CHAPTER 7
Bill Malloy’s first few weeks at the union had been fruitful. There were over a hundred compensation cases outstanding and he had dictated letters by the dozen to the employers concerned. A week later he followed up with telephone calls. Most of the responses were both negative and offensive but in a dozen or so cases he was listened to and meetings were arranged which led to settlements. The amounts of compensation achieved were at least double what the union had expected.
He got the agreement of most of the recipients to leaving 25 per cent of the total amount in a fighting fund. The balance to be paid after a year with interest added at 6 per cent. He then picked out six claims against large companies that he was satisfied he had a good chance of winning. He went to the two district courts concerned and then to the local papers, giving them details of the claims and a timetable of the evasions by the companies concerned. The companies all made products used by most families and some claims had been in action for two years. They were all for injuries so serious that the member concerned would not be able to work again. Four of them involved accidents incurred when driving fork-lift trucks or in two cases light locomotives on a works siding.
His efforts led to no press headlines but the claims and delays were publicised with a brief editorial giving details of enormous profits earned by four of the companies concerned.
The first meeting he was asked to attend was at a company that made cookers and iceboxes with a household name.
The offices were palatial and the other side were represented by a well-known lawyer and their production director.
It was the lawyer who did the talking when they were sitting around the big table.
“My name’s Hancox, Mr. Malloy. My firm’s offices are on Madison. I thought it might be equitable if we met here at my client’s offices.”
“It suits me, Mr. Hancox. I’m pleased to meet you. I’ve seen your name in the papers.”
“How long have you been out of law school, Mr. Malloy?”
“About six months.”
“And you’re full-time with the union I understand.”
“Yes.”
“Now this claim.” He smiled. A smile as between knowing friends. “Fifty thousand dollars and a pension for life.” He paused. “What do you base that on?”
“I’ve got medical certificates from the family doctor and two specialists that confirm that he won’t ever work again. The claim has been ignored for two years by your client. Not even an acknowledgement of the letters the man wrote to your client. The State Statistics Office quotes 40,000 dollars as typical settlement in similar cases. The extra 10,000 are for aggravated damages caused by your client’s unwillingness to negotiate a settlement.”
Hancox nodded. “Of course you’ll understand that other medical experts might query your medical offerings.”
“The court can judge for itself. The man is permanently in a wheelchair.”
“And the pension. How is that arrived at?”
“He was earning four thousand dollars a year when he worked. His only income now is ten dollars a week from the union and five dollars a week from the Brooklyn social services fund. I think he should get 75 per cent of his working wage.”
“I see. I noticed that a local paper printed a quite scurrilous attack on my client. Was that your doing?”
“I gave all the local papers the facts. No opinion. Just the facts.”
“I think I ought to warn you that we are taking legal action against the paper concerned.”
“The court won’t like that, Mr. Hancox. They’ll see it as an attempt to stifle the facts. It could be construed as harassment even.”
“But you agree that our conversation today is confidential?”
“No way. You didn’t stipulate that and as far as I’m concerned it doesn’t apply.”
“Is this the first compensation claim you’ve handled, Mr. Malloy?”
“No. It’s the first that I’ve had to go to court about.”
“And the others?” He smiled. “They just caved in?”
“No. We established the facts and they accepted their responsibility.”
“You realise that the legal costs of these sorts of cases can be very heavy. Especially for the losing party.”
Malloy smiled. “The union’s established a legal fund. It’s quite capable of coping with this claim.”
“I’m assuming that you set great store on winning this claim so that it creates a precedent for your claims on other large companies.”
“You’re absolutely right.”
“Why did you pick on my client?”
“There’re five others in your client’s league so I went through them all in great detail. I also consulted a legal specialist on workman’s compensation. The case against your client looked to be a winner. Also the length of time in which you ignored the claim will not go unnoticed.”
“And if you lose the case?”
“We’d go to appeal. But we won’t lose it, Mr. Hancox. You know that as well as I do.”
“And if you win. What’s the first thing you’d do?”
Malloy hesitated for a moment and then smiled. “I’d probably go out and get smashed.”
Hancox smiled but only faintly. “Would you mind having a cup of coffee in the secretary’s office while I discuss this with my client?”
“Not at all.”
As Malloy waited in the secretary’s office he was sure that he would get an offer and that would be the basis for further negotiation. They had obviously intended to scare him with a name like Hancox but in fact it helped him. Hancox had a good reputation for doing his homework and Malloy had worked hard on assembling his case. Hancox would recognise that it was a sound case whereas some in-house lawyer would have to stick to his instructions to fight all the way. Good lawyers kept clients out of courts wherever possible. Hancox hadn’t questioned the evidence on negligence because Malloy had discovered that a factory inspector had previously condemned the truck
