Chapter 40

 

“Adam, I’m glad I caught up with you.” The caller was Matthew Scheiber, senior partner at Scheiber, Scheiber and Cox, the law firm Adam retained for his personal affairs. “I’m sorry to bother you, Adam, but this is important They told me you were here in New Haven visiting one of your plants and I wanted to catch in case you might want to stop by here on your way home to discuss something that happened earlier today.” 

“What on earth are you talking about?

“I accepted a subpoena on your behalf. Apparently process servers have been trying to serve you for a week or more. Did you ever have a Marcia Bloom working for you?”

“Why? Is she the litigant?”

“Yes, She is. She claims that you owe her back pay and access to her retirement fund. Her subpoena is for Hampton Industries corporate records. I sent that on over to your legal department. In a separate motion, she accuses you of harassment and seeks punitive damages of five million dollars. You have been ordered to appear three weeks from today at 9 o’clock in the morning, here in New Haven. I can’t be there on your behalf. You have to appear in person.”

 “That’s preposterous! Sure, I held up her money, but that was just to teach her a lesson. She left me high and dry by suddenly resigning.”

“Did she perform her duties properly?”

“Yes, but she only gave me two weeks’ notice. I was so pissed I sent her packing. She’s got a hell of a nerve suing me.”

“How long ago was that?”

“About three weeks ago.”

“Adam, you can’t hold her money like that. Were there any questionable business practices that would justify holding her money?”

There was a noticeable delay in Adam’s reply, “Not really, although that bitch was having an affair with someone she was supposed to be riding herd over. I suspect that she held back important information from me.”

“Suspecting her of wrongdoing and having concrete evidence are two different things. Are you withholding monies due her strictly on your suspicions?

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“You can’t do stuff like that Adam, you must know that. Look, I advise you to contact your accounting department and release those funds immediately. The longer you delay, the worse this situation is going to get. Call me when it’s done and I’ll do what I can to squash this subpoena.”

“What about the punitive damages? Can she still go after that after we’ve squared things with her funds?” Matt could hear the frustration in Adam’s voice.

“She can. It’s a separate issue entirely, but this is just an initial hearing for fact-finding. The courts usually don’t like delays at that level. I don’t think you should try to mess around with that hearing. Look, Adam, why not let me talk to her attorney. Once she has her money, she may not feel it’s necessary to push the envelope any further. Or maybe she’ll settle for a token amount just so she feels that you’ve been taught a lesson. A suit for punitive damages is usually filed to fuel action on another issue entirely. It usually works, too. Pay her the money you owe her and let’s see what transpires.”

“Well if you think so.”

“I do. You relax and let me handle everything. Release those funds right away and let me do what you pay me to do.”

“Okay, Matt, I’ll call the office as soon as we hang up. She’ll have her money by noon tomorrow. Personally the sooner I have her out of my hair, the better.”

“Well, let’s hope that’s soon enough. I’ll keep you informed. Before you go, Adam, I got an odd call from one of the partners at Lawton, Jennings & Barth. He said he was doing some preliminary fact finding into your father’s estate. He wanted to know who handled your father’s defense at the competency hearing. I told him it was Nelson Platt.”

“Why did you tell him anything?”

“It’s called professional courtesy. Anyway, it isn’t confidential; it is a matter of public record, after all.”

“Still, the less information you give out, the better. Let them do the searching.”

 “I’m sorry Adam. I should have checked with you first.”

“That‘s okay. I guess I’m just extra sensitive on the subject. My father asked to see Platt the other day on another matter. I didn’t see any harm in it, so I let him visit for about fifteen minutes. I had his visit recorded. As far as I could see, there was nothing going on there, but a trip down memory lane. Still it is odd that his name comes up again. I wonder if he read something into my father’s behavior. I showed him a file on my father’s last visit with his doctor. It showed remarkable progress from the level of dementia that Platt saw at the time of the competency hearings. Could he have seen that as an opportunity to re-open that can of worms again?”

“That’s always possible. I thought that Platt was retired. Still, it is strange that someone would inquire after all this time. You know you shouldn’t have recorded their meeting without informing at least one of them that you were doing so.”

“Tough shit. I’ll testify that I told my father. Who’s going to prove otherwise? Anyway, Platt wasn’t there for anything official. It was a personal visit.”

“That doesn’t matter. Well, it’s water under the bridge. Just be more careful, please. You’re taking too many chances. Sometimes you’re your own worst enemy. Be sure to clear legal matters with me. Stop being such a loose cannon. You’re going to get yourself into a real mess one of these days and I may not be able to help you.”

Adam could sense the displeasure in the attorney’s voice. “I will, I promise.”

“I’ll make some discrete inquiries about Platt and get back to you.”

“I appreciate that. I’m going to leave here in about an hour. I plan to visit with my father tonight, so anything you find out will be appreciated. Use my cell phone number for the next three hours if you need to.”

“I’ll do that, Adam.”

An hour later Matt called Adam.

“Matt, did you find out anything?”

“I did, but you’re not going to like it. It seems that today is get Adam Hampton day.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Well I did a sweep of any open inquiries regarding Hampton Industries or you personally. It seems that your ex-wife has taken out a complaint claiming you willfully sold her personal antique jewelry collection without her permission. I seem to recall that that issue came up during your divorce negotiations.”

“It did, but she made a bigger issue out of the mortgage deed forgery. Once we made our offer, the issue of the jewelry was dropped; or so I thought. Isn’t there a statute of limitations on that kind of thing? It’s been years since that happened.”

“Not where a felony is concerned. This could be very serious.”

“What’s going to happen now?”

“I expect that they’ll issue an Interrogatory. That’s a written list of questions that must be answered and returned by a specified date.”

It got very quiet on Adam’s end, so Matt continued, “Let’s wait until we get the papers. Then I’ll ask that the claim be dismissed on the basis of a verbal agreement between you two. We’ll tie her up legally for as long as we can. If there’s something else behind this move, on her part, there will be time for it to shake out.”

Matt took a deep breath and continued, “There is one more thing. Right now, all I know about it is a heads-up that I got from a close friend at Terwilliger & Benson.”

“Spit it out! It can’t be any worse than the rest of this shit you’ve been telling me. What is it?”

“Local 33 of SEWU was in negotiations with McKnight Sports, Inc., recently. You apparently made two rather large payments to SEWU while the negations were ongoing. There is a possible violation of the National Labor Relations Act. That could mean imprisonment and some hefty fines if they get a conviction. Either way there could be some nasty press when it becomes public. It’s hard to contain these things once they start filing legal papers.”

“What are you talking about? That’s ridiculous. I made two contributions to Local 33. That was for the best interests of the community. My record of cooperation with labor unions is an open book. Who’s behind these allegations?”

“I don’t know for certain. It’s possible that Daniel McKnight is responsible, but from what I’ve heard he turned ownership of the stadiums over to the city. That would seem to make this a non-issue as far as he is concerned, but you can never tell with the Feds. That’s as much as my friend was willing to tell me. The whole matter may be dropped before it gets anywhere, so, once again, I suggest we just wait and see.”

“What about Platt? I hope you don’t have more bad news for me.”

“I couldn’t find out anything except he’s setting up an office at his old firm. That’s all I know. I’ll keep my ears open and let you if I hear anything,”

“Damn, what a day. I seem to be swimming around in a pool of sharks. I’m glad I have you watching my back.”

“Remember that the next time we sit down to negotiate my retainer.”

Adam chuckled. Don’t you blood suckers get enough, he thought; five hundred thousand a year and special charges.

The pressure on Adam was building, All this and then I have to deal with my father tonight. If I didn’t have to drive, I’d stop and have a few drinks. I could sure use a Rusty Nail right now. He looked at his watch, Only two more hours to go. Time to get home, have supper and spend some time getting my thoughts together. Matt can take care of Marcia, Lauren and McKnight. I’ve got enough to do to take care of the old man and his mysterious bastard son.