Lunch with Garrison, Part 1

The good news was that the Defense wrapped up their case just a few minutes after the judge usually called for the lunch break. They’d done their best to refute Garrison’s claims and discredit his witnesses, but it had all been done at such a slow pace that it felt hard to even listen for when the really important points were being made.

The bad news was that there were still Closing Statements to be made, which meant once lunch came back it would be Garrison's turn again to run through all the evidence presented for the judge one last time.

As he’d asked you earlier, you, Sabrina, Gemma and Eric waited for Garrison until he was done giving directives to the associates who had sat second and third seat with him. Then he crossed over to speak with the lawyers of the defence. They spoke for almost twenty minutes, leaving the three of you waiting longer than morning recess had lasted, and then he finally shook hands with the lead attorney and wandered back towards you.

“Did you just make a settlement, sir?” Sabrina asked.

“No, no,” Garrison said with a little self-satisfied smirk. “It’s way too late for that for them. We’ll talk about it at lunch, come on.”

The judge had ordered an extra-long lunch, so you had plenty of time to head out of the courthouse. Garrison led you a couple of blocks over and into a dingy little pub that looked more like it was closed than open on the outside and had some sort of an Irish name that was illegible since it probably needed to be repainted in the 90s. The waitress seemed to recognize your boss and waved from where she was working at the bar, and Garrison nodded and led the four of you into the back sitting area. The place was cleaner on the inside than it looked on the outside, and as you were settling around a circular table the waitress came back with single-panel menus. “How you doin’, hon?” she asked Garrison.

“Just fine, Fran,” Garrison said.

You all ordered drinks, Garrison ordering a beer first and winking at the rest of you, so you followed suit. Soon you all had a beer in front of you and your food orders put in.

“Alright,” Garrison said, clasping his hands on the table. “Before we get into the case, we have something else we need to discuss. Eric, John, do you both give your consent to talk about yesterday in front of Gemma and Sabrina?” You both agreed immediately and he nodded. “Good. Here’s an update, then - Devin Zachery, aka. the artist known as ‘DeezChains,’ has been charged with **** in the second degree against John, battery against Eric, and several other charges that may or may not stick. Disturbing the peace, public drunkenness, etc. Those will likely get pleaded down, but the battery is key here. Now, obviously, that is handled by the DA and a prosecutor will be assigned so the firm and I won’t be touching any of it. We can, however, represent you if you’re called in to give a deposition - it’s unlikely to get anywhere beyond that unless Devin Zachery doesn’t listen to any legal advice whatsoever and decides to not cut a plea deal. With all the witnesses and everything being caught on camera, it’s a cut-and-dry case that will likely mean he’ll be on probation for a while, maybe some house arrest.”

“What about civil action?” Eric asked. “I’m clearly injured, and he spouted a lot of disparaging stuff about all of us along with the phoney cease and desists. Can I sue him?”

Garrison sighed and raised an eyebrow at Eric. “Honestly, Eric, you could do that if you wanted but there are some mitigating factors such as you going on and shooting your mouth off on widely accessible podcasts. He doesn’t have a case for slander or defamation on you, but it’s close enough that it would cost you more than you would get in awards. Unless the verdict is worth more to you than your money, I’d suggest just letting it go on the criminal side.”

Eric grimaced a little and sighed. “I have plenty of time to think about it, right?”

“You do,” Garrison said.

“I’m just thinking that the verdict could lead to more opportunities to build my platform,” Eric explained.

Garrison rolled his eyes but nodded. “That’s a decision that is on you. Though… that idiot who represents Zachery is an ass and makes lawyers everywhere look bad. I wouldn’t mind pissing in his cheerios a little more. Let me do some strategizing, we might be able to bait a settlement offer with just a filing and a couple of threats.”

“Isn’t that asking for trouble, though?” you asked. “Like, are we sure this guy is actually as wealthy as he says? What if there’s no money there?”

“That’s something I’ll look into,” Garrison nodded. “Remember, folks, always do your due diligence no matter what area of law you go into. If you’re going to go after someone civilly, make sure the money is there. If you’re a criminal prosecutor, make sure your ducks are in a row and keep an eye out for bad police procedures on everything. Or, like our case, if you’re going to do corporate law make sure to follow every penny and check every memo. Which is a great segway into our other- Ah, here’s lunch.”

The food got delivered, and all five of you took a couple of minutes to dig in. It was basic pub fare, not quite as nice as the place you’d gone to yesterday, but a little more homey in its feel. There were only a dozen people in the place, mostly up near the front or at the bar. The place, you realised, was perfect for a private meeting and with Garrison obviously knowing the waitress you wondered what other clandestine talks he’d had right there at that table before.

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