Authors: Larry D. Thompson
Samantha appeared at her dad’s office door, dressed in jeans, a long-sleeved shirt, and a leather jacket that she had hidden away rather than following Judge Nimitz’s order to discard her goth clothing all those months ago.
Luke turned from his computer and said, “So, do I have to report you to the judge for disobeying his order?”
“You can’t do that, Dad. You’re my lawyer, remember? I want to go for a ride.”
Luke knew that his daughter had very little happiness in her life these days, so he replied, “Sure, let me grab my keys. You want to go in the Camaro? I’m not sure you’re up to driving.”
“Nope.” Samantha shook her head. “I want to ride with you on the Harley.”
Luke raised his eyebrows. “Sam, this is a surprise. I thought you didn’t like motorcycles.”
“I didn’t, Dad, but now things are different. You know that movie
The Bucket List
? Riding a Harley is now on mine. But I’m not into skydiving and some of that other stuff that Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson did.”
“Sam, sit down for a minute. I promised you were going to be okay. You don’t need a bucket list.”
“Yeah, Dad, I know. You’re doing everything you can, but some of it’s out of your control.” Samantha walked around Luke’s desk, sat in his lap, and put her arms around his neck. “I’ve had a lot of time to think lately. Dad, we’re all going to die. I’ve got a lot I want to do with my life, but when my time comes, I’m willing to accept it. Meantime I might as well live a little, don’t you think?”
Luke fought back tears again as Samantha gave him a hug. “Now let’s go to the garage,” Samantha said. “I’m ready to be your old lady for the afternoon.”
Sue Ellen walked up the steps and entered the house without knocking. “Anybody home? Bright, young, well, not too young, but good-looking lawyer, here to apply for a job.”
Luke met her in the hallway and gave her a hug. “Welcome, beautiful associate. Sam’s asleep upstairs. Come on into the conference room.”
He sat at the end of the table, and Sue Ellen sat beside him to his left. Luke had a laptop already plugged in and the basic structure of discovery loaded.
“How’s Sam?” Sue Ellen asked.
Luke shrugged his shoulders. “About as well as could be expected. She sleeps a lot, and I keep forcing her to drink plenty of fluids. She’s more inclined to eating various soups now. I’m okay with that as long as I can get a couple of bowls down her a day.” Luke paused to control his emotions. “Clyde says she’s going to need to go to the hospital soon for constant care. She’s resisting. So am I, for that matter. I don’t want to have to visit Sam in the hospital while I work on her case. I’m working on a compromise with Clyde.”
“I’m sorry, Luke. I wish there was more I could do,” Sue Ellen said as she squeezed Luke’s hand. Luke nodded his appreciation, and she turned the talk to business. “Now, what are we doing?”
“Here’s the plan, subject, of course, to modification if we both agree. I’m getting a notice out for the deposition of Dr. Alfred Kingsbury, CEO of Ceventa. I’ll serve it as soon as they answer, which is in two weeks. I figure they’ll stall until the last day.”
“Wow! I like how you think. That ought to cause a few fireworks in Maryland. I seem to remember something about the rocket’s red glare up in that part of the country a while back. Any chance you’ll get to depose him?”
“Truthfully, I don’t know,” Luke replied. “Kinda depends on how it strikes Judge Nimitz. Win or lose on this one, they’ll know we’re serious.”
Sue Ellen pondered as she gazed out the window. “Then why don’t you let me argue this motion. I’ll take my leave of absence before the hearing. I’ve already cleared it with the DA. I just have to give him a few days’ notice. Chuck and I get along real well. He and the DA and I even go out to the Hofbrauhaus for a beer once in a while.”
“Well, if you can call him Chuck outside of the courthouse, then this motion is yours. As to discovery, we’ll draft some interrogatories and a request for production. Then a request for disclosure is standard. I want the names of the Ceventa employees who were in charge of the clinical trial, their job descriptions, etc. Let’s see, the names of the people at the FDA who worked on the project, the results of the trial, medical files on all of the subjects who participated in the trial, summaries of the results, and all communications between Ceventa and the FDA. Figure on seeing a big FedEx truck pull up if the judge lets us have all we ask for.”
“Maybe I can help there.” They turned to see Whizmo standing at the door.
“Hey, Whiz, I didn’t hear you come in,” Luke said. “What can you help with?”
“Remember, I’m not just a history professor. I also teach computer science on occasion. You just get that study on a few discs. Then you tell me what you want to find, and I’ll design a program to search all that data and spit out only what you want. Don’t need any FedEx truck when you’ve got Whizmo around.”
As two lawyers walked away from the bench, Judge Nimitz made some notes about his ruling on the case docket sheet and then called,
“Samantha Vaughan v. Vijay Challa, MD, and Ceventa Pharmaceutical.”
Metcalf and her two associates approached the bench, followed by Luke and Sue Ellen.
“Sue Ellen, are you lost? We don’t have a criminal docket this morning.”
Sue Ellen gave the judge her warmest smile and replied, “Judge, you know I don’t ever get lost in this courthouse. I’ve taken a leave of absence from John’s office for a couple of months. I’m associated with Mr. Vaughan on this case.”
“Morning, Luke. Well, you must be Ms. Metcalf.”
“Good morning, Judge. Audrey Katherine Metcalf, Michael Forsythe, and David St. James for Ceventa.”
“Welcome, Ms. Metcalf. I hope we can get off to a better start than the last time we talked. By the way, you’ll notice that Mr. Lorance is not here. He called Susie and said that since he didn’t have a dog in this fight, he wouldn’t make the drive from Austin. I’ve read the motions and your responses to discovery, Ms. Metcalf.”
“If I may, Judge Nimitz,” Metcalf interrupted, “I’d like to be heard.”
Nimitz put up his hand like a cop stopping traffic. “Not yet, Ms. Metcalf. You and I need to get something straight. You objected to every single one of Mr. Vaughan’s interrogatories and requests, and on top of that you waited the full thirty days to do so. I know what you’re doing, Ms. Metcalf. I see it from you big-firm lawyers from all over the state. Your clients pay you to fight about everything, nitpick about every word, stall, delay, you name it. I’ve seen it all, and I don’t like it one damn bit. You waited until the last day to file Ceventa’s answer and waited the full thirty days to object to Mr. Vaughan’s discovery. All of these damn objections were already in your computer. You could have just clicked a couple of times and sent them out.”
“Judge—”
“I’m not finished, Ms. Metcalf. All of your objections are denied. There might even be a few in there that I might have granted if you had acted professionally, but you didn’t. And we’re not about to delay the trial. You’ve got five days to fully respond to this discovery. You can redact names and personal information about the patients, nothing more. Is that clear?”
Metcalf had to bite her tongue to control her temper at the judicial ass-chewing, but she did so. No one noticed when she slipped her hand into her jacket pocket and retrieved a pink jelly bean before she spoke. “Yes, Judge Nimitz, it’s perfectly clear. We’ll have complete answers by next Monday.”
“No, Ms. Metcalf. That’s seven days. I didn’t say five business days. In fact, you have those answers in Mr. Vaughan’s hands by this Friday. Now, about this deposition of Dr. Kingsbury. Mr. Vaughan, why do you need his deposition?”
“I’d like to answer that, Judge,” Sue Ellen said. “He’s the CEO of the defendant. He knows more about the company than anyone else. He’s a scientist himself who undoubtedly had to give final approval to the submission of Exxacia to the FDA as a new drug. We can cover more bases with him in one day than we can in two weeks if we have to depose all of his managers. And remember, Judge Nimitz, Ceventa’s already wasted about six weeks of our ninety days.”
Judge Nimitz turned to Audrey Metcalf. “Now you may say something, Ms. Metcalf.”
“Thank you, Judge. First, let me hand you a brief we’ve prepared on this issue.” Forsythe passed a fifty-page brief up to the judge. “Judge, this is an attempt at an apex deposition. Over twenty years ago some enterprising plaintiff lawyer sued Walmart and wanted to depose Sam Walton. He even offered to go to Arkansas to do it. Walmart objected on the basis that Mr. Walton could hardly be expected to run his company if he had to sit for a deposition every time somebody slipped and fell in one of their stores. Our Supreme Court agreed and quashed the deposition. The situation is no different here. Dr. Kingsbury’s knowledge about Exxacia and the clinical trial can only be secondhand. Certainly he didn’t have any hands-on involvement in the drug. Let us respond to their discovery, and they can pick someone else to get the information from.”
Judge Nimitz leaned back in his chair, put his hands behind his head, and gazed up at the ceiling, saying nothing. Finally he leaned forward and folded his hands on the bench. “Ms. Metcalf. I’m going to grant your motion to quash at this time. If some of the other documents or witnesses show that Dr. Kingsbury has more than passing knowledge about this Exxacia drug, I’ll invite Mr. Vaughan to ask me to revisit the subject.”
Audrey Metcalf twirled on her heel and started to walk away.
“Just a minute, Ms. Metcalf. You heard what I said about your stalling tactics. I’ll consider sanctions if that happens again. Understood?”
“Yes, sir, it is. May we be excused?”
“You may. Luke, you and Sue Ellen have a good day. By the way, Luke, the district attorney will be mighty upset if you steal Sue Ellen on a permanent basis.”
“I know, Judge,” Luke replied. “I had to promise him it was only temporary.”
Dr. Hartman came down the stairs from his twice-weekly visit with Samantha and found Luke in his office.
“How’s she doing, Clyde?”
Dr. Hartman shook his head. “Not very good, Luke. The blood I had Mary draw yesterday shows her liver function still dropping. Now, we really need to put her in the hospital where she can be monitored twenty-four hours a day.”
Luke slowly turned his head from side to side, not rejecting the idea but responding to the gravity of the situation. “Have you talked to Sam about this?”
“Not yet. I wanted to talk to you first.”
Luke came from behind his desk. “Let’s go talk to her.”
They found Samantha asleep with Cocoa in her now almost constant position, lying beside Samantha, maintaining a vigil over her mistress.
“Sam,” Luke said quietly.
Samantha opened her eyes. “Hi, Dad. What’s Dr. Hartman doing back here? I thought he left.”
Luke sat on the bed and stroked Sam’s red hair. “Sam, Dr. Hartman thinks it would be better for you to go to the hospital now, where they have nurses who can check on you more often.”
Samantha pushed herself up to a sitting position. “No, Dad. I won’t go. I want to stay here with you. I’m helping with the lawsuit. That’s what’s keeping me going. I can’t do that from the hospital.” Samantha took a bottle of Gatorade from her nightstand and downed nearly half of it. “See, I’ll do my part here.” She paused and looked out the front window before turning to her dad and Dr. Hartman. “Besides, if I’m going to die, I want to be here with you and Cocoa.”
Luke coughed to get his voice under control. “Clyde, what about this? We’ll get Sam a hospital bed and set it up downstairs. I’ll have Mary move in and live in Sam’s room. She can take care of Sam when I’m not here.”
Dr. Hartman thought about the option and then nodded his head. “I suppose we can give it a try. I’d rather have her in the hospital. Still, if Sam won’t go, that’ll have to do. I’ll just plan to drop by here most evenings on the way home.”
Sam nodded her agreement and lay back down with one arm draped over Cocoa.
“Okay, Sam, I’m going to get on one side of you with Whiz on the other. Hold on to our arms and we’ll walk you slowly down the stairs.”
When they got to the bottom, Luke explained what he and Whiz had done. “We cleaned out the reception room where you worked. That furniture is now stacked out in the garage. They just brought your bed and got it set up in here. I’ve arranged it so that you have a view out to the front street when the curtains are open. Your pictures are still on the wall.”
Samantha sat on the edge of the bed and looked around. Her eyes drifted to a wheelchair in the corner. “I suppose I’m going to have to use that, huh?”
“Dr. Hartman said it would be better to save your strength,” Luke replied.
“Dad, where am I on that liver transplant list? Do I have a chance?”
“Yeah, baby, you do. Right now the problem is that you have a rare blood type and it’s harder to find a match.” Luke avoided mentioning that there was a major problem with money.
Then there was a knock at the door. All three looked to the street and saw a FedEx truck.
Luke opened the door to be greeted by a friendly delivery man wearing a FedEx shirt and shorts. Luke knew him from other deliveries over the years. “Howdy, Luke. How’s Sam doing?”
“As well as could be expected, Clarence. What do you have for me?”
“Package from Dallas. Looks like computer discs.” Clarence handed Luke a clipboard, and Luke signed the receipt. “You tell Sam to take care of herself.”
Luke returned to the house and retrieved a pocketknife from his desk to open the package. Inside he found eight discs. “What do you make of these, Whiz?”
Whiz looked at them. “Looks like a ton of data to me. Remember them saying it would take a truck to bring the study? Looks like they did decide to deliver by truck, only in a different form. Here, let me get on your computer.”
“Dad,” Samantha hollered from across the hall. “Come help me get in the wheelchair. I want to see, too.”
Luke went across the hall, helped Samantha to the wheelchair, and returned with her to find Whiz rummaging through the first disc. “I found answers to your interrogatories. I’m printing them now. If we print the rest of this stuff, it’ll fill your office and probably the hallway with paper.”
Luke walked over to the printer to retrieve the interrogatory answers. “What do you suggest?”
“Here’s what we’re going to do. Let’s burn another copy of these discs for me to take back to my apartment. Then you sit down and come up with some key words and phrases. I’ll design a program to search the data. We may have to refine it as we go along, but I guarantee it’ll be better than the old-fashioned way. I’ll probably call Brad to come over to help.”
Samantha’s eyes lit up at the mention of Brad’s name.
“How long, Whiz?”
“I may have to stay up all night, but I’ll have it for you in the morning. Then we’ll set up my computer along with Sam’s, Brad’s, and Sue Ellen’s in the conference room, and we’ll start downloading and printing.”
Luke nodded his agreement with the plan and turned to call Sue Ellen to join them at eight in the morning.
“Whiz,” Samantha said, “ask Brad to come by to say hello before you two settle down to work.”
“You got it, sweetie. Now I’ll bet it’s about time for you to take a nap. I’m out of here, Luke.”
By the time Luke had gotten Samantha into her bed, Sue Ellen was coming through the front door. “What have we got?”
Luke explained what they had received and what Whizmo intended to do. “I’ve printed off two sets of their answers to interrogatories. Let’s go out on the porch and study what they’ve given us.”
Luke went to the downstairs kitchen and returned with two glasses of iced tea and found Sue Ellen on the front porch already looking through the answers. He took another rocker and said, “By the way, I may have failed to mention it, but I just responded to their discovery. It was pretty standard stuff. Schools, doctors, hospital visits, etc. They’ll learn about her DUI conviction and her flunking out of A&M.”
“Not really a big deal in my opinion, when she’s dying because of what they did to her. Looks like our friend from Dallas did what the judge told her. These answers look pretty complete to me.”
Luke took a sip of his tea before he spoke. “Yeah, I think she knew she was on thin ice with Judge Nimitz. He would have sanctioned her if she pulled any more of that crap.”
“So now what do we do with this information?”
“We don’t have a lot of time. I’m still pissed that Nimitz wouldn’t let us depose Kingsbury. He’s out of subpoena range for trial, so I suppose we just have to scratch him as a possible witness. Let’s try to pick out the one person who can provide the most information.”
“Agreed. Then why don’t we forget about Ceventa employees and look for someone from the FDA who was involved in the process? Maybe he or she’ll be a little more honest about the trial.”
“Excellent idea,” Luke replied as he ran his finger down a list of names and titles. His finger went right by Ryan Sinclair, who would have been eager to come clean about what happened, and settled on Roger Boatwright. “Here’s our guy. Roger Boatwright is the director of CDER, the division that oversaw the clinical trial. Let’s go after him.”
“Sounds good to me. He ought to know as much as anyone in the agency.” Luke and Sue Ellen clicked their glasses in agreement, and the conversation turned to Samantha.
The notice to take the deposition of Roger Boatwright in Maryland went out on Friday.