بورتون علیه دریک و سوئینی

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Burton Against Drake and Sweeney

“You put this family on the street. You’ve told us you did. And that’s where they died. “

We were in Judge DeOrio’s room, but this wasn’t a court. There were two lawyer from RiverOaks. From Drake and Sweeney there was Arthur Jacobs, Rafter, Nathan Malamud, and Barry Nuzzo. Why Malamud and Nuzzo, who were not going to speak for Drake and Sweeney? Then I understood. Malamud and Nuzzo had gone back to work after that Tuesday with Mister. They were fine. So why wasn’t I?

Judge DeOrio said good morning and then gave Mordecai five minutes to make the complaint against Drake and Sweeney in the Burton lawsuit. Mordecai needed just two minutes. He explained clearly how Drake and Sweeney’s illegal eviction led to the deaths of Lontae Burton and her children.

Arthur Jacobs spoke for Drake and Sweeney. He didn’t disagree with Mordecai about what had happened to Lontae and her children. But he said it was, in part, her own fault.

“There were places for her to go,” Arthur said. “There were shelters open. She spent the night before in a church, with many other people. Why did she leave? Her grandmother has an apartment in Northeast. Why didn’t this mother do more to protect her little family?”

“Why was she in the street at all?” DeOrio asked, and I almost smiled.

Arthur stayed calm. “The eviction was wrong,” he said. “We are not arguing with Mr. Green about that. We are saying that events after the eviction were partly the mother’s fault.”

“How much of it was her fault?” asked Judge DeOrio.

“At least half.”

“That’s too high.”

“We don’t agree, Judge DeOrio.”

“Mr. Green?”

Mordecai stood, shaking his head in disbelief, like Arthur was a first-year law student. “There people have nowhere to live, Mr. Jacobs. That’s why they’re called homeless. You put this family on the street. You’ve told us you did. And that’s where they died. We could go to court. Would you say the same thing there? Stand up in court, Mr. Jacobs! Say, ‘It was the mother’s fault her family died.”

Arthur and the rest of the Drake and Sweeney lawyers looked scared enough at the idea of telling a court full of black people that the Burton family’s death was, in part, Lontae’s fault.

“Drake and Sweeney are guilty of an illegal eviction,” said Judge DeOrio. “That’s clear. I wouldn’t advise you to blame the mother in a court.”

Mordecai and Arthur sat down. We had won the Burton lawsuit without going to court. Now we would discuss how much Drake and Sweeney should pay. Rafter stood up. He talked about how much money you usually got for dead children in lawsuits. He had read a lot of these lawsuits across the US. He offered fifty thousand dollars for each child. He became boring. He started to discuss the amount of money Lontae had lost because she died and so she didn’t go to work. That was added to the money you usually got for dead children. In total, he offered seven hundred and seventy thousand dollars.

“Is that your final offer, Mr. Rafter?” asked Judge DeOrio. He looked like he hoped it wasn’t.

“No, sir,” Rafter said.

“Mr. Green”

Mordecai stood again. “We do not accept their offer, Judge DeOrio. Sir, this talk of the value of each child means nothing to me. I know how much I can get if this comes to court and the people of Washington decide. And that is a lot more than Mr. Rafter is offering. These children were, of course, homeless black children. Mr. Rafter, you have a son at private school. Would you take fifty thousand dollars for him?”

Rafter looked down and didn’t reply.

“I can walk into a Washington court and I can get a million dollars each for Lontae Burton’s little children. That’s the same as any child in an expensive school in Virginia or Maryland.”

The defense team looked at each other. They all had kids in expensive schools in Virginia and Maryland. Mordecai then talked about the last hours of Lontae Burton and her family, as he had at Capitol Hill. He was a born storyteller and he had a good story to tell. His voice went up and then down in anger. At the end he pointed at the Drake and Sweeney lawyers, speaking for them. “Those people in that warehouse,” he shouted. “They’re just a bunch of squatters. Throw them out!”

He asked for four million dollars. It was silent in the room when he finished. Judge DeOrio made some notes. The next thing to discuss was the file.

“Do you have the file?” Judge DeOrio asked me.

“Yes, sir.”

“Will you give it to me?”

“Yes, sir.”

Mordecai gave Judge DeOrio the file and we all sat and watched for ten minutes while the judge read it. When he had finished he said, “The file has been returned, Mr. Jacobs. There was a criminal lawsuit about its theft. What do you want to do now?”

“If we can agree on the Burton lawsuit, we will stop the criminal lawsuit against Mr. Brock for theft of the file.”

“Mr. Brock? Is that acceptable to you?”

“Yes! Yes, sir. It is.”

“Next, we have the complaint to the Bar Association by Drake and Sweeney against Michael Brock. Mr. Jacobs?”

Arthur stood up again. He talked about why it was wrong for a lawyer to steal a file from his own company. He didn’t seem to be enjoying it, and he didn’t take too long about it. But I had been one of them and then I had damaged them. They wouldn’t forgive me for that. The complaint to the Bar Association wouldn’t be stopped.

I wasn’t a criminal, Arthur said, so they would stop the theft lawsuit. But I was a lawyer and a good one. And so the complaint should go to the Bar Association.

The lawyers from RiverOaks didn’t speak, but it was clear they agreed. It was, of Course, their client’s file I had taken. And Arthur spoke so well that actually I agreed with him too.

“Mr. Brock?” said Judge DeOrio. “Do you have anything to say?”

I hadn’t prepared anything, but I wasn’t afraid to say what I felt. I looked Arthur in the eyes and said, “Mr. Jacobs, I have always had a very high opinion of you, and I still do. I was wrong to take the file and I am sorry I did it. I was looking for information and I was going to put the file back, but all that is no excuse. I apologize to you, to Drake and Sweeney, and to your client, RiverOaks.”

Mordecai told me afterwards that he knew immediately Drake and Sweeney would agree to his next suggestion. The anger had gone out of the situation.

Mordecai suggested twenty-five thousand dollars each to all the people evicted by Drake and Sweeney, when we could find them. He suggested three million dollars for the Burton lawsuit, paid at three hundred thousand a year. And after a lot of talk, we agreed that I would lose my license for nine months only.