Doubt (Caroline Auden #1) - C. E. Tobisman Page 0,6
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“If Judge Samuels denies Med-Gen’s Daubert motion, the SuperSoy cases will go to trial. Juries are unpredictable. Med-Gen could get hit with huge verdicts. Many of them. All over the country. The company won’t tolerate that kind of risk. Instead, it’ll cap its exposure by setting aside enough money in a settlement fund to pay for treatment for all of the plaintiffs, plus a little something extra to encourage them to opt in.”
While Caroline enjoyed Louis’s description of what would happen if they defeated the motion, she knew what would happen if they failed. There’d be no settlement. There’d be no gigantic fund to pay for treatment. Instead, every SuperSoy plaintiff in the country would be shut out of court. Forever.
“Everything points to a swift settlement,” Louis said. “Most of the victims are responding to a combination of dialysis and medication. But the medication is quite expensive.”
Caroline imagined the sacrifices the victims’ families were making to pay for treatment. How much would a family sacrifice to save a baby? A spouse? What would they give up? A house? A college fund? Their sacrifices would be as necessary as they would be heartbreaking.
“When’s our opposition due?” she asked.
“One week from today. The hearing will be three days after that.”
Caroline looked at the dates she’d scrawled on her legal pad. A week was no time at all.
“Unfortunately, the current draft of our opposition has some rather significant . . . issues.” Louis pressed his lips together. “Lawyers from a number of the firms on the Steering Committee have written various sections of our side’s brief. The procedural sections. The description of governing law. But everyone knows the real meat is the science. That’s where we’ll win or lose. As a result, every firm on the Committee has reviewed the scientific literature to look for proof of a clear link between SuperSoy and kidney injury.”
Louis shook his head, his light eyes mournful. “So far, no one has had much luck.”
“Doesn’t the proximity in time between the plaintiffs’ injuries and their ingestion of SuperSoy products prove a link?” Caroline asked.
“Certainly,” Louis allowed, “and Dale’s shop has already written up that argument. But it may not be enough. Without some support from the published science, convincing a judge to let hundreds of millions of dollars of litigation go forward will be difficult. I suspect some members of the Steering Committee are quietly panicking.”
“Quietly?”
“These high-rolling plaintiffs’ lawyers are cowboys,” Louis said in his blue-blooded accent. “They’re brash and confident. They never admit any weakness. But they’re also smart people. They know they’re vulnerable. That’s why Dale wants us to see if we can find anything in the scientific journals. I figured you could take a look. Lawyers with science and technology backgrounds are quite unusual, after all.”
Louis smiled. “You’re a rare bird.”
The compliment made Caroline feel like a freak, but she returned his smile anyway. Receiving an assignment where she could both work directly with Louis and add real value to a case was more than she’d hoped for in her first month, let alone her first day. Even if her assignment sounded only slightly easier than defeating the Nemean lion . . .
Louis studied Caroline’s face, as if scouring its surface for signs of misgiving.
Schooling her features into submission, Caroline refused to show him any.
“You really are a bit junior for this project,” Louis said, halfway to himself.
Caroline started to bristle, but he was right. She could hardly be more junior.
“And yet,” he continued, “I know your work from class. You’re always quite thorough. And your background is perfect. I believe you’ll come at the science from another angle. You may well find something everyone else missed.”
A reflexive surge of determination blossomed in Caroline’s chest. Even though Louis didn’t resemble her father in affect or in manner, both men shared a similar exactitude. On the rare occasions when Caroline’s father had overseen her homework, he’d made her redo it if she’d made a single typographical error. And when she’d missed even a single legal issue on a test, Louis had made her stay after class to discuss it. While Caroline couldn’t decide whether she liked or loathed the high expectations both men placed on her, one thing was clear: she wanted to meet them.
“Just tell me what to do,” she said, leaning forward.
“The articles are in the war room. Please set up shop there.” Louis’s voice strengthened, like a general ordering his troops to battle, infusing them with confidence to get