The Appeal Quotes
"After a lifetime of sitting silently as the lawyers haggled and the judge lectured...the jury was ready."
"There were hugs and smiles and no small measure of self-congratulation."
"Their ordeal was over; their civic duty complete. They had served above and beyond."
"The strain of controlling justice was wearing him down."
"The old courthouse had never seen a trial so large and so long."
"After almost five days of deliberations, Judge Harrison had resigned himself to the likelihood of a hung jury, his worst nightmare."
"The clerk's first call went to the firm of Payton & Payton, a local husband-and-wife team."
"How about a moment of silent prayer," Wes said, and they held hands in a tight circle and prayed as they had never prayed before."
"People were hurrying into the courthouse from all directions when the Paytons parked on the street behind it."
"What are you thinking?" Wes asked without looking at his wife. His heart was racing and his forehead was wet."
"Stepping into a major trial is like plunging with a weighted belt into a dark and weedy pond."
"The woman cried almost nonstop, and while Mary Grace was profoundly sympathetic, she was also tired of all the damned crying."
"Across the room, just a few feet away, the Paytons and Jeannette settled into their chairs at the plaintiff's table."
"Judge Harrison took the envelope from the clerk, removed a sheet of paper, and began reviewing the verdict-heavy wrinkles burrowing into his forehead."
"For a man who knew so much, that answer was still elusive."
"Reality slowly settled in as the numbness began to fade."
"The wounds were raw, the battle scars still very fresh."
"Mr. Trudeau slowly turned around and glared at the assistant as if he just might shoot the messenger."
"Jeannette Baker was taken by her relatives back to Bowmore, her hometown twenty miles from the courthouse."
"She lived in an old trailer with Bette, her stepsister, on a gravel road in a forlorn Bowmore neighborhood known as Pine Grove."
"She wanted to sleep for a week and wake up in a brand-new world with her little family intact and everyone happy and healthy."
"Pastor Ott considered all of Bowmore to be his mission, and no one would go hungry or homeless or sick if he could possibly prevent it."
"She often lay awake at night listening for the water somewhere in the walls."
"A dripping faucet was treated like an armed prowler."
"He had conducted sixteen funerals of his own people killed by Krane Chemical, a company he detested so bitterly that he constantly prayed for forgiveness."
"Carl Trudeau also left home before sunrise. He could hide in his penthouse all day and let his communications people deal with the disaster."
"This would be the worst day of his professional life, but tomorrow would be better."
"Tom Huff put on his darkest and finest suit, and after much debate decided to arrive at work a few minutes later than usual."
"But as a commercial lender and business leader in this community, I think it really sucks. What kind of message do we send to prospective industrial clients with verdicts like this?"
"He would never run from a brawl, and he wouldn't start now."
"He served his client as well as his client would allow."
"Krane Chemical had paid his little firm over a million dollars to date."
"The plunge was temporarily reversed at $29.50 when speculators entered the fray."
"For the first time in his career, he understood why they jumped from buildings in 1929."
"Krane will flood the area with investigators, snitches, informants."
"Don't sign anything unless it's first reviewed by the Paytons."
"I've asked myself that a thousand times, but the answer is really simple."
"The cancer came in waves, and there was so much suffering."
"If not for the lawyers, Krane would still be here manufacturing pillamar 5."
"We'll survive until the appeals run their course."
"Once upon a time, we were grossing fifty thousand a month."
"Everything nice and proper. Real legal like."
"We dumped so much shit into those ravines it's a wonder the whole town didn't explode."
"An anti-politician the press would follow like ants."
"Politics is a rough game, Ron, something you're about to learn."
"She was hard at work doing her job and really didn't want to get sidetracked."
"We can't fool ourselves. The forces of evil who want to slam the courthouse doors and deny our clients their rights."
"The laws of the state were backward and unfair and discriminated against his clients because they couldn't marry each other."
"His job was to follow the laws of the state."
"They were appealing immediately to the Mississippi Supreme Court."
"That's where they were headed, and that's where they wanted to be."
"Doctors, laboring under the fear of lawsuit abuse, are forced to perform expensive tests and diagnoses that drive up the cost of medical care."
"Medications, both prescription and over-the-counter, are a perfect example. They would be 15 percent cheaper if the trial lawyers didn't hammer their manufacturers with massive class action cases."
"The world is going crazy and being led by devious trial lawyers."
"Huge verdicts are the result. The state has earned a shady reputation, and because of this many businesses avoid Mississippi."
"All thanks to the trial lawyers, who of course adore Sheila McCarthy and her pro-plaintiff leanings and will spend anything to keep her on the court."
"The law's greatest responsibility is to protect the weakest members of our society. Rich people can usually take care of themselves."
"Big business, through its myriad support groups and associations, is successfully coordinating a grand conspiracy to drastically change our court system."
"I simply quit. I still worry about my patients."
"I'm sorry this happened, Wes. I'm out of the picture now, and you didn't get this from me."
"I'm sorry, Wes. Don't know what else to say."
"It's not your fault, Alan. We'll survive and push for a trial."
"Damned right, Wes. I hope you nail these guys for another huge verdict."
"If we could finish these two cases, Ron, then a short leave of absence might work."
"Words cannot express our disappointment and frustration."
"Litigation has cleaned up a lot of bad products and protected a lot of people."
"Justice Fisk seems determined to change all of it."
"We will continue to think of you, pray for you, and talk to you whenever you need us."
"I know you'll do the right thing. These verdicts are killing our state."
"Now that he had three billion, he really wanted six."
"As always, I leaned on others for advice and expertise."
"Thanks to Mark Lee, Jim Craig, Neal Kassell, Bobby Moak, David Gernert, Mike Ratliff, Ty, Bert Colley, and John Sherman."