Tuesday, March 4, 2008 10:03 PM CST
REVIEW: 'The Appeal' By John Grisham
By Juanita Sherwood
“The Appeal” is John Grisham’s new legal thriller — and thriller it is.
As the book opens, the jury is returning a verdict after a lengthy, hard-fought wrongful-death case in trial court. The attorneys for the plaintiff are a husband/wife team, the Paytons, who have sacrificed financially, professionally and emotionally to win the case.
And win they do: the jury awards $3 million to their client in actual damages, for the death of a husband and son, and $38 million in punitive damages — a total of $41 million against a chemical company, Krane.
Krane had operated a chemical manufacturing plant for many years in the Mississippi town of Bowmore. It hauled away its byproducts according to government regulations, but the water supply in the community eventually began to taste and smell bad, then to look bad. Even deep ground water was contaminated.
Krane maintained that it had done nothing wrong, but investigators eventually determined that illegal dumping had occurred on company sites. Citizens of the community had been dying of larger-than-normal numbers of cancer, 15 times the national average, and had been given the nickname “Cancer County.”
The first of the lawsuits against Krane was filed and won by the Paytons on behalf of Jeanette Baker, whose husband had died of esophageal cancer and son had died of leukemia.
After the award, Mary Grace and Wes Payton are aware that the case will likely be appealed and make preparations for such. Other residents of the community, including a faithful and caring minister, Denny Ott, hang on to hope that Krane will be made to be responsible for cleaning up its mess and compensate others who have lost loved ones or are terminally ill themselves.
In New York City, Carl Trudeau lives a life of luxury hardly even imaginable by most. He spends his days adding to his billions and finding ways to keep it. He is dismayed by the “incompetence” of the lawyers he and his associates had hired to defend the company in the lawsuit.
He is concerned about the effect the verdict will have on his company’s worth, of which Krane is only a part, and on his personal reputation among financiers on Wall Street. He vows to see that Krane does not have to pay.
Thus, begins the contrast of effort by attorneys for the plaintiff and effort by those hired by Carl Trudeau to nullify the verdict — each preparing for the appeal.
The plaintiff side of the dispute shows a side of people that is very easy for the reader to be sympathetic to. The side dominated by the machinations of Carl Trudeau is easy to dislike intensely. Much time and effort by both sides is spent trying to cause the appeal to be decided on its behalf.
The Mississippi State Court, which will hear the appeal, has nine justices, three from each of three districts. The justices are elected to a term of eight years with no limits on terms served. Many decisions come down to a 5-4 split, thus the manipulation begins to change the make-up of the court with the next election, after which the appeal will surely be heard.
This book is typical Grisham in that it focuses on one or more aspects of the legal system, and as a bonus, the political system, especially in this election year. Manipulation by those who are in a position to do so, given the opportunity and large amounts of money in their possession, is a feature that cannot be ignored.
Does David slay Goliath? You’ll have to find out for yourself. To say otherwise would spoil the read.
Sherwood of Charleston is a retired reading teacher.
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