Chapter 34

 

Nelson Platt sat in his den holding the scrap of paper that Adam Hampton II smuggled to him during his visit. He read and re-read the grim message unsure of the emotions that were welling up inside. He felt a solitary tear flow down his left cheek as feelings of concern, fear, dismay and anger roiled in his mind. If only I had worked harder on his behalf he might not be in this predicament. I should have appealed the hearings. Why did I trust his son? There was so much more I could have done. Instead of being loyal to him I fell for his son’s story of how much he was going to do to make sure his father would always have the best of care. What a fool I was. Adam, my friend, I’m so sorry I let you down. I hope it’s not too late to help you now .I’ll try my best.

Nelson Platt was Adam’s attorney when he suffered from what was diagnosed as spontaneous dementia; Adam’s sudden irrationality and violence, requiring restraint. His son hired a team of specialists who ran four days of intensive tests on his father and concluded that the neural damage to Adam Hampton’s brain was irreversible. This would prove to be damning evidence if he could arrange for another competency hearing.

Adam Hampton III had a team of specialists testify that they had never observed such a rapid deterioration in an individual, especially one that was previously involved in a multitude of mentally stimulating activity. They concluded that Adam Hampton II, due to mental deficiency, was incapable of managing his personal affairs or of discharging the duties of CEO of Hampton Industries. Nelson also had a panel of experts review the test results. They concurred that the prognosis for Adam was a lifetime of monitored care. With proper treatment, consisting of the latest drugs, they predicted that Adam would live anywhere from ten to twenty additional years without any hope of reversing the neural damage. His son presented, to the court, his plan to provide the best of care for his father.

At the time, Nelson accepted the inevitability of his client’s fate. Reluctantly, he acceded to Adam Hampton III’s request to be named as guardian of his father’s estate. The petition outlined elaborate plans to renovate Hampton Manor to provide a protected environment for his father. He was convinced that it was the best solution at the time.

Adam Hampton II’s majority ownership of Hampton Industries was adjudicated independently from his personal affairs. In a separate decree, Adam Hampton II was found to be mentally incompetent to continue as CEO and his son Adam Hampton III, at the time Senior Vice-President of Operations was named to operate the enterprise as acting CEO and has been at the helm of Hampton Industries since that day. The company has prospered under his leadership, restoring the prestige that was Hampton Industries’ during its glory days.

Immediately upon securing the judgments, Adam’s son fired Platt and cut him off from any contact with his father; even going as far as to threaten him with disbarment if he attempted to make any contact with his father. In retrospect, Nelson realized that a red flag should have been raised in his mind when Adam III shut his father off from all contact with the outside world. Why didn’t I see what he was up to?

That was water under the bridge. Nelson had to base his decisions on what was in the best interests of his client, now. I wish I had had the foresight to insist that the court allow for contingencies, especially with the research being conducted at the time in the area of mental health. That file I saw the other day on Adam’s progress proves that courts need to provide for periodic testing and not be so quick to accept judgments by so called “expert witnesses” that a condition is irreversible. I’m so sorry I let you down, Adam. Now I can only hope that I can prove to them that another competency hearing is justified. Well, here goes.

He dialed the number of Michael Dennison, the senior partner at his old firm, Dennison, Platt and Stevens of New Haven, Connecticut.

“Mike, Nelson, here.”

“Nel, it’s so great hearing from you. How’s retirement suiting you?”

“So far so good,” Mike, “but I’m going to need a favor from you.”

“Ask and it’s yours.”

“I need to come back to the office for one more case; something I left undone.”

“Tell me what I can do.”

Platt spent the next few minutes bringing Michael up to date with Adam’s situation.

“I think I understand. What do you want me to do?

“Set up some space for me. Any corner will do. I’ll need a phone, access to a computer and a para-legal that’s familiar with competency cases.”

 “That’s easy. I have an empty office. I’ll have it set up in about an   hour. Anything else I can do?”

“Yes there is. Time is precious in this case. I need to get a hearing set up for Adam in the next two days and I want to get him out of Hampton Manor immediately. I want him under the care of a court sanctioned medical facility. I don’t trust his son. If he gets wind of his father asking for a competency hearing, there is no telling what he might do. Changes in his medicine got him out of his dementia, it could just as easily put him right back in. He needs to be at a neutral facility. Please do what you can to make this happen.”

“I’ll see what I can do. I know a few judges that are sympathetic to situations such as this. Familial abuse is very common today. It will probably take me a few days, though”

“Do the best you can. I’m on my way over there now. If you need to contact me, call on my cell phone.”

Nelson was within a mile of the office when he heard from Dennison.

“Yeah, Mike, what have you got for me?”

“Not good news, Nel. The docket for competency cases is full for at least two weeks. I stressed the urgency, but I was told they were all urgent. The supervising judge was implacable on the matter.”

“Damn, I was afraid of that. How about getting him out of Hampton Manor? We need to protect him from harm while we’re waiting.”

“He also told me that the court would need more than your scrap of paper to take him out of his house. They certified the facility at the time Adam was released from the hospital. There is no viable evidence that his care has deteriorated, quite the contrary from what you tell me. They take all that into consideration in cases like this. You’re just going to have to keep your fingers crossed.”

“I know your right, Mike, but I can’t just sit idly by while he might be in danger. Please keep searching for a case we can use as a precedent.”

“I’ll try a few more contacts. I have Bert Jenkins checking for any precedents we can use to skirt the waiting list. I’ve assigned him to assist you. I’m sorry I can’t do any more than that right now.

“I know you’re doing your best. I’m pretty sure that Hampton doesn’t suspect anything. Adam and I put on a good show for him. I just hope that there is enough time for us to get him out of there once his son finds out what we’re up to. He’s got a lot to lose if we’re successful. I can’t shake the feeling that he’ll stop at nothing to prevent us from succeeding.”

“We’ll just have to risk that.”