Sycamore Row - John Grisham

34
Jake was in the middle of a fairly productive morning when he heard the unmistakable
sound of Harry Rex’s size 13s clomping up his already battered wooden staircase. He
took a deep breath, waited, then watched as the door burst open without the slightest
trace of a polite knock. “Good morning, Harry Rex,” he said.
“You ever heard of the Whiteside clan from over by the lake?” he asked, huffing as he
fell into a chair.
“Distantly. Why do—”
“Craziest bunch of lunatics I’ve ever run across. Last weekend Mr. Whiteside caught
his wife in bed with one of their sons-in-law, so that makes two divorces all of a sudden.
Before that, one of their daughters had filed and I got that one. So now I got—”
“Harry Rex, please, I really don’t care.” Jake knew the stories could go on forever.
“Well, excuse me. I’m here because they’re all in my office right now, kicking and
scratching, and we just had to call the law. I’m so sick of my clients, all of them.” He
wiped his forehead with a sleeve. “You got a Bud Light?”
“No. I have some coffee.”
“The last thing I need. I talked to the insurance company this morning and they’re
offering one thirty-five. Take it, okay? Now.”
Jake thought he was joking and almost laughed. The insurance company had been
stuck on $100,000 for two years. “You’re serious?”
“Yes, I’m serious dear client. Take the money. My secretary is typing the settlement
agreement now. She’ll bring it over by noon. Take it and get Carla to sign it and hustle
the damned thing back to my office. Okay?”
“Okay. How’d you do it?”
“Jake, my boy, here’s where you screwed up. You filed the case in Circuit Court and
demanded a jury because after the Hailey trial you let your ego get carried away and
you figured any insurance company would be terrified of facing you, the great Jake
Brigance, in front of a jury in Ford County. I saw it. Others saw it. You sued for punitive
damages and you figured you’d get a big verdict, make some real money, and knock a
home run on the civil side. I know you and I know that’s what you were thinking, deny
it or not. When the insurance company didn’t blink, the two sides settled into the
trenches, things got personal, and the years went by. The case needed a fresh set of
eyes, and it also needed someone like me who knows how insurance companies think.
Plus, I told them I’d non-suit the case in Circuit Court, dismiss it, and then refile in
Chancery Court where I pretty much control the docket and everything else. The idea of