warranty service manager in Orange County for running the same scheme, the car owners got scared and told Morgan they didn’t want any part of the plan – and that they’d pay for their repairs, rather then go to jail.

  The prosecution’s argument on motive is that Morgan wanted to scare them into realizing that they should keep on paying for him to authorize repairs. Each owner has agreed to testify.

  “Okay, I can see where you’ve got something to hang your hat on for the first two non-lethal explosions, but how’s your office planning to tie in the third explosion - the one that killed the two women? That vehicle was owned by the dealership, not the general manager. He didn’t have to pay for repairs, so he couldn’t have been involved in a bribery scheme with my client.”

  Myra admits that I have a point there, but she promises that her office is working on another angle with the general manager – some other reason why Morgan wanted to scare him too.

  “Fine, but if you admit that all he wanted to do is scare these people, then I won’t expect you to be looking to stick a needle in his arm.”

  She tells me that the results of the investigation aren’t in yet, so no decision has been made on whether they’ll be going for the death penalty.

  I have only one more question to ask her, and I think I already know the answer to it. “Just one more thing, Myra, what turned you on to Morgan in the first place?”

  She tells me that they received an anonymous tip from an informant. Just what I thought. Criminal defense attorneys have been dealing with the prosecution’s confidential informants and anonymous tipsters since the judicial system was created. Judges are very cooperative with prosecutors, so defense attorneys find it almost impossible to discover the identity of a confidential informant. Actually, that might be a good thing, but we all know that it’s terribly misused too often. There are countless times when police don’t really have good enough probable cause to break in somewhere, so they might ‘drop their own dime’ and phone in an anonymous tip that they then get to act upon.

  Confidential informants are usually criminals who’ve made some deal with the prosecution to get their own cases or sentences reduced in some way, so they’re not that reliable. Too many stories about lying jailhouse snitches have been exposed. True, there’s the rare undercover police agent who must be protected, but it’s too rare to consider.

  I think that this case falls into the category of misdirection - a type of case where the real culprit makes an anonymous tip to lead the authorities away from him and instead to a more convenient suspect who the police can then hang a case on. But it doesn’t make any difference now, other than to confirm a theory of mine. I did get some information out of her today, but most of it was the bad news. The good news isn’t what she told me – it was what she didn’t tell me. Her office obviously has no idea that Joe is a Muslim.

  I’ve got a lot of questions to ask my new criminal client, so while I’m downtown I might as well stop in to say hello.

  The County’s new twin tower facility is not a fun place to visit. When Joe Morgan is brought into the attorney interview room I introduce myself and we sit down to go over some of the things that Myra told me.

  After about a half hour of conversation, I come to the conclusion that this guy did not plant those bombs and had no intention of killing anyone. It’s rare to find an innocent criminal client, but when you do, they’re not too difficult to spot.

  We discuss the bribe accusation, and he readily admits to it, but claims that when those two owners decided to stop paying, he was happy with their decision. It had been going on long enough, and he felt that pushing it any further might result in his getting caught and the loss of his job. Evidently there’s some bad blood between the dealership’s general manager and his assistant, and if the assistant gets fired, Joe thought he might have been in line for a promotion.

  This conflicts with what I was told, but I haven’t had a chance to talk to those owners yet, and I’m sure that their feelings about Joe wanting to scare them were merely the result of aggressive questioning by the D.A.’s investigator. Once I get them on the witness stand, I’m sure they’ll fold like a deck of cards.

  Another thing that I’m curious about is why he removed that picture from the wall in his service bay.

  “Mister Sharp, everyone knows I was a Navy Seal. I’m proud of it. It’s just that after those first two Suburbans exploded, I figured that it wouldn’t be too smart to advertis
e the fact that I was trained in how to use explosives, so I took the picture down in case some strangers came snooping around.”

  I’m convinced he’s innocent of the murder charge. I keep going over the facts All the way back to the Marina, but all I can see him guilty of is some larceny of the manufacturer’s money by authorizing warranty repairs to those owners’ vehicles over the years – certainly not murder or trying to scare anyone.

  The explosive devices they found in his house were some things he claims to have been putting together for a fourth of July fireworks display, not to murder someone. The matter of his religion didn’t come up in the conversation. He didn’t ask me about my religious preference, so I didn’t ask him about his.

  The District Attorney didn’t go for a grand jury indictment in Joe’s case, so he’ll be arraigned in the municipal court next week and a date will be set for his preliminary hearing.

  In most cases, time is a criminal defense’s ally, because there’s always the possibility that prosecution witnesses will be hard to locate and forget things. In this case, Joe agrees that we shouldn’t waive any time. The prosecution doesn’t have that strong of a case and we don’t want to give them a lot of time to try and make it stronger.

  Back at the boat, I make out a full report for Indovine’s office. He tells me that I shouldn’t spare any expense on this case, because clearing Morgan will also be clearing the dealership. That’ll leave only the automobile manufacturer holding the bag for any design defect, and since Uniman is his client, and not the manufacturer, Indovine doesn’t care what happens to GM.

  They still don’t get it. They probably will never get it. This may only become a class action because two law firms want it to be a class action. The legal fees for a class action plaintiff’s firm can be astronomical, and the defense will also wind up with seven figures by the time it’s all over. This part of the system stinks - and I’m a part of it - a sworn officer of the court. It makes me sick to see the way some of these firms play the system like a jukebox. But who am I to complain? I’ve already accepted a ten thousand dollar retainer, and if this case goes to trial, my fee will probably be more than five times that amount. I guess I’m no different than the rest of them; I take the money and keep my mouth shut. But if everything goes okay, sometimes I try to minimize the large amounts that the others try to extort out of the system and their deep pocket clients.