Found Money - James Grippando [94]
“Judge Novak’s chambers is on line one,” she said.
“Novak?”
“The judge in Dr. Duffy’s divorce case.”
What now? he thought, then picked up. “Hello.”
The judge’s deputy was on the line. “Mr. Klusmire, I have Phil Jackson on a conference call. Since Mr. Jackson’s injuries prevent him from coming to the courthouse in person, the judge has agreed to hold a telephonic hearing on his emergency motion to reschedule the deposition of Brent Langford. Please hold for the judge.”
Norm heard the click of the hold button. He and Jackson were alone. “Emergency motion? What kind of rescheduling you talking about?”
“If you knew anything about practice in family court, Klusmire, you’d know that the rules don’t allow us to take a deposition on a Saturday. I originally set Brent’s deposition for Thursday of next week, but I have to depose him tomorrow.”
“Why?”
“Because his depo could lead to evidence that your client is responsible for the injuries that put me in the hospital. If that proves to be the case, I need to get a restraining order issued as soon as possible to protect both me and my client from any further abuse at the hands of Dr. Duffy.”
“What in the world are you talking about?”
“It’s all in the papers I filed. Check your in box, chump.”
Norm hadn’t even checked the morning mail. He riffled through the pile, found an envelope from Jackson’s office, and tore it open. It took only a second to see what Jackson was really up to. The rescheduling of the deposition was secondary. His primary objective was simply to poison the judge’s mind with wild accusations against Ryan.
That son of a bitch.
The judge joined them on the line. “Good morning, gentlemen. I’ve read Mr. Jackson’s papers. Excellent, as usual. Mr. Klusmire, on what grounds are you opposing the motion?”
“Your Honor, if I could just have a minute to read through it. I haven’t really had a chance to consider it.”
Jackson jumped in. “Judge, the motion was hand-delivered to Mr. Klusmire’s office last night. It was plainly marked as urgent. In my cover letter I urged him to call me here at the hospital by 9:00 A.M. if he would agree to let me take the deposition on Saturday instead of Thursday of next week. I hate to burden the court with an emergency motion on a simple scheduling matter, but Mr. Klusmire never called me. I had no choice but to petition the court.”
The judge grumbled. “Mr. Klusmire, I’ve never met you, but this is the second time we’ve talked on the telephone. The first time was the other night when you called me at home, in direct violation of my rules against ex parte communications.”
“Judge, I swear I was paged by—”
“Never interrupt me,” he said harshly. “I don’t like the way you practice, Mr. Klusmire. Good lawyers don’t call judges at home. And they don’t force other lawyers to seek emergency relief from the court where good old-fashioned courtesy and cooperation should enable the lawyers to work things out themselves.”
“That’s what I always say,” said Jackson.
“Now,” the judge continued, “I’ve read the affidavit Mr. Jackson submitted in support of his motion, and I must say I am deeply disturbed. If Dr. Duffy and his brother-in-law are in any way responsible for this attack against Mr. Jackson, I want to put a stop to this before somebody else gets hurt. The request to take the deposition of Brent Langford a few days early is entirely reasonable. In fact, if Mr. Jackson weren’t injured, I would dispense with the deposition and proceed directly with a hearing on whether a restraining order should be imposed against Dr. Duffy.”
“Judge,” said Jackson, “I’m feeling better already. If the court has room on its busy calendar for an evidentiary hearing, I owe it to my client to be there.”
“Are you sure you’re up for it? Physically?”
“Yes. It was a mild concussion. Believe it or not, having your face smashed against a windshield looks a lot worse than it is.”
The judge