Page 124 of Maddy's Justice

Since sitting down in front of Melanie’s desk Marc had been sullenly staring out the window behind her desk.

“What’s wrong with him?” Melanie asked.

Connie patronizingly patted Marc on the arm and said, “He misses his girlfriend.”

“Poor baby,” Melanie said. “Although I have met her, and I can see why.”

“See!” Marc said to Connie. “She gives great back rubs.”

“Did you bring a copy for each of the guys?” Melanie asked.

“Yes,” Connie said.

“Okay. So, you don’t have to go through this twice, let’s go to Brandon’s office. They’re supposed to be waiting.”

Cliff Spenser answered the door and opened it for them.

“Please come in Marc, Connie, thanks for making the trip downtown,” he said while shaking hands.

The six of them took seats on a sofa and chairs around a small coffee table. When they were all situated, Brandon Stafford asked, “Well, what’s the bottom line?”

“Just shy of ten million,” Connie said. “Nine point six eight to be precise.”

“That’s absurd,” Stafford said. “Who do these women think they are? Ten million bucks to junior associates. Why? Because they didn’t get the job they want?”

While he was ranting, everyone else went silent waiting for him to get it over with. When he finished, Marc spoke first.

“Maybe you should call Washington and check with MacAlister. He can explain the concept of punitive damages to you.”

Marc was staring right at Stafford and when he said this, Stafford’s eyes narrowed, and his lips pursed together.

“If we go to trial, you’re gonna get slapped a lot harder than that. The ten million is the expert’s calculation of the present value of lost earnings for all six of them. It’s all spelled out in the document we brought. That is from our expert. You can bet Lori Quinn knows an expert that will add at least another five million on top of it.”

“Are you done with depositions?” Cliff Spenser asked trying to bring the room temperature down.

“No, we have a couple more to do,” Marc replied more calmly. “But that’s another problem. These women aren’t nervous grandmas. They stood up to me like a rock. I couldn’t shake any of them.

“And,” he continued turning back to Brandon Stafford, “your boy Troy will come across as an arrogant, entitled, little brat.”

“Lori Quinn told me she wants Troy fired,” Connie said.

“What? That’s…” Stafford started to say.

“Relax, Brandon,” Cliff said. “They can’t get that at trial, so we don’t need to agree to it.”

“What will it take?” Gavin Blake asked looking at both Connie and Melanie.

“Sixteen, minimum,” Connie said. “Their present value of lost earnings plus another million each.”

“Let’s go over it,” Cliff said picking up his copy of the earnings report.

“One point six five for Stephanie Chapple,” Marc began. “One point six five for Anna Morris; one point four for Julia Hall, one point six for Carmen Navarro; one point six eight for Brianna Kras and one point five for Emily Barkley.”

Marc did this from memory while ticking off each one on his fingers. Connie was staring at him wondering how he did it since she did not think he had even read the report.

“Why not offer them an extra couple hundred each?” Stafford asked. “These aren’t genius lawyers. They’re hardly irreplaceable.”

Marc leaned forward, elbows on his knees and said, “Brandon, if they take the fifteen point six eight, a million plus our present value calculations, you should get down on one knee and kiss my ring.”

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