Where Mercy Is Shown, Mercy Is Given - Duane Dog Chapman [12]
Our meeting was set in Quadra’s office the following day. A&E’s lawyer, Beth, and myself were all seated in the conference room. Bollard came by himself.
As planned, we let Bollard talk first. He tried to convince us that everything was going as expected. Quadra began asking Bollard several questions on a couple of matters that he had explored.
It had become obvious to Bollard that we had sought the advice and opinions of some other experts when suddenly the conference room doors swung open with the dramatic flair of Zorro arriving to avenge the death of his father, and we heard:
“Hello! I am Alberto Zinser! Am I in the right place?” Alberto spoke with the greatest accent. He sounded like a Spanish matador. He was accompanied by Eduardo Amerena, who was silent, yet equally powerful.
I could tell that Beth wanted to jump up and start clapping when Alberto made his very impressive entrance. Zorro had arrived to save the Dog! All I could think was Olé!
Bill Bollard almost swallowed his head when he set his eyes upon Zinser, a legal legend in Mexico.
Zinser introduced himself to Bollard and began to have a dialogue in Spanish. Now…I had heard Bollard make dozens of calls to Mexico over the couple of years he represented me. He spoke what I believed was fluent Spanish. He looked at Quadra several times while he was speaking, as if he understood everything he was saying. I only picked up a few words here and there because Alberto was talking so fast. I could tell he was saying something about prison, a release, and so on.
Bollard shook his head, nodding, pursing his lips and then he answered Zinser…in English. It was painfully clear to me that my lawyer didn’t speak fluent Spanish and was having a difficult time keeping up.
Bollard began explaining the situation to Zinser. “I can’t get the judge to make a decision, and the team of people I have down in Mexico aren’t really working, and…” Blah, blah, blah was all I heard while Bollard kept talking.
Alberto Zinser stopped Bollard by slamming his hand on the conference room table and saying, “You see? This is pissing me off. You are telling lies about my country. You are making liars of my people and they are not. And this is pissing me off.” I glanced over at Beth, who looked like she was courtside watching the finals at the U.S. Open, her head darting back and forth as this exchange was taking place. Her Cheshire cat grin was hard to ignore.
Next, Quadra suggested we get Bollard’s Mexican co-counsel Gandara on the phone. He thought Gandara might be able to help us understand or figure out the next course of action since he was on the front line. We wanted Bollard to tell our “consultants” from Mexico what was going on, so we didn’t miss any important details.
Quadra, Zinser, and Amerena started asking Gandara questions, one after another like a rapid-fire machine gun. Eduardo and Alberto were speaking in Spanish, so it was hard for us to follow the conversation, but they later told us they were asking simple procedural questions about the judge, the case, filings, deadlines, and other things Gandara should have absolutely been aware of if he was on top of the case. I don’t know if he was startled by their call or had been sipping margaritas by the seaside, but my new team was not satisfied with Gandara’s answers to most of their questions.
It appeared we had not been told the whole story and had been billed for hours of work that didn’t move the case along.
In the Bible, there’s a verse in Hebrews that says “God will give you the shaking that comes on your spirit when things are not right internally.”
For the first time in years, I was able to catch my breath because I felt I no longer had to worry about my lawyers. I finally felt that