Deadly Dining Page 2
Jodie Marshall
Jodie Marshall pulled up the Texas Statutes on her computer. She wanted to review the Good Samaritan law before her new client came in. She’d studied it in law school but couldn’t remember exactly how it worked. When she found it she immediately realized it wouldn’t apply to this situation. It was designed primarily to protect people giving emergency medical assistance at an accident scene or in a public place. She searched for other statutes and found one that protected persons who assisted others in disaster situations but only if directed to by a policeman or other public official. She next searched for articles about the incident in local newspapers and quickly found several. The most comprehensive story came from the Dallas Morning News.
EX-ARMY MP THWARTS JEWELRY HEIST
Michael Mahoney picked the wrong time to rob the Jewelry Mart in West Plano. Had he known Bob Larson, an ex-Army MP who recently returned from a tour of duty in Iraq, would be stopping by the store on Wednesday, May 7th to pick out an engagement ring for his girlfriend he probably would have picked a different day for the heist. When Larson entered the store he was surprised that nobody was behind the counter, so he called out assuming the proprietor had stepped into the back room for something. Being an ex-MP he became suspicious when nobody responded to his call, so he went into the back room only to find it empty. He was about to leave when he heard voices coming from another room farther back in the store. So, he moved closer and, through an opened door, observed Michael Mahoney holding a gun on Herbert Stein, forcing him to open the store’s safe. Larson, seeing that he had the element of surprise, charged Mahoney and managed to wrestle the gun away from him. Unfortunately, the 32 caliber revolver discharged and Stein was hit in the leg. Once Larson had secured his prisoner he called 9-1-1. Stein is expected to fully recover from his injury.
Jodie read the article several times. She had a bad feeling about the case. It wouldn’t be an easy one to defend since Larson probably should have just called 9-1-1 rather than intervene when he did. Her intercom buzzed.
“Mr. Larson is here to see you,” Maria said.
“Okay,” Jodie said. “Take him into the conference room and tell Stan he is here.”
“Alright.”
Jodie gathered her things together and walked to the conference room. She introduced herself and took a seat. A moment later Stan joined them.
“So, you’ve been served with a lawsuit,” Jodie said.
Larson sighed. “Yes, can you believe the jerk would sue me after what I did for him?”
“Yes, the article in the Dallas Morning News said he fully recovered.”
“He did. It was just a flesh wound. It was nothing.”
“Can I see what was served on you?” Jodie asked.
Larson handed her a thick stack of papers stapled together. Jodie took it and began to read.
“How long were you in the Army?” Stan asked.
“I served in the Gulf War and then went to Germany.”
“So, you were an MP the entire time?”
“Yes.”
“What kind of training did you get to be an MP?”
“Well, they sent me to a training school for about four months. Then the Gulf War broke out and I went to Kuwait.”
“As an MP what kind of assignments did they give you?”
“We patrolled all the places military personnel would frequent to make sure they were safe and our boys were behaving themselves. We guarded prisoners sometimes.”
“Well, they are suing you for assault and battery and gross negligence,” Jodie advised, putting down the legal papers. “They say your conduct was reckless and caused Mr. Stein grievous injury and extreme mental anguish. They want a million dollars.”
“Yeah. Well they can kiss my ass!” Larson spat. “I probably saved the asshole’s life. The thief probably would have killed him just as soon as he got the safe opened.”
“Do you know what was in the safe?” Stan asked.
Larson shook his head. “No. I interrupted them before he got it opened.”
“The reason I ask,” Stan said, “is that usually there are plenty of jewels in the display cases, but they weren’t touched.”
Larson shrugged. “Maybe he was going to get the contents of the safe first and then get the loose stuff on his way out.”
Stan nodded. “Maybe.”
“Well, this isn’t going to be an easy case to defend,” Jodie said. “I have checked the Good Samaritan Laws and other similar statutes and none of them seem to apply to this situation.”
“So, does that mean I’m screwed?” Larson asked dejectedly.
“No,” Jodie said. “It just means we will have to work hard to defend you. Luckily the plaintiff has the burden of proof and any jury is going to be sympathetic to someone who puts their life on the line to help out a fellow citizen.”
“I should hope so,” Larson said.
“So, you have no liability insurance?” Stan asked. “A homeowner’s policy or renter’s insurance.”
“No. I rent a place but I don’t have any insurance.”
Stan nodded. “If you don’t answer the lawsuit they will get a judgment against you. If they get a judgment they can go after any non-exempt assets.”
“I don’t have anything.”
“What about the business?” Jodie asked.
“Oh. It’s in a corporation. They couldn’t go after that, could they?”
Jodie nodded. “Yes. They could go after your stock.”
“Crap! I can’t let them do that. That’s my livelihood. Plus, I have partners in the business and I don’t want them to get tangled up in this mess.”
“Then you have no choice but to defend the lawsuit and win.”
Larson sighed. “So, what’s that going to cost me?”
“It’s hard to say but it could easily be twenty-five to fifty thousand dollars; more if the plaintiff is aggressive.”
“What does that mean?”
“Well, some plaintiff’s file a lawsuit and then don’t prosecute it diligently. In these cases they are just looking for a quick nuisance settlement. But if the plaintiff really believes in his case and aggressively prosecutes it the attorney’s fees can skyrocket.”
Larson shook his head angrily. “God damn it! I don’t have that kind of money.”
“Well, it will be spread out over a year or two. You can pay us $5,000 down and then we can bill you each month. There will be some months we won’t need to do that much on the case and others where we’ll have to spend a lot of time.”
“Okay. I guess I don’t have any choice.”
“Alright, then I’ll let you and Jodie take it from here. It was a pleasure meeting you. Sorry you have to go through this.”
Stan rose and shook Larson’s hand. When Stan was gone Jodie got Larson to sign a retainer agreement and got a check from him. After he left she started working on an answer to the lawsuit. Usually she just filed a simple general denial answer just to put the court and plaintiff’s attorney on notice that the case would be contested. Later she’d amend the answer to assert any specific defenses that might be appropriate. When she was done she decided to stop by the Plano Jewelry Mart so she’d have a mental image of the location where the robbery went down.
When she drove by the store she saw that it was in a retail strip center tucked in between a bakery and a real estate office. It was a small store and there appeared to be but two employees, a young woman and an older man. She assumed the older man was the plaintiff, Herbert Stein. She decided to buy something at the bakery and see if anyone there knew anything. A teenager smiled at her when she walked in.
“Hi,” she said cheerily. “What can I get for you?”
Jodie looked at all the luscious desserts and smiled. “Wow. They all look so good.”
“Our cream puffs are to die for,” the girl advised.
“Okay. Give me one of those and a cup of coffee.”
“Coming right up.”
&n
bsp; The girl began assembling the order while Jodie looked on.
“So, I heard there was a robbery next door a few weeks back,” Jodie said.
The girl looked up, eyes wide.
“Yes, I wasn’t here when it happened but my mom was. She said the place was crawling with police and medics. Poor Herb got shot but luckily it wasn’t serious. He was lucky that the ex-MP showed up when he did.”
“I noticed another girl working today. Was she there when the robbery took place?”
“No. Luci comes on at four after school. She goes to Collin College.”
“What’s your name?” Jodie asked.
“Vicki. Vicki Rogers.”
Vicki gave Jodie her order and Jodie gave her a ten dollar bill.
“Where’s your mother today?”
“Oh, she had to go to the bank before they closed. She’ll be back in half an hour.”
“Well, I’ll see you around,” Jodie said, going out the door.
She walked slowly by the store so she’d have a good mental image of the layout and then she entered the real estate office next door. A receptionist looked up at her and smiled.
“May I help you?”
Jodie gave her card to the woman, whose name tag identified her as Jane Morrow. “Hi. I’m Jodie Marshall and I’m looking into the robbery of your neighbor a few weeks ago.”
“Oh, right,” Jane said looking at the card. “You’re an attorney?”
“Yes. I represent Bob Larson.”
“Oh, the guy who stopped the robbery.”
“Right. Were you working when it happened?”
“Yes. I was but I didn’t know anything was happening until I heard the shot.”
“What did you do when you heard the shot?”
She thought a moment. “Well, I got up and walked outside to look in the store’s window, but I couldn’t see anything. Nobody was in the main retail area.”
“What did you do then?”
“I was about to go back to my desk when I heard sirens. So, I waited and within a minute or so a police car pulled up. They told me to stand clear and then went inside, guns drawn.”
“What did they do once they were in the store?”
“They went into the back room. There was a lot of yelling and screaming and then they brought out a man in handcuffs. One of the officers took the man outside and put him in the back of his squad car. Then an ambulance came and after about ten minutes the medics came out with a man on a stretcher. He was upset, yelling and screaming at them.”
“He didn’t want to go to the hospital?”
“That’s what it looked like, but they made him go anyway.”
“When you first walked out, did you see anyone else around?”
“Only a man pulling out of a parking space. I don’t know if he was a customer of the bakery or the jewelry store.”
“What did he look like?”
“Medium height, dark hair, mid-forties, dressed in a dress suit and tie.”
“What kind of car?”
“A grey Lexus. I don’t know what year or model. I’m not good when it comes to cars.”
“Was anyone here with you at the time?”
“There was an agent here but she was in with a client and never came out to see the fireworks.”
“Do you know Herb Stein?”
“Not really. I’ve bought a few small pieces of jewelry from him but I don’t know much about him.”
“Is he married, kids?”
“I don’t know, sorry.”
“How has traffic in the store been? Is he pretty busy?”
“I wouldn’t say it’s been busy. He doesn’t have a lot of traffic. Occasionally I’ll see a customer in there but I haven’t really paid that much attention.”
“Alright. Well, I appreciate the information. You’ve been very helpful. If I think of anything else, can I call you?”
“Sure. No problem.”
Jodie left and on the way home wondered about Herb Stein’s business. She knew that jewelry stores marked up their merchandise a lot, so they didn’t necessarily have to have a lot of sales to make a profit. But she wondered if selling jewelry was the only thing going on at the Jewelry Mart. Specifically, she wondered what was in Stein’s safe and whether Michael Mahoney knew what was in there when he went into the store to rob it.