(Rudy is reading from a letter) On seven prior occasions we have denied your claim in writing. We now deny it for the eighth and final time. You must be stupid, stupid, stupid. Sincerely…Everett Lufkin, vice-president of Claims.
-Are you in over your head, son?
-Absolutely.
-Objection. Your honor, he’s leading the witness.
-This is cross-examination. Leading is allowed. Overruled, as to
leading.
1) I want to talk about your will. 2)I want to cut my children out. Cut, cut, cut.
1)All that legal gobbledegook. I suppose you want your name in the will? 2)Of course not. 1)Lawyers always want their names in. 2)There are all kinds of lawyers. But I do need to know where the money is.
Is it in bonds, stocks, cash? 1)Rudy, not so fast. 2)Okay, ma’am. So we have this money, somewhere…Who do we leave it to? 1)I want it all to go to the Reverend Kenneth Chandler. Do you know him? He’s on television, out of Dallas. He’s got curly grey hair, premature.He wouldn’t dream of touching it up. I want him to have the money.
1)How did your employment end? 2)I was fired. 1)You did not resign? 2)No, I was fired. 1)Approach the witness? This letter says you quit for personal reasons. 2)The letter is a lie. I was fired so they could claim I no longer worked there. 1)Would you point out the man who made you write this letter? 2)Jack Underhall. He told me I was leaving immediately, and I had two choices: I could call it a firing and leave with nothing, or I could write the letter – and the company would give me $10,000 in cash to keep quiet. I had to make that decision right there, in his presence. 1)Go on. 2)I took the cash and I signed a letter saying I would never discuss my files with anybody.
1)Including the Black file? 2)Specifically the Black file. 1)So you knew that that claim should have been paid? 2)Everybody knew. The company was playing the odds. 1)What odds? 2)The odds that the insured would not consult a lawyer.
1)How many policies did Great Benefit have in effect in the year 1995?
2)I don’t know. But let’s see. 1)Does the figure 98,000 sound correct?
2)Maybe. That could be right. 1)Thank you. Now, of these policies, how many claims were filed? 2)I don’t know. 1)Does the figure of 11,400 sound correct to you? 2)That’s about right, but I’d have to verify it, of course. 1) But the information is in that book? 2)Yes.
1)Can you tell us, of the over 11,000 claims filed, how many were denied? 2)No, that would take more time. 3)You’ve had two months. Answer him. 2)Well, I don’t think…9,141. 1)11,462 filed…9,141 denied.
1)I hate Great Benefit and most of the worms that work there. 2)
Was Mr Lufkin a worm when you were sleeping with him?
1)I think it’s appropriate to start with the corporate designee, Jack Underhall. 2)I don’t think so. 1)I beg your pardon? 2)I wanted to start with Jackie Lemanczyk, the claims handler. 1)It’s best we start with Mr Underhall. 2)It’s my deposition, I’ll call the witnesses in the order in which I see fit. I’d like to start with Jackie Lemanczyk.
Maybe we should just call the judge.
1)I’m curious. 2)About what? 1)I’m just wondering, do you even remember when you first sold out? 2)You’re an arrogant little pissant, aren’t you? I advise you to mind your manners. 1)Mind my manners? I come from Memphis to depose four people, two of whom are not here, and you tell me to mind my manners? 2)It’s your dime. What’s your call, son? 1)I’m going to depose Mr Lufkin, then I’m going to go back to Memphis
1)It was a difficult time for me personally. I was under a lot of stress. We’d denied this claim seven times before. I was trying to be emphatic. I snapped. I regret having written it and I apologise. 2)Isn’t it a little late for an apology? 1)Maybe. 2)Maybe? The boy is dead, isn’t he? 1)Yes.
1)Mr Porter, I want to ask you a direct question. I’d appreciate an honest response. 2)Ask an honest question, I’ll give you an honest answer. 1)Fair enough. Did you or did you not have a phone conversation a few days ago with Rudy Baylor? 2)Hell, no. 1)I thought you’d give me an honest answer. Are you sure? 2)I’m damn sure! 1)This is a courthouse of the United States! I say you did not provide an honest answer. 2)Don’t call me a liar! 1)You are a liar!
1)Rudy Baylor, please. 2)This is Rudy Baylor. 1)This is Billy Porter. You stopped by the shop today. 2)Thank you for calling back. 1)What do you want? 2)It’s about the trial you got a jury summons for. I’m one of the lawyers. 1)Is this legal? 2)Of course, just don’t tell anybody. My client’s son died of leukaemia because Great Benefit wouldn’t pay. 1)That sounds awful. I had an aunt who had that same disease…I’ll do what I can. 2)Thank you, Mr Porter. Have a fine day.
1)Rudy, I’m just checking in. You need anything from downtown? 2) Guess who wants to settle. Dot Black. 1)Dot Black! 2)I went over today with a fruitcake. She said she just doesn’t have the willpower to withstand a long trial. 1)How much? 2)She’d take 175,000. 1)I think we should take it. 2)We’ll sleep on it. See you tomorrow. 1)I say we take it. 2)I’ll think about it.
1)Russell Krokit. Anybody in the room named Russell Krokit? 2)He’s gone, too. Downsized. 1)What a coincidence. 2)My client’s going through downsizing. 1)How about Everett Lufkin? Has he been downsized, too? No, he’s here. 2)You’re Everett Lufkin? My congratulations, Mr Lufkin…on your survival of the carnage of late here at Great Benefit.
1)That is a report from Great Benefit’s own medical committee, which you chaired. Would you please read from line 18? 2)’Since bone marrow transplants have become standard procedure, we would be financially justified in investing in bone marrow clinics.’
1)The Black file was assigned to you? 2)Yes, that’s correct. The initial claim was sent to me. Pursuant to company policy, I sent her a denial. 1)Why? 2)Why? Because all claims were initially denied. 1) All claims? 2)All claims. This is how it works. The policy is sold door-to-door in the poorer neighborhoods. Paid in cash, each week. The claim comes in and is assigned to a handler. Basically a low-level paper-pusher. Anyway, the handler reviews it and immediately sends a letter denying the claim. The handler sends the file to Underwriting, who sends a memo to Claims saying, ‘Don’t pay until you hear from us.’ All these people work for this company, but they don’t know each other. The departments are intentionally kept at war with each other.
1)They didn’t teach me to chase ambulances. 2) Well you better learn quick, or else you’ll starve.
1)This is Ms Lemanczyk’s manual. 2)Objection! You ruled on this.
3)Sustained. 1)May we approach? 2)I thought this matter was settled. 1)Just this morning I found a case that is controlling in this situation. If you’ll just take a look at this ruling. It’s Club Ruby versus Carmine DeSoto. Here are copies. Number 5-85, Southwest 2nd, page 431. Argued by J. Lyman Stone. It shows that stolen documents are admissible if the lawyers played no part in that theft. According to this, this case would overrule your objection.
1)We don’t have to get pugilistic this time of the morning. 2)I don’t mean to be pugilistic
1)We’re just having a little problem with Jackie Lemanczyk, this Polish woman. 2)What sort of problem? 1)She doesn’t work here anymore. 2)Was she fired? 1)She resigned. 2)Where is she now? 1)She no longer works for our client. We can’t produce her as a witness, so let’s move along
1)Who is Jackie Lemanczyk? 2)Jackie Lemanczyk is a former claims handler. 1)She worked in your department? 2)Yes. 1)When did she stop working for you? 2)I don’t remember the date. 1)How about October 30th? 2)Sounds close. 1)Two days before her deposition? 2)I really don’t remember. 1)I’d like to refresh the witness’s recollection under Rule 612. October 30. Two days before she was to give a deposition in this matter. She was the person responsible for handling Donny Ray’s claim. And you fired her? 2)Of course not. 1)How did you get rid of her? 2)She resigned. It says so in the letter.
1)Why did you sue for $10 million? 2)Is that all? 1)I beg your pardon? 2)I thought it was more than that. Your client has a billion dollars, and your client killed my son.I wanted to sue for a lot more.
1)What would you do with the money if the jury awards you $10 million?
2)I’m gonna give it to the American Leukaemia Society. Every cent. I don’t want a dime of your stinking money.
Buddy, you got to sign this paper, so Donny Ray can get his operation.
Or I’ll throw that damn bottle across Union Street. Now sign the damn thing!
Cut my children out of my will. cut,cut,cut.
Deny all claims for a year. Add the money saved, deduct the amount spent on settlements…there’s a pot of gold left
Draw up a lawsuit against Great Benefit, and put my name on it.
Every lawyer, in every case, crosses a line he didn’t mean to cross. It just happens. And if you cross it enough times, it disappears forever. Then you’re nothing but a lawyer joke. Just another shark in the dirty water.
Gall bladder. Wrong fish.
give me the bat and leave.
what?
give me the bat and leave. you were not here tonight. give me the bat. go rudy. you were not here tonight.
Great Benefit went belly-up
Great Benefit’s like a bad slot machine. It never pays off.
Half an hour ago, her husband threw a bowl of soup at her,- because she won’t get it through her head how much he loves her.
Her first instinct was to protect me, and I left her there alone.
How do you know when a lawyer is lying? His lips are moving.
I come to see Mama and she’s got a stinking lawyer living with her.
I think I can smell her perfume all the way to Cleveland. It’s hard keeping my mind on Leo Drummond and his people. They’ll be flying in first class, and after dinner, they’ll discuss my destruction. When I check in to Motel Six, they’ll be sleeping soundly in their suites. They’ll wake up fresh and rested and ready for war. It’s my deposition, but it’s their turf.
I weigh 110 pounds. 11 months ago, I weighed 160. The leukaemia was detected in plenty of time. I was being treated when they realised that the only thing that could save me – would be a bone marrow transplant. So I got released from hospital, because my family couldn’t afford what they had recommended. Great Benefit denied our claim. If I had had a bone marrow transplant, I’d have had a 90% chance of survival.
I’m hot. In fact, I’m so hot, there’s no place for me to go but down.
Every client I ever have will expect the same magic, nothing less. And I could probably give it to them, if it didn’t matter how I did it. And then I’d wake up one morning and find that I’d become Leo Drummond.
I’ve read all the books on jurisprudence, the rules of evidence and discovery. But I take one look around the courtroom and I realize I haven’t even been born yet.
In my first year of law school, everybody loved everybody else. We were studying the law, and the law was a noble thing. By my third year, you were lucky if you weren’t murdered in your sleep. People stole exams, hid research from the library and lied to the professors. Such is the nature of the profession.
Jury tampering! I love it! Who’s our biggest nightmare?
Kelly Riker was admitted three days ago, at midnight, I might add, with assorted injuries. The cops found her on the sofa, beat to hell, wrapped in a blanket, naked. Cliff Riker, her spouse, was intoxicated and highly agitated. He wanted to dish out to the cops what he was giving his wife, – which was, by the way, a severe beating with a baseball bat.
Leo F. Drummond, of Tinley Britt, counsel for Great Benefit
My dad hated lawyers. You might think I became one just to piss him
off, but you’d be wrong.
One little woman from Memphis Tennesse bankrupted them sons of bitches? I’m gonna go to Donny Ray’s grave and tell him all about it.
Sworn in by a fool and vouched for by a scoundrel.
That’s when they were still sweet and innocent. Cut Cut Cut!
The CEO of Great Benefit is coming in tomorrow. We’ve got to nail this guy!
There must be a hundred years of experience gathered around the table.
– My staff flunked the bar six times
There’s gotta be a hundred years of law experience sitting at this very table. My guy flunked the bar exam six times.
There’s nothing more thrilling than nailing an insurance company.
These lawyers get $1,000 an hour, and I hate them
They say murderers make 25 mistakes, and they’re lucky if they remember five. It was self-defense, but he’s dead. The mistakes are piling up in my mind. But Kelly knew what to do. She knew it was time.
With all that was at stake, her first thought was for my safety. And I left her in there all alone.
They say when you commit a murder you make at least 25 mistakes and after it’s over, you’re lucky if you remember 5 of them.
This is how the uninsured die. In a society filled with brilliant doctors and state-of-the-art technology, – it’s obscene to let this boy wither away and die. He had an insurance policy that his mother paid good money for. Not big money, but good money. I’m alone in this trial. I’m seriously outgunned and scared. But I’m right. I sit with this poor, suffering kid, and I swear revenge.
This is that good process turkey.
This is that good processed turkey
We, the jury, find for the plaintiff and award actual damages in the amount of $150,000. And we, the jury, find for the plaintiff and award punitive damages in the amount of $50 million.
What’s the difference b/t a hooker and a lawyer? a hooker will stop screwing u when u die…most ppl dont chose this as a profession, cant take all the insults
Wilfred Keeley, CEO of Great Benefit, was detained yesterday at JFK, just after boarding a flight bound for Heathrow. He claimed he was sneaking away for a holiday, but couldn’t name a hotel at which he was expected. Today Great Benefit filed for bankruptcy protection. Great Benefit is under investigation. A number of lawsuits have been filed.
You remember what a rainmaker is, kid? The bucks are going to start
falling from the sky.
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