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But hopefully, within the next weeks we will be able to make an announcement that we will defend Susette and the other “hold-outs” (we prefer to call them “freedom-fighters”) who wish to fight once the condemnation papers are filed.

Please, everyone, let’s keep this low-key for now and not let it leak, especially to the media. We want to maintain the element of surprise!

Sarah Steffian had no doubt Bullock and the institute would take Susette’s case. She forwarded Bullock’s e-mail to Fred Paxton with a note: “Impress upon Susette the great importance of not speaking to anyone outside of our group about her plans, the IJ, the lawsuit, or anything else relating to any of it! I know she considers you as someone who is individually sympathetic to her plight … I believe that Scott Bullock called Susette yesterday before he sent the e-mail and that shortly thereafter the mailman knew all about it … So, short of sitting on her, anything you can do to get her to keep appropriate silence is not only helpful, but downright necessary! Sarah.”

Paxton gave Susette a call. She told him not to worry. “I’m not sayin’ nothin’ to no one,” she said.

29

A DEMANDING BEAST

The NLDC had blown through millions of dollars in state money and had almost nothing to show for it. The state would not approve more funding without first seeing some investment by other stakeholders. If the NLDC didn’t come up with some quick cash, it would have trouble paying the salaries of those responsible for carrying out the eminent-domain takings.

Claire organized a stakeholder campaign. She set a goal to raise $750,000 from private investors. She targeted businesses that would benefit financially from the NLDC’s development plan. Sure enough, banks, construction contractors, law firms, and wealthy individuals with ties to NLDC board members pledged five- and six-figure donations.

Still short, Claire turned to Pfizer. It pledged $75,000. On October 30, Claire issued a press release: “We are extremely fortunate to have Pfizer as a partner in moving New London forward,” she said. “Beyond their presence as a leading member of the New London business community, their substantial involvement in the Stakeholders Campaign is further evidence of their commitment to the future of New London.”

With its capital campaign completed, the NLDC instructed its law firm to initiate eminent-domain takings against all remaining holdouts in Fort Trumbull.

Ultimately, the decision whether to take the case of the Fort Trumbull property owners fell to Chip Mellor, the forty-nine-year-old founder and president of the Institute for Justice. The concept behind the Institute for Justice was the notion of entrepreneurial lawyering at no charge to the clients. There were no contingency-fee cases either. All of the institute’s funding came from private donors. To Mellor, litigation was always about much more than winning a single case. In his world, cases had to be platforms for a cause that went beyond any one individual.

When he had formed the institute, in 1991 and at age forty, he developed a simple formula for selecting cases: (1) sympathetic clients; (2) outrageous facts; and (3) evil villains. Based on the reports Bullock had been giving him about New London, Mellor concluded the situation there satisfied all three criteria. He had high hopes that his organization could help the residents of Fort Trumbull and that the fight could end up helping many others around the country. But Mellor agreed with Bullock that one more visit to Fort Trumbull was necessary to sort out which property owners were truly committed to the fight.

November 16, 2000

Eager for Bullock to arrive, Susette worked with Amy Hall-quist to arrange interviews for him with ten prospective plaintiffs. The meetings were scheduled thirty minutes apart. Susette put herself and Von Winkle first and second on the list.

Seated across from Susette at her kitchen table, Bullock began by assuring her there would be no legal fees.

She laughed. “That’s good, because I don’t have any money.”