“Thank you, Nita. Where are your children right now?” Sandy asked.
“At my house in Delaware. My mother is over there for a few days.”
“Good. Now we’re going to work hard to get you some money. But we can guarantee nothing. The good news is you’ll no doubt be successful with your suit. Now for the bad news. You could get a judgment against Abby...that is, you could win the suit against her and still end up with nothing. This woman you’re suing is not wealthy. The judge may order her to pay you, but she might not have any money to give you or anything worth selling. You understand?”
“That’s not fair.”
“You’re right, it certainly isn’t, nevertheless that’s the way it works. Also, this is going to take time. I mean a lot of time. Maybe two or three years if you’re lucky. Even then, we don’t know if you’ll get any money. Do you believe me? Do you understand?”
“Yes, I believe you, but I don’t know how I’ll do it.”
“You have to do it. Somehow, you have to pull things together and tough it out. For thousands of years husbands have been dying and their widows surviving somehow. You can do it too. Do you work? Maybe the kids can go to work. You should be eligible for some sort of government assistance as well. Get all your relatives together. Get everyone pulling for you. I know you can survive even if you get no money from this lawsuit. Now here’s something else that will help. Mr. Bronner doesn’t want any thousand dollars from you after all. That was a mistake. He wasn’t aware of the entire situation. In fact, he’s not going to charge you a dime unless he’s successful in getting some money for you. He’ll pay for all expenses out of his own pocket. Later if you do get some money, you’re going to give him a big share of it. Okay? Isn’t that right, Mr. Bronner?”
Bronner appeared surprised. He glanced over at Jerry Kagan who had his eyebrows raised expectantly. Bronner said, “Of course. That’s fine.”
Sandy continued, “You may be eligible for some accidental death benefits you didn’t know you had coming. People don’t realize they might have a couple of thousand dollars accidental death coverage on their homeowner’s insurance, auto policy, credit card, automobile club, bank account, union membership...the list goes on and on.”
“How do I find out all that?”
“Mr. Bronner will be happy to check everything out as a favor to you at no charge,” Sandy said, not even looking over at Bronner. The prissy fellow could lump it if he didn’t like it.
“My husband was a fine man.”
Sandy knew from her personal experiences he was not a fine man. And what was a fine man doing sneaking down to Florida trying to hook up with Abby Olin? She held back and said, “Yes, Nita, of course he was. He worked in the social services field didn’t he? Did he tell you he worked as a rehab counselor for young girls?”
“Yes, but something happened and he was unjustly accused of doing some little thing wrong. The bosses were out to get him and it was all their fault. Then he had some problems with college. They got his records all screwed up and made him drop out. He had some other jobs and now he’s a delivery truck driver...was a delivery truck driver...he was a fine man.” Unexpectedly, she dropped her head and began sobbing.
Sandy abruptly stood and pointed at Kagan and Bronner. “Would you two men please leave the room and close the door? Mrs. Banks and I need some time alone. She quickly took a chair closer to Nita and sat quietly waiting with hands folded in her lap.
After a moment, without looking up Nita sighed. “Bruce wasn’t a fine man—he was a horrible man. God will punish me now for speaking against a person who is now dead.”
“God doesn’t punish people for telling the truth. Did your husband abuse you?”
“No, he never hit me.”
“Did he threaten to hit you, did he physically push you around, or were you afraid of him when he came up to you? Did he ever hurt the kids?”
She smiled and dabbed at her eyes. “No, although he hadn’t been kind or loving for a long time.”
“Did he abuse you in bed?”
“In bed...what do you mean?”
“Did he force you to do things you didn’t want to do?”
“No, but after the first year or so we never did much in bed because he said my body had gotten fat and ugly. I know that was my fault because I couldn’t lose some of the weight after I had the kids. He stayed away a lot. Didn’t come home for days at a time or entire weekends. He was always threatening to do something bad.
“For example.”
“He told me it was his house and he threatened to kick me and the kids out and we’d have to live on the street if I didn’t follow his orders. But that was usually my fault because I did something wrong around the house. Or he’d say he would take the children away because I was a lousy mother. Stuff like that, Sandy, but he never actually abused me.”
“Nita, he emotionally abused you. It must have been a nightmare trying to keep the family and the household together, and deal with him. It would have been almost impossible for you to stand up to him to stop the abuse, and extremely difficult to get out of that marriage. How long had you been married?”
“Nine years.”
“Fortunately your nine year nightmare is over. You need to realize this was all him. It wasn’t you. You were a good wife and good mother. He said those things to keep you upset to control you. You may need some counseling to get all this straight in your mind. I can give you some names of counselors up in Delaware.”
Sandy went to the conference room door. “You two can come back in here.”
“What are you doing?” Kagan asked.
“I’m going to find Nita some money.”
They watched as Sandy took out her phone. She called Kevin while walking away from the group. “Kevin, before I stick my foot in my mouth, didn’t you mention Abby inherited a condo down in West Palm Beach from her father? Are you absolutely certain she still owns it?”
“I’m certain. She keeps complaining rental income is all she has to live on.”
“Are you certain the property isn’t mortgaged?”
“Well now, that I’m not certain of. My guess is if she had to pay a mortgage there wouldn’t be anything left from the rental income.”
“I can find out easily enough. How much do you figure it’d sell for?”
She listened on the phone and then said, “Oh, really. You have the exact address?”
“I can get it for you.”
“Great. Get it for me. See ya.”
Sandy came back to the group. “If we can get a judgment against her, she does have recoverable assets.”
“What do you mean, we? This is my case,” Bronner said.
Kagan spoke up, “Remember under Florida law you can’t touch her primary residence.”
“What’s going on?” Nita asked.
“No, but we can latch on to a fancy condo she owns in West Palm Beach.”
Stunned silence from the men for a full minute.
Then from Bronner, “Excuse me, Miss, how much are we talking about here?”
“How does two million sound? Her ex thinks possibly more. I rounded down.”
“Please explain.” Nita said.
Bronner’s sizzling smile faded as the technical ramifications of pursuing a complicated, high-powered suit sunk in. He looked up at the ceiling. “A two million dollar case? I can’t do this. I mean, I’m not certain I can handle this. I’ve been doing divorces and simple cases like that.”
Sandy said, “I’d be happy to assist you.”
“You would? I’d be immensely grateful.”
“I don’t come cheap.”
He smiled.
Sandy didn’t smile. “I’m serious. It’ll cost you big time. You might get half a million on contingency out of this. I want part of that. In return, I’ll not only work on the case, but also provide you inside information you couldn’t possible develop without me. Your future will be assured and this case just might make you the go-to attorney for
