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"The Glue Factory" -
September
20
Selecting Gavels and
heading into the lounges, both Chris and Deep have
selected the same color
.Then Olivier also selects
blue. This leaves Aileen and Michael. Michael has
blue, while Aileen is the only one selecting yellow.
So whats going on? A note from Roy Black says that
they must all vote on who will be the yellow gavels
(Aileens) teammate. Through secret ballot, Mike is
selected.
The Palmers horse, Star Baby, lost a race which in
turn caused the breeding value of the horse to drop.
The Palmers contest that the winning horse, A Whole
Lotta Shakin, should not have been allowed to race by
the defendant, the Montana Paint Horse Racing
Association (MPHRA).
With that, Aileen and Michael selected the Palmers
brief and have to fly to Montana to meet their
clients. Back at the Firm, Olivier, Deep and Chris get
a chance to begin their organization for the case.
Olivier jokingly suggests that they have Deep do the
research, but Chris quashes that quickly.
In Big Sky Country, Michael and Aileen are fighting a
wind storm while taking a tour of the Palmers ranch.
And when I say storm, I mean enough wind to turn
Aileen into Marilyn Monroe in The Seven Year Itch.
Five Times. We quickly learn that it is the manner in
which Shakin was bred that offends that Palmers as a
spot on its coat suggests that it was bred in a
fashion that would make it ineligible to compete.
Mike and Paula, the originators of the MPHRA are met
by Oliviers team who clarify that the coat of
Shakins is spotted and Shakin is registered as a
Paint horse, thus it qualifies. This is contrary to
the Palmers who suggest that there has to be a Paint
parent in the breeding of the horse for it to be a
paint horse.
There apparently was a meeting in which a vote was
taken that there must be a Paint parent in order for a
horse to be a Paint, but due to shoddy recordkeeping
on both sides, there is no record.
So basically we are questioning if a horse is a
spotted horse because of its appearance or its
genetics, with genetics being the main affect on the
speed of the horse.
Olivier, Deep and Chris seem to have everything
understood and decide to hit the town for a casual
dinner. Meanwhile, Michaela and Aileen return from
Montana to find an empty firm and become worried that
if their opposition isnt working that they must be
very confident of their case.
The MPHRA cites one last fact in that they did not
have the right to disqualify Shakin as that solely
belongs to the racetrack. Thus we could potentially
see this case closed based on the fact that the wrong
person is being sued.
Worse yet, lets toss dirt into Aileen and Michaels
case by making the Palmers uncooperative. Trial
should be fun, and yes, its a jury trial again.
Court time:
Aileen opens for the plaintiff (Palmers) and aims to
tell the story in as uncomplicated of a fashion as
possible. She does moderately well but stumbles over
herself and forgets a few dates possibly leaving the
jury bewildered. Olivier step up and opens for the
MPHRA by stressing that the One Paint Parent rule
that Aileen mentioned never passed and that there is
not one piece of paper acknowledging it. His open is
simply more persuasive than Aileens and Aileen is
worried.
Mitch Palmer goes to the stand and Michael directs,
and does so poorly getting stuck on early questions
and objected to by none other than Deep. Michael only
manages to identify the horses and get out the fact
that Star Baby lost to Shakin on June 16th. After his
stumble, he recovers and enters the race form into
evidence having Mitch identify the race as a Paint
race which in Mitchs mind means that only Paint
horses can enter.
But wait, theres more! Deep crosses Palmer and brings
up the fact that the document that Michael introduced
was actually from a different race making it invalid
and striking Palmers credibility. Michael is now
officially in the doghouse.
The big decision comes when the defense has to decide
whether or not to put Paula the record keeper for the
MPHRA on the stand. After a debate, Chris decides
against it.
Lock and Load. Michael in close berates the defense
for keeping the one person with the facts off of the
stand and says that the jury should question what the
defense is hiding. As Olivier puts it, Michael got a
lot of mileage out of the fact that they never called
Paula. But can Chris close tighten up the loose
ends? Chris does well to make it clear that the
plaintiff also has not showed any documentation to
prove the vote nor did they bring a witness to the
vote. While his close was good, the case feels much
more like a he said she said than a landslide now.
What does the Jury think? They think that the
plaintiffs have not presented enough information and
as a result rule in favor of the defendant, the MPHRA.
Deep, Olivier and Chris are happy, but everyone seems
to be happy that Michael took his first loss.
Now its time for Roy Black to call the attorneys out
on the carpet. First the entire Defense gets it for
taking a night off. Olivier justifies this by saying
they needed a break for mental sanity purposes. Then
when Black attacks Chris for not calling Paula Harris,
Chris takes full responsibility. Then Black moves over
to Aileen and criticizes her open. Then the blame game
starts. Aileen says they lost because of the clients
not her open. Deep chooses Aileen as being more
responsible than Michael (go figure). Olivier selects
Aileen as having more faults based on this week alone
than Chris. As for Black? Black believes that
consistency is key and Passion is a must, and for that
reason, the verdict is in and Chris you are out.
Aileens face personifies the phrase shock and awe
as she covers her mouth during Chris exit. Chris is
proud of his finish and that he got to deal Michael a
loss, but in this game 5th means nothing. 4 Lawyers
remain. Check in next week for more legal lechery.
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Previous Episodes
July 28
August 4
September 6
September 13 |