The Verdict Page #10

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Concannon motions to the young Attorney who has run in. The

young Attorney goes to Concannon and hands him a box of chalk.

Concannon takes a piece and writes on the blackboard "Jan.

12th." He underlines it heavily.

CONCANNON:

Our court date is January twelfth.

You're all acquainted with this case.

It's been scheduled for eighteen

months. We have the attorney for the

Plaintiff, Frank Galvin -- and I

trust you are all familiar with his

record -- and we have been expecting

him to call us to negotiate. As he

did not, and five days before we're

supposed to go to court we made him

a rather generous offer, which he

refused. Five days before the trial.

What does this mean? I want to find

out.

(writes on the

blackboard, "1)

RESEARCH")

(writes "2) Homework")

Acquaint yourselves again with the

depositions. Don't rely on the fact

that we did it last year. Do it again.

We're going to review them here, and

you do it at home. You each have a

full file. Know the deps, and I want

you all to be here when we work with

the defendants... when is that,

Billy...?

The young Attorney responds.

YOUNG LAWYER (BILLY)

Tuesday evening, Sir.

Concannon writes on blackboard "3) Public Awareness."

CONCANNON:

I want an article in the Globe As

Soon As Possible, 'St. Cat's...

Neighborhood Giant serving the

community' etc. We've got it in the

files. I want something in Monday's

Herald:
'Our Gallant Doctors,'

something... Be inventive, I want

television...

(nods toward one of

the young lawyers)

...talk to our man at GBH. And to

belabor the obvious for a moment...

(beat)

Our clients are:
the Archdiocese of

Boston; St. Catherine Laboure

Hospital, and Drs. Marx and Towler,

two of the most respected men in

their profession. The thrust of this

defense will be to answer in court,

in the press and in the public mind --

to answer the accusation of negligence

this completely:
not only that we

win the case, but that we win the

case so that it's seen that the attack

on these men and this institution

was a rank obscenity.

(beat)

All right. Let's get the cobwebs

off. Billy...?

The young Lawyer stands as Concannon sits, listening.

YOUNG LAWYER:

Please turn to your Page Four.

All the lawyers in the office turn in their files to that

page.

YOUNG LAWYER:

We're going to start with a review

of the depositions of the Operating

Room Team:
the nurse-anesthetist,

the scrub-nurse, the...

INT. LAW LIBRARY - NIGHT

Galvin and Mickey at a library table piled with books. A

dingy, dusty law library. They are smoking, speak in

undertones, referring to the yellow legal pads in front of

them. Rehashing material.

MICKEY:

Who have we got?

GALVIN:

We've got her sister. Testifies she

had a meal one hour before she was

admitted to the hospital. This is

the point.

MICKEY:

You got the admittance form says

patient ate nine hours prior to

admittance.

GALVIN:

Admittance form is wrong.

MICKEY:

Forget it. You can't prove it.

Sister's testimony is no good. Jury

knows we win she gets the cash.

GALVIN:

I've got my Dr. Gruber, says her

heart condition means they gave her

the wrong anesthetic anyway, plus

she came in complaining of stomach

pains...

MICKEY:

(conceding)

...Gruber's not bad.

GALVIN:

Not bad...? This guy's Dr. Kildare,

the jury's going to love him, Mick...

And you calm down, all right? Their

guy, Towler's, the author of the

book,

(hunts for book on

desk, holds it up;

reads)

'Methodology and Practice,

Anesthesiology.'

(rummages through a

pile of papers on

the desk)

...and they got depositions from the

nurses, everybody in the operating

room, the scrub-nurse... 'All these

guys are God. I saw them walk on

water...'

(checking a list)

They had an obstetrical nurse in

there. We got a deposition from the

obstetrical nurse?

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