So again this is fiction, just a story out of my head and nothing more.
I hadn’t worked for the firm long when one of the partners called me into their office, my stomach dropped fearing I was about to be let go as so many firms take on more juniors than they can use then keep the best fits.
He motioned to the chair across from him.
“Abraham, you've been doing good at your tasks, and you seem to have a knack for finding interesting issues in cases.”
He slid a file folder across to me.
“I’ve got a trial case for you. Chances are it’s going to lose as domestic violence cases almost always favor the wife or girlfriend, but it’ll give you practice before a judge and honestly we nor the defendant can afford to dump a lot of money into his defence.
I skimmed the documents and I knew winning the case would be hard, but with a little research with my colleagues I also learned that the judge assigned was easily intimidated by a show of force as was the equally neophyte plaintiff’s attorney, and so a ludicrous idea came to mind, an idea so brazen it might just work.
With just a month before the trial to go I paid a visit to my alma mater's debate team. I offered pizza, and beer in exchange for a group to put on suits, carry briefcases or messenger bags, whatever looked professional, enter the courtroom with me and sit behind me. They didn’t have to say anything, didn’t have to testify, didn’t have to do anything but take notes and record observations on legal pads, basically put on a show of just being there. I got fifteen volunteers and now each afternoon after their classes we were in a borrowed conference room as I brought them up to speed just in case one was questioned. I never broke privilege, only shared already visible court transcripts, and things that are or will be public knowledge.
“Here’s the gist of the case; our client is Blain Stone. He's 42 years old, a plumber, father of two. His wife Hanna claims he came home drunk, and attacked her. She claims that in self defense she hit him with a baseball bat, breaking his ribs on his left side, causing a punctured lung, and a dislocated shoulder.
He was taken to the emergency room because his neighbor heard his screams and called in the domestic disturbance; the attending officer called the ambulance. During his exam he had a full toxicology run, no drugs, no alcohol, everything came back normal. During his exam his wife fled the home to her parent’s home, the next morning as he was recovering from surgery Hanna applied for an emergency protective order and an emergency sole custody order on their children. She then had all financial accounts frozen, credit and debit cards canceled, and had a locksmith change the locks on their home.
Mr. Stone is now out of work until cleared to return by his doctors, has no money, no vehicle, and currently is staying on a cot in a coworkers garage.
So, currently I am waiting on the police reports from the evening to be handed over and the transcripts from the restraining order decision.
Any ideas on next steps?”
“Where in the home was he attacked?”
“In the laundry room as he entered from the garage.”
“This all sounds very premeditated. I mean who keeps a baseball bat in their laundry room? I mean okay, the garage maybe, but in the laundry room?”
“That’s a good point!”
“Does Mr. Stone have any priors?”
“No, the only thing in his record is a speeding ticket for 61 in a 55, and that was ten years ago.”
“Have her medical records been subpoenaed yet?”
“Not that I have seen, why?”
“Well, if he attacked her, shouldn't she have sought treatment for injuries? If you are returning an attack with a bat, it seems her injuries should have been visible.”
I had to hand it to this group, they were thinking this through, though most were probably pre-law to start with. By the end of the week I had the police report, Mr. and Mrs. Stone’s medical history and I had a private investigator digging into and tailing Mrs. Stone. One of my “assistants” using public databases and social media found Mrs. Stone had been to college on a softball scholarship.
I also had their full financial disclosure thanks to the fact that though the accounts were frozen, Mr. Stone still had access to the bank’s website.
Now the dots started to connect, Mrs. Stone had been a softball player, and I found charges to a batting cage starting thee months before the attack and ceasing as soon as the attack happened. She had also started a regular gym routine about a year ago…premetated was beginning to sound more believable.
Mr. Stone’s medical records proved to be a confusing mess of "household injuries” : a grade two concussion from falling off a ladder, a broken ulna consistent with a shield arm break from falling down the basement stairs, and a broken left orbital socket from trimming a tree in the backyard….but absolutely no workplace injuries, nor any non combat injuries during 30 years of active duty in the Army. The evidence was becoming more and more damning for Mrs. Stone.
Two weeks out from the trial I managed to acquire a court order allowing Mr. Stone access to his home to retrieve clothes, documents, and other personal items. I had to arrange for two deputy sheriffs to be in attendance as escorts. I also arranged that the keys would be in her council's possession and I would also be there, but due to the nature of the emergency protective order Mrs. Stone could not be on or even within eyesight of the property–covering my ass on this one. I also brought a video recorder to document the home’s current condition, and I was glad I did as it was atrocious!
Blain was able to clear out everything on his list with no issues beyond tears. We loaded it all into his personal truck that was also on his list and in an hour we were gone.
Two weeks passed quickly, and soon we were meeting outside of the court room. Blain wore his military dress blues as I requested, hoping to sway opinion a bit and give reason to call forth his impeccable military record. Me in a custom suit that my grandma insisted on buying me because “a great lawyer never buys off the rack” and my entourage.
“Abraham, who are all the suits with you?”
“Your team, not many battles are won by one man.”
“I get that.”
I peeked into the courtroom and saw Mrs. Stone was already seated next to her council, then turned to my team, “okay, it’s showtime.”
I pushed open the doors and walked beside Blain to our table as my paralegal and fifteen members of the debate team all followed behind two by two. I kept my eye on her council and could see his expression shift–good let doubt and uncertainty creep in because that’s when mistakes are made.
“All rise!”
The judge enters and takes her seat.
“We are here today for the case of Stone vs Stone. Dissolution of marriage and child custody. Is Mrs. Stone in the court?”
Hanna rises “I am here your honor.”
“Do you have legal counsel?”
Her attorney stands “Yes your honor, I am her counsel Mr. Fredrick James.”
“Is the defendant in the court?”
Blake stands, his military training showing through: “Yes Mam! Major Blake Stone, U.S. Army retired reporting, Mam!”
The judge looks a little shocked at his response, “And Major Stone, do you have counsel?”
I stand as does my entourage: “Yes your honor, Abraham Lewis and company with Cronenberg Partners are representing Major Stone.”
The look on the judge’s face was priceless as she quickly calculated how many people were in attendance with us.
“Very well, you may all be seated. Plaintiff's counsel may proceed.”
Mr. James looked my way and I could almost smell the fear seeping through his cheap suit.
“Your honor, we seek dissolution, full custody and child support for the two children, alimony, and possession of the marital home, on grounds that spousal abuse determines irreconcilable differences.”
He returns to sitting.
“And defense?”
“Your honor, my apologies as this case is not as simple as Mr. James has presented it. We too seek disillusionment, we too seek full custody of the two children, we do not seek nor ask for child support, nor spousal support, we do seek ownership of the marital home. Yes, there has been spousal abuse, but we have evidence that the abuse was perpetrated by Mrs. Hanna Stone upon Major Stone on multiple occasions. We are also seeking a permanent protection order against Mrs. Hanna Stone for Major Stone and his children. We seek to prove marital wasting by Mrs. Stone, that will also reduce the final settlement she may be entitled too. We also ask the court to ensure at the end of proceedings that the Stone name be stripped from Mrs. Hanna Stone and she returns to her maiden name of Rogers.”
The court room was too quiet, but if it were possible for a person to have a page loading dialog it would be on the judges face, but I think she hit an internal 404 error, “page not found.” Family courts seldom have cases of contradictory claims of spousal abuse and managing to prove a wife would be capable was even more rare.
“Mr. James, do you have evidence to refute these allegations against your client?”
“None specifically your honor as we did not anticipate this potential.”
“Mr. Lewis, you may proceed with your evidence.”
“Thank you, your honor. I’d like to submit these medical records for Major Stone that have accumulated since his retirement from the Army. Now on face value Major Stone appears to be rather clumsy, but here’s the issue; if he were that clumsy why do we not have any workplace injuries of an equal nature? Why did the medical professionals all feel they needed to make notes about “injuries do not match stated cause”? I also have here his 30 year medical history from the Department of Defense that lists his only injuries as being obtained via combat, but none outside of combat. So evidence shows he is only ever injured at home in the presance of Mrs. Stone.
Here we have Mrs. Stones college news letters showing she was a star softball player, meaning she definitely knows how to swing a bat.”
Mr. James stands up “I object, Mr. Lewis is speculating.”
“Your honor, where is the speculation? Does the police report not state quite clearly that Mrs. Stone’s weapon was indeed a metal baseball bat?”
“I concur with Mr. Lewis, the report does clearly state that, no speculation needed; objection over ruled.”
Mistake one
“I also have here copies of Major & Mrs. Stones joint accounts and credit cards that clearly show Mrs. Stone had started attending a gym four times a week a year prior to this.”
Mr. James again stands
“Mr. James let me stop you there, I am merely pointing out a fact, but it is curious that Mrs. Stone started frequenting a batting cage three months prior to the incident then suddenly stopped as soon as it happened. So Mr. James, has your client failed to disclose this curious bit of information unto you?”
Mr. James sat back down, the look on his face was embarrassment, but the look on Mrs. Stone’s face was guilt--mistake number two.
“I have here a stack of charge receipts going back a year for Mrs. Stone’s personal credit card that show an increasingly frequent set of charges for a hotel downtown. Those charges happen to be for two people each time, and all at times that Major Stone has been verified to be at work. Coincidentally those room stays were checked in at ten in the morning and keys returned by three in the afternoon each time. All of these charges were paid from the joint checking account though not from Mrs. Stones personal account.
So direct questions to Mrs Stone, why beat your husband? Why this elaborate ruse when you could have just walked away to your lover?”
Mrs. Stone just stared at her hands.
“Ah, choosing silence; very well.
Your honor I would like to add Mrs. Stone’s medical records as evidence, but to save you some time she has no injuries during her marriage to Major Stone, not a single documented injury, and yet Major Stone has been in the emergency room every other month during the entirty of their marriage.
In closing: The house currently located at 1313 Mockingbird Lane, is not at play seeing that Major Stone purchased it prior to their marriage with money saved during his military career.
Again we are seeking sole custody of both children based upon the evidence presented as we feel Mrs. Stone is unsafe for them to be alone with.
Thank you, your honor, I yield the floor.”
“Consouls, this is a substantial amount of evidence and as such this court will reconvene in thirty days for final adjudication. Court dismissed”
The next thirty days passed in a rush, and in the end Mr. Stone kept his house, his two kids, seventy percent of money in the joint accounts, and state minimum child support from Ms. Rodgers.
Ms. Rodgers as you can ascertain lost his name, can only get supervised visitation with her children and then only after completion of anger management treatment. Ms. Rodgers also has to pay all legal costs associated with this case and they would be deducted from her portion of the settlement.
The judge referred Ms. Rodgers to the district attorney's office for possible criminal consequences from the years of domestic abuse and for the false report that caused a judge to issue the original restraining order.
Yes, the debate team got their pizza and beer. I thought I was going to pay it out of pocket but Mrs. Cronenberg--our firm's equity partner--stated she felt it was a billable expense with a wink while complementing my “unique use of theatrics”. Yes, Major Stone was shocked I basically brought in actors to intimidate the court, but he understands the theory of shock and awe all too well.
So all in all not a bad outcome from a case that my boss was sure we’d lose, but in the end all the world is a stage, and all the men and women are merely players.
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