"Nick, wait up." " Catch up with me." " I got a meeting to get to." " I have a favor to ask." " No." " You haven't even heard what it is." " I don't do favors." " Not even for me?" " Especially not for you." "I pay you to answer my phone, manage my schedule, not hawk me for favors." "Hawk you?" "When do I ever hawk you?" " Oh, please." " Is "hawking" even a word?" "My sister's friend needs a lawyer." "Well, have her call the office like people are doing right now." "Getting voicemail and moving onto another lawyer, costing me business." "Now get back to the desk." "So you'll see her?" " Fine, whatever." "Unh!" " Nick, meet Lacy Whitten." "I can't do this now." "I have a meeting with the Burgers." "I rescheduled it." "Lacy, don't worry." "Nick is the best." "Hi, Lacy, nice to meet you." " Get to work." " Okay." "You wanna have a seat, um?" "Okay, Lacy, what's going on?" "How can I help you?" "Everyone says I need a lawyer." "And why are they saying that?" " I was arrested." " What was the charge?" "I defaced the new high-rise office building downtown." "How did you deface it?" "Spray-painted "Built in blood" on the facade." ""Built in blood"?" "Why would you do something like that?" "My husband Troy died during construction." "I'm so sorry." "This must be difficult." "Having to identify someone you love who fell seven stories?" "Yeah." " It's been difficult." " Of course." "Well, the spray-painting, you know, under the circumstances," "I think everybody is gonna understand the act." "Have you had grief counseling?" "One day at a time." "It's a journey, not a destination." "No, thanks." "Well, if we can say that you're willing to," "I'm sure I can get the charges dropped or at least reduced down to a slap-on-the-wrist fine." "Grief counselors are bloodsuckers that prey on the bereaved." "Like lawyers." "Right." "Look, um, the DA, even in conviction-happy Vegas, they're not in the business of throwing a book at a grieving widow." "I'll see if I can make this go away." "That's it?" "Sure." "Okay." " Thanks." " Nice to meet you, Lacy." "You are never gonna guess who's in our waiting room." "I'll give you a hint." "He's a super-famous blogger." "It's an oxymoron." " It's like saying super-famous dentist." " Aron Ayles." "He writes "Truth Hurts More."" "It's a blog about what's going on in Vegas." "Everybody reads him." " Everybody my age." " I'm old." "Funny." "Your résumé is updated, right?" "Mr. Ayles." "Mr. Kaczmarek, this is Aron Ayles." "Of course, I know who he is." "Please have a seat." " How can I help you?" " By taking my case." "So far, every lawyer I've talked to has said it's unwinnable." "It's because all the lawyers you talked to are gutless mama's boys." "Give me the details." "Well, I'm a blogger." " "Truth Hurts More." Love your work." " Huh." "Well, I'm here about Friday's post about Colin Pettigrew." " The Colin Pettigrew?" " Yeah." "I love that guy." "He is the best illusionist in town." "We have the same dry cleaner." "That's great." "Well, he's suing me for revealing on my blog how he does the illusion to close out his show." "Here is a link to that trick." "Okay." "Well, let me see the complaint." "Yeah." "It alleges that you violated the Uniform Trade Secrets Act." "It's gonna come down to whether you stole the trick." "I did not." "A source told me how it was done." "They subpoenaed me to find out who it is." "And you'd rather not say." "Bloggers have a rap for being irresponsible cranks." "I give up my source, no one is ever gonna talk to me again." "Well, Nevada has one of the strongest shield laws in the country protecting journalists." "Unfortunately, that does not apply to bloggers." "That's what every other lawyer already said." "Yet." "When we're done, it will." "You ready to kick some ass and make new law?" "Absolutely." "I file a motion to block the subpoena." "If they can't compel Aron to reveal his source, they can't prove that the trick was stolen." "Yeah, it might work." "Zoey." "I thought we talked about this last week." "We are doughnut people, not pastry people." "Pastries try too hard." "And they're expensive." "And until some of our clients pay back the money they owe us, just plain doughnuts." "They're barter pastries." "Mr. Silva, the baker, he wanted to thank you for being understanding about missing his payment this month." "You know what?" "We gotta get one of those meters that cab drivers have and put it in the office and make our clients pay as they go." "Hmm." "Wanna know how Pettigrew does his trick?" "No, I do not." " Never, ever, ever do I wanna know." " Why not?" "It's magic." "Give me a quarter." "I am gonna make your quarter go through this desk." "All right." "Don't laugh, all right?" "You know why you're clapping like a seal?" "Because I fooled you." " Absolutely." "How did you do that?" " I'm not gonna tell you." "That's the whole point of magic." "Is that it fills you with wonderment." "And by giving away the secret, that destroys the possibility of wonder." "And that's exactly what your blabbermouth client just did" " to everyone who read his blog." " He was a journalist uncovering facts." "Oh, journalist my ass." "Any idiot with a computer and a Wi-Fi connection can spew hateful, vindictive crap and call it journalism." "This is about that blogger who rated all the Vegas attorneys." "It is not." "Look, the rating was subjective." "Who cares if I was rated number nine and you were rated a hundred and something?" "That is not the point." "The point is mainstream media follows ethical protocols that bloggers do not." "And I was 98." "Don't be mad." "Built in blood!" "Built in blood!" "Built in blood!" " Yeah!" " Built in blood!" "Built in blood!" "You have the right to remain silent." "Built in blood!" "Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law." "You have a right to an attorney." "Yeah." "That would be lucky me." "Well, congratulations." "I assume you wanna go to jail." "They killed my husband." "Explain how continuing to be arrested helps with your grieving process." "Well, my grief and its process is none of your business." "Okay." "You know, this all could be none of my business if you want." "It's not like I woke up this morning went, "Oh, happy day" " if I can only represent Lacy Whitten."" " Get me out of here." "Well, now that you've asked so nicely." "They're not gonna let you out unless you promise to stop with these public scenes." "Well, I'm gonna keep protesting until someone listens." "All right, start with me." "You want people to listen, but you won't talk to anyone?" "More than once Troy came home saying that working conditions on that site were unsafe." " Did he mention any specifics?" " He wouldn't say any more." "He didn't wanna lose his job." "Hey, we came out here from Kansas during the building boom." "It's the first real money we'd ever seen." "He told me not to say anything either." "Now I'm up every night wishing that I told everyone I'd met." "His fall, did you see the accident report?" "Heh, the developers just shove me off to the city and the city just sends me right back to them." " No one wants to tell you the truth." " Right, right, right." "Well, at the risk of sounding like a bloodsucking lawyer, you're gonna need to sue." "I don't want money." " I want answers." " That's my point." "If you file a wrongful death, it will force them to hand over all relevant documents." "And then you'll be able to see, one way or the other, if the unsafe conditions contributed to Troy's accident." "Okay." "Then do it." "Can you get me released?" "Pretty please?" "Will you go to a grief counselor?" "Pretty please?" "Lacy, I have to give them something." "Fine." "If it gets me out." "Okay." "But from now on, you let me do my job." "I'll see about making this right." "This motion is for a protective order blocking opposing counsel's subpoena compelling my client to name his source." "You are aware NRS 49.275, invoking journalistic protection, doesn't include Internet media." "Yes, but, uh, that's gotta change." "Bloggers have been granted White House press credentials." "They've covered presidential debates." "Won major journalism awards." "The publisher of the New York Times has gone on record as saying, "In the near future, his paper will exist only on the Web."" "I'm looking for your point, counselor." "When that happens, are all of his reporters and editors gonna lose their journalistic privileges and protections?" "No." "Because no matter the forum, they're still journalists just as my client is." "While not unsympathetic to your argument regarding the law's intent," "I am bound by the letter of the statute, which does not specify as to the Internet and its protection." "So I'm denying the motion to block the subpoena." "Your client has 48 hours to either name his source or face going to jail for contempt of court." "Court adjourned." "What do we do now?" "Now we talk to some magicians." " Hey." " Hey, Mr. Happy." "Uh, Fenlee's high and mighty corporate attorneys just blew off my discovery request." "Just flicked them away." "Having to haul them in front of a judge right now." " Who did you get?" " Dowler." "Oh, that tool." "Uh, less of a tool since he's had that hernia operation." " We sent that bouquet, right?" " Like he won the Kentucky Derby." "Then you should be good." "Long as he doesn't show me his stitches." "Opposing counsel has just flat out blown off our discovery request." "As much as told us where we could go." "Which unfortunately, Your Honor, is here to compel them to do what they should have done" " in the first place." " Mr. Cordell." "I concur completely with plaintiff's counsel, Your Honor, and apologize for this unnecessary and regrettable high-handedness." "I assure this court and Mr. Morelli that upon returning to my firm, the individuals responsible will be identified and reprimanded." "The requested documents will be provided forthwith." "And again, let me express my sincere regret for our discourteous inattention to this matter." "Mr. Morelli?" "Great." "We look forward to receiving them forthwith." "I wiped the floor with that fancy white-shoed mouthpiece." " Heh, I don't know about that." " Come on." "I chewed him up." "I spit him out." " Nick?" " I knocked him forward." " Nick?" " I knocked him back." "Those documents from opposing counsel arrived." ""Wiped the floor with this fancy lawyer, chewed him up and spit him out."" "Well, he could see who he was up against." "Why else do you think he's trying to bury us in paperwork?" "Not trying." "He has succeeded." "Unh!" "I can't breathe." "Now I know why I hate civil suits." "Safety reports before and after the accident." "It's a clean bill of health from a city inspector, Tyler Ralston." " Oop, I got an accident report here." " Bingo." " Says Troy only fell two stories." " Lacy said seven." "Yeah." "But the cause of death was head trauma from hitting a beam on the way down." "Could've happened from two stories or seven." "There are supposed to be safety nets every two stories." "This says they were in place at the time of Troy's death." "You ever work construction, Pete?" "You see these hands, Nick?" "I didn't even play with Legos." "The crew I worked, they were always grousing about how the site was unsafe." "You sure we got a case?" "Keep looking." "Whoa, whoa, whoa, I think I got something here." "File on Ray Cowling." "Electrician." " Injured at the same job site." "Zoey?" " Yeah." "Give me a current address on this, please." " Uh, sure." " Hurt just a month before Lacy's husband." "And he might have an interesting take on the safety conditions." "Uh, 2734 Roweena." " That's the house." " Wow." "That can't be it." "It's huge." "Check again." "I believe you're confusing me with someone who screws up." "That's the guy's house." "You got a number?" "Yeah." "Uh, evening." "Is this the Cowling residence?" "Yes." "I'd like to speak to your husband, Ray, please." "Oh, I'm sorry." "I didn't know." "Please, uh, accept our deepest condolences for your loss." "Yes." "I'm an attorney representing the wife of Troy Whitten." "He worked on the same job site as your late husband." "We're bringing a wrongful death suit against Fenlee and..." "She hung up." "How does an electrician get a house like that?" "I need to know about tricks as trade secrets." "How do you prove a trick is yours?" "You can't, really." "Copyright doesn't apply." "And patenting them just gives the trick away." "So anybody can steal a trick that you created?" "A completely original trick is rare these days." "Now it's more about evolution." "Making your trick your own." "I'll show you." "We all do sleight of hand with cards." "This one was called the King William when it was created in Scotland in 1700." "As I ripple through the deck," "I simply want you to say stop somewhere." "Stop." "Take the three of hearts." "Place it face up on top of the deck." "Watch." "Yeah." "Ha, ha." "Cool." " Wow, that was cool." " Not yet." "Oh, come on." "Come on." "Ah, but wait." "You see, he can't afford a new deck of cards." "Watch." "Very nice." "Saw it at the Trop last week." "The guy called it "the ghost deck from beyond."" "This is fantastic." "All I have to prove is Pettigrew's trick is a variation of another trick." "There's no trade secret." "My guy is good." "I'm gonna need you to take the stand and testify as to the origin of Pettigrew's trick." "Uh, I don't know the origin of the trick." "Hmm?" "You guys are killing me." "Are you telling me the trick is original?" " Yes." " Yeah." " What have you got?" " No independent money sources for the Cowlings, no lottery wins, no family wealth, a life insurance policy that wouldn't even pay for the pool man." "I found Ray's death notice filed three weeks later by the recorded house sale." "The wife got a payoff." "With the usual nondisclosure stipulation." " That's why she wouldn't talk." " I sent a supplemental interrogatory requesting all the information on Ray Cowling." "I thought I'd rattle their cage." "Well, Nick, I hope they don't send another moving van full of documents." "Well..." "What?" "They wanna meet." "Settle?" "We'll see." "Appreciate you coming, counselors." "My partner, Pete Kaczmarek." "Good to meet you." "Rest of our team." "I'd introduce you, but I'm not sure I can recall all their names." "Please." "All right." "Help yourselves, gentlemen." " Pastries?" " Hmm." "Oh, thanks, we're good." "You don't take anything, we can't write it off." "So, what do you wanna see us about?" "We're, of course, familiar with your reputations as criminal advocates." "You should know you're held in enviable esteem." "I'm not sure the DA's office would agree." "We've also noted you don't typically involve yourselves in civil suits of this kind." "No doubt because you well know these types of actions can drag on." "Chewing up hours, piling up costs." "Costs that, I'm afraid in this case, are in the end going to prove unrecoupable." "There's no liability here." "The circumstances of Troy Whitten's death simply won't support a judgment of fault." "This all promises to be a long, expensive exercise in futility for you and your client." "Heh, but if forced to continue along this path, when we ultimately prevail in court, we'll have no recourse but to turn around and sue your client for our incurred costs." "Which, as you can imagine, will likely be quite substantial." "So, for all concerned, but most especially this unfortunate widow, it is our sincere belief it would be best to drop this matter at this juncture." "Thanks for the invite." "So it's not a total loss for you guys." "Do you believe that guy?" "Do you believe him?" " Ugh, okay, I gotta say this, Nick." " Thanks." "I know you." "I know the boxer in you." "You're a fighter." " Damn right, I am." " But what if this guy isn't bluffing?" "He's not wrong about how much time it's gonna take and the expense on what could be a wild-goose chase." "Pete, the electrician's widow got enough money to buy a McMansion." "That's my point." "They paid her off and didn't offer us a dime." " Hello?" " Sometimes an accident is just an accident." "No, Nick, don't shush me." "We have to discuss this." "Nick, listen to me." "We have to think about what this is gonna do to..." "Four..." "Five..." "Five million dollars?" "Ha, ha." "Uh, yeah, I'll pass it along to my client." "Thank you." "Oh, ye of little faith." "You got a couple of bucks for the valet?" "I'm short." "Five million dollars." "With a corporation, this is the closest anyone gets to an apology." "Expressed in the only terms they understand:" "Money." "It's so much." "They know that a jury could award even more." "I'm having trouble wrapping my head around this." "Well, it comes with the usual strings attached." " No official admission of fault." " Full nondisclosure agreement." "Meaning what?" "You can't talk about the settlement, you can't talk about the accident." "All right, you look a little overwhelmed." "Uh..." "Maybe you want some time to process this." "No." "I don't need time." "Tell them I'm turning it down." " Uh, Lacy..." " It's hush money." "You know what?" ""Take this cash, lady, and go away."" "You're not gonna get what you need." "They're never gonna say, "I'm sorry," and mean it." "If I accept, the same unsafe conditions just go on." "I mean, if that Cowling woman had turned down their offer," "Troy might still be alive." "I don't want some other man's blood on my hands." " Okay." " We fight on." "Be prepared." "The other side is gonna come at you, fighting hard, fighting dirty." "Trying to drag Troy through the mud." "It won't work." "Troy was a good man." "That's Vegas." "Wall-to-wall desert." "Who needs a boat?" "I was gonna buy a boat with my share." "With your share?" "You could have put in a lake for that boat." "Yeah, heh." "What were you gonna do with yours?" "A separated man living in a crappy apartment?" "What do you think?" " Buy a house bigger than hers." " Yeah." "Well, maybe not a house." " A compound." " Hmm." " Something really huge." " Yeah." " Well, that's not gonna happen." " No." "I'm not telling him my source." "Well, I'm all out of moves, Aron." "The judge is gonna throw you in jail for contempt." "Bring it on." "I'll blog from County." "Maybe I'll finally get some media attention for Internet journalism." "I got you a crumb cake." " I know it's your favorite." " Thank you." "And, uh, Pete." "Oh, there's something behind your ear." "This really giant guy outside told me to give that to you." " Mr. Kaczmarek?" " What are you doing here?" "Keeping your ass out of prison." "Reuben Charters." "I'm Aron's source." "Whoa, whoa, hold..." "This is all covered" " by attorney-client privilege?" " Yeah." " I'm not letting you do this." " You don't have a choice." "Okay, look, people like me deserve to be protected under the law." "If you out yourself as my source, you're gonna hurt the cause." "If you go on the stand, you open yourself up to charges of trade secret theft." "Yeah, heh." "I don't think so." "Did your husband Troy ever mention anything about safety conditions at the workplace?" "Objection." "Hearsay." "Your Honor, a husband's comment to his wife about workplace safety or in this situation, a distinct lack thereof..." " Objection." " The jury will disregard plaintiff's counsel's statement about safety conditions." "But I'll allow the question to the witness." "Thank you." "He said the site was unsafe." "And, uh, Troy, is he a complainer, a whiner?" "Objection." " Relevance." " Really?" "An expensive lawyer like you, you don't see the relevance of that?" " Your Honor?" " Mr. Morelli?" "All right." "But if he's gonna object to everything I say, maybe he could just use flashcards." "Save the voice." "I'll allow the question." "I never heard him complain as much about a site the whole time I knew him." "I'm sorry to ask you, but do you miss him?" "Every day." "How has that affected you?" "I'm not sleeping or eating." "I don't wanna see people." "Family, friends." "And I'm nervous all the time, and I never used to be that way." "Troy was my whole world." "And now he's gone." "No further questions, Your Honor." "I and I'm sure all of us here are truly sorry for your loss." " Was Troy a drinker?" " Objection." "What?" "No flashcards?" "Mr. Cordell?" "Relevance as to work-site behavior, Your Honor." "I'll allow." "He liked beer." "Would it surprise you to hear he liked it enough to regularly have one at work" " during lunch?" " Objection." "Withdrawn." "Who was Mary Stempel?" "A marriage counselor." "Not just a marriage counselor, but your marriage counselor." "Yours and Troy's." "Isn't that right?" "Yes." "What did you two consult her for?" "That's private." "You'll notice your attorneys aren't objecting." "In making a pain and suffering claim, you forfeit confidentiality when it comes to things discussed in therapy and counseling." "So I ask again." "Why did you and Troy see a marriage counselor?" " We were having some problems." " What kind of problems?" "The witness will answer." "There was a fidelity issue." "Who was it that had the affair?" "No, no, no." "I did." "And so you brought this meritless lawsuit" " out of your understandable guilt." " Objection." "Withdrawn." "No further questions." "It wasn't even an affair." "It was a mistake." "The biggest of my life." "But we got past it, Troy and me." "I know, I know, but we didn't know." "If I would've known, I could've brought that up." "I could've softened the blow." "I can't ask questions I don't know the answers to." "That's like Lawyering 101." "If there's anything you haven't told us about anything," " now would be the time." " There isn't." " Are you sure?" " I swear." "I'm sorry." "How bad has this hurt our case?" "I'm not gonna lie to you, it didn't help." "Ugh." "We're screwed." "She may as well have just pushed her husband off the building herself." "Excuse me, miss." "Ma'am, could I have another fork?" " What?" " Previous customer's meal is still attached to it, which is a health-code violation." "How do you miss this?" "Ah, these poor girls are overwhelmed when it's busy like this." "They're rushed." "They miss things." "Lacy's husband died at the peak of the construction boom, correct?" "Mm-hm." "Seemed like a new building went up every day." "Yeah, it was crazy." "So?" "Well, those building inspectors must have been busy as hell." "We should check all the safety reports on the guy who signed off on the husband's building." "If he was spread too thin, maybe we can prove he missed something." "You got all that from a dirty fork?" "That's why it's Morelli-Kaczmarek, Mr. Kaczmarek." "Tyler Ralston." "Tyler Ralston." " Tyler Ralston." " This safety inspector was busy." "I'll say." "Look at these." "All from the same day." " With the traffic in this city?" " What, did the guy have a jetpack?" "I wanna talk to him." "Get his number." "Same day." "These are all from the same morning." "This guy get himself cloned?" "Now I really wanna talk to him." " Come on." " Wait a minute." "Okay, Ralston doesn't work there anymore." "Here is the accident report that said he fell two stories instead of seven, filed by one Tyler Ralston." "I'm not proud of what I did." "Phantom safety inspections, falsifying accident reports." "I'd hope not." "Were you drinking then too?" "Not as much." "Enough to get you canned." "Yeah, but it's not what you think." "Tell us." "Money changed hands." "A whole lot." "Builders bribed you?" "No, no." "It was the other way around." "They were shook down." "There weren't inspectors enough to go around." "So my boss would say," ""Pay up or you're the ones gonna get the visit, and we'll slow, even shut you down."" "So they'd pay." "Buildings got done on time." " It worked out for everyone." " Yeah." "Everybody except Troy Whitten." "Who?" "Corruption in the building safety commission?" " This is huge." " We can't put Ralston on the stand." "Cordell will eat him for lunch." " Bust out drunk with an ax to grind." " So, what do we do?" "Simple." "We bluff." "Mr. Ayles, are you ready to name your source?" "No, Your Honor." "Then I have no other choice..." "Your Honor, sorry." "I'd like to bring up a witness that will shed light on this whole matter." "If you could delay citing my client," "I think the cause of justice will be served." "Well, for your sake, I hope it does, Mr. Kaczmarek." "I'd like to call Reuben Charters to the stand." "Mr. Charters, you consider yourself an expert on magic and its history." "I like to think so." "Yeah." "Could you cite some qualifications to support that claim?" "I own a magic shop here in Las Vegas." "And I've lectured extensively on the subject for over 20 years at universities both here and abroad." "Mr. Pettigrew is alleging that my client violated the Nevada Trade Secrets Act by revealing the method of his original trick." "Do you have any opinion on that?" "The trick is not original." "Sorry, could you please repeat that?" "The trick is derived from a previous illusion." "Well, I talked to a number of magicians and none of them could find any antecedents." "That's because the illusion is only recorded in one very rare book, uh, Illusionista de Manuel." "And was Colin aware of this book?" "Objection." "Calls for speculation." "Your Honor, the witness has personal knowledge of this." "Overruled." "The witness may answer." "Yes." "About 15 years ago, I had a copy of the book at the shop." "Colin was, what, 12, 13 years old?" "He used to come in regularly for his magic lessons." "He asked to look at the book." "So Colin was your student?" "Yeah." "But I wasn't a very good teacher." "He never learned the value of magic." "The long history of magic is filled with great men." "Some of them famous, many more of them forgotten." "And some of these people worked their whole lives to perfect one trick." "Stealing the legacy and claiming it for oneself is a sin." "You said at one time, you owned this book?" "Yeah." "I, uh, sold it to a private collector years ago." "Do you know who owns the collection now?" "Colin Pettigrew." "In your expert opinion, did my client exposing Mr. Pettigrew's trick" " constitute revealing of a trade secret?" " No." "It just shows that Mr. Pettigrew stands on the shoulders of giants." "As do we all." "Thank you." "Your Honor, in light of the fact that no trade secret existed, therefore, no trade secret was revealed," "I request that the case against my client be dismissed." "So ruled." "Court is adjourned." "Mr. Singler, you are CEO of Fenlee Construction and held that position during the time of Troy Whitten's accident, correct?" " That's correct." " And as such, are you familiar with the name Tyler Ralston?" "I can't say I am." "He was your city safety inspector at the time." "Don't you care about your building's safety?" "Objection, Your Honor." "Argumentative." "A CEO can't be expected to recall every individual at every level." "Sustained." "The jury will disregard." "All right." "So, Mr. Singler, if I understand your attorney correctly, you didn't care enough about Troy Whitten's death to bother checking who signed off on your building and safety reports." " Objection." " I'm confused, Your Honor." "Uh, isn't that what the defense attorney was just implying?" "The jury will again disregard." "Move on, Mr. Morelli." "I'd like to answer that if I may." "Now, I didn't have to see that safety report because I knew for certain that work site was safe." "Because Tyler Ralston said so?" "If that was his name." "That was his name..." "Uh, is his name." "And we talked to Tyler." "As well as those three men sitting in the gallery there." "They are all city building and safety inspectors." "And they all tell us the same interesting story." "So please consider carefully before I ask you this next question." "And be mindful you are under oath." "Did money change hands between Fenlee Construction and the city building safety commission during that time?" "Money?" "I know it's, uh..." "It's a little vague." "Money changing hands between a builder and a regulator." "I mean, it could be construed in a couple of different ways, I guess." "One would be a bribe," " and the other would be a shakedown." " Objection." "One, the builder would be a criminal," " and the other, just a victim." " Your Honor?" "It would make a hell of a lot of difference in this case, sir." "Mr. Morelli, enough." "The witness will answer." "Mr. Singler, again." "Did money change hands?" "Yes, it did." "And would you say that resulted in unsafe conditions that were responsible for Troy Whitten's death?" "Regrettably, yes." "Thank you." "No further questions." "Construction work is dangerous." "And the kind done in this town, the height, the scale, all the things that make Vegas Vegas makes it even more dangerous." "So you would think that we would have the best safety standards going." "But instead, we have the highest construction-fatality rate in any city of this size in the country." "And today we've learned why." "A commission that demands builders get buildings up fast." "A corrupt official who then shakes them down, threatens to slow them down or shut them down." "So, what do builders do?" "They make the payoff and they cut corners where safety is concerned." "Now, we all expect big corporations to misbehave." "I mean, it's like the story of the scorpion and the frog." "It's their nature." "But that's why we have regulators." "They're supposed to watch our backs." "So when they misbehave, that's a betrayal." "It's a betrayal to you, it's a betrayal to me." "And it's especially a betrayal to men like Troy Whitten." "Now, there's blame enough here to go around." "But my client is less interested in blame than seeing that no other woman married to a man with a hardhat goes from wife in the morning to a widow at night." "So, ladies and gentlemen, this is what we ask of you:" "A finding of responsibility on the part of Fenlee Construction for the death of Troy Whitten." "And for damages for pain and suffering, we ask for this sum." "One dollar." "Because this was never about the money." "It was about making a change." "Foreperson, please hand the verdict to the bailiff." ""In the matter of Lacy Whitten v. Fenlee Construction"" "we the jury find in favor of the plaintiff, Lacy Whitten, and against Fenlee Construction for gross negligence." "We assess the total amount of the damages at $9 million."" "The jury also inquired if they may ask for an investigation into the city's safety commission." "You may not." "But I can." "And I will so direct the district attorney's office." "As for Fenlee Construction, with this judgment of liability," "I direct you to file a written report with this court in no less than ten days' time outlining steps to improve work-site safety immediately and into the future or face a recommendation for further action as to criminal neglect." "I can't thank you enough." "It's what we do." "You're gonna be okay?" "In the grief counselor's words, maybe I can start to get a little closure." "Mm-hm." " Uh, if such a thing exists." "Look, you might need some help managing that award money." "I know a couple of guys." "I'm gonna to start a college fund for kids of victims of construction accidents." "That something you can help me set up?" "Sure." "It just doesn't feel right to profit personally off of Troy's death." "Right." "We'll kick in our contingency fee too." "I mean, minus, you know, expenses." "Out-of-pocket, itemized expenses." "You don't have to do that." "Yeah, I kind of do." "Otherwise, I'm just another bloodsucking lawyer." "Hmm." "Pete's gonna kill me." "Once again, Colin Pettigrew." "A little more impressive than your disappearing quarter routine." "Yeah." "Wait till you get a load of what I else I made disappear today." " Hey, guys." " That was great, man." " Amazing." " Thanks for coming." "Hey." "Ta-da." " Ha, ha, another trick." " A bill for the tickets." "Here." "I'll make it disappear."