Perri O’Shaughnessy - Breach Of Promise

“That’s how it’s supposed to be. That’s how it is under the law of the State of California.

“Yet in the case you’re about to hear, that’s not how it happened.

“What you’ll hear from several witnesses, including both Lindy and Mike Markov, is that one of the partners took it all. Every square foot, every dime, every stick of furniture, all of it.

“Mike Markov did that. He took it all, the whole shebang, and he left Lindy with nothing. He even threw her out of the home she had lived in for years, leaving her with a horse and an old trailer out in the mountains.

“He kept-well, he kept quite a bit. Quite a bit. There will be several estimates of how much Mike and Lindy’s company, Markov Enterprises, was worth at the time they separated. Let me tell you a conservative figure as to what the business was worth.

“He kept around two hundred million dollars.”

She had built up to it well. Even the audience, to whom this was old news, heaved a collective gasp. Most of the jurors must have told the truth about not reading about the case in the papers because their mouths hung open. Juror Bob Binkley, the whipped-looking history teacher, straightened up from his slump and gripped the front rail. Nina looked straight at him and nodded. That’s right, Mr. Binkley, she tried to tell him with her eyes. This is big, this is huge. You’re doing something important here.

On the other hand, early on, Sonny Ball’s eyes had fixed on a spot somewhere between Nina and the jury box, and there his focus remained. Either he was mighty dense, didn’t care, or already knew about it.

“I know all of us-the lawyers, the clients, the courtroom personnel-appreciate your willingness to take time from your busy lives to render judgment in this case. It will be up to you to decide the ultimate facts. We’ll be asking you to decide, does Mike Markov take everything, the house on the lake, the business, the cars, the boat, the entire fruit of their very productive years together, while Lindy Markov doesn’t get brush, comb, toothpaste, or bobby pin?

“You’ll hear from the witnesses the whole story of the business, how Mike and Lindy started from nothing and how Markov Enterprises became a great success. You’ll hear that Lindy, while not formally married to Mike-”

Another look of astonishment from the jurors. Nina moved on, having broken that bad news as casually as she could.

“-was in every respect Mike’s equal partner in terms of responsibility and workload in the business for twenty years. This isn’t a story about a woman who supports a man from the home. This woman was at the office, at the plant, out there finding clients. We’ll show you that Lindy had as many ideas for new products as he did, and that she was as important to the company’s success as he was. She didn’t stay home and raise the children and give dinner parties. The business was their child.”

Nina paused so that the words would reverberate through the jurors’ minds.

“So what’s the problem? What issues make it necessary to bring this case to you? Well, there are two of them. First of all, Mr. Markov says that it all should belong to him now, because he put his name on everything. That’s what the testimony will show. He put his name on the company stock, on the home they lived in, on every major asset. Her name got left off. How did Mr. Markov explain that to Lindy?” Nina raised her eyebrows, looked expectantly at the jury. They didn’t seem to have a clue.

“He told her he wanted to avoid the red tape. He told her it didn’t matter whose name was on the certificates and the titles, because it was all half hers. He held title for both of them.

“Watch Mr. Markov when he testifies. You’ll see he’s a proud, old-fashioned man. He wanted to be the president, so that left her with the executive vice presidency. She wanted what he wanted. Nothing new there.” Nina gave juror Mrs. Grzegorek, the attractive older woman who worked at Mikasa, a tiny smile. Mrs. Grzegorek didn’t smile back.

“He wanted his name on the stock, and she went along with that, too. As she’ll testify, she never dreamed this would be used to try to take her share of the company.

“And there’s one other event in their long history together that you will hear about. You’ll learn that thirteen years ago Lindy signed a piece of paper that Mike asked her to sign. He had her label it: Separate Property Agreement.”

The expression on Cliff Wright’s face never changed, but his hands shifted in his lap. He knew exactly what that meant.

“Lindy signed it. She’ll tell you why. And I have to tell you, this is the one place in this case where love does enter in. She signed it because Mike said that if she signed it he’d marry her. The business was going down at that time and they were going through a difficult period in their personal lives.

“Lindy agreed. She signed the paper, carrying out her side of the deal. And Mike-well, you’ll hear that Mike went on a business trip. He didn’t marry her, didn’t carry out his side of the deal. And that piece of paper disappeared for thirteen years, until now. Lindy never got a copy. She assumed it had long since been discarded or destroyed.

“The judge will instruct you on the law regarding this type of agreement. You will be instructed that a gift or property given on the assumption that marriage will take place can be recovered by the giver if there is no marriage. That may not make much sense now, but it will. The testimony will make it clear that Mike didn’t marry Lindy. So when that piece of paper is discussed, I hope you’ll ask yourselves these questions: Did she promise to give Mike everything in consideration for his promise to marry her? Did he keep his promise? If not, then what did she get in return?”

“Objection!”

She went to the bench with Riesner and accepted a scolding from Milne for arguing the law in her opening statement.

Then, calm within herself and trying to inject the same calm certainty into her words, Nina added a few more important points and brought her opening statement to a close. “And now, ladies and gentlemen, it’s up to you. I have talked with you, listened to you, and I believe you will be fair. Thank you.”

She could swear that, as she walked back toward her table, she caught the ever-so-slightest nod of approval from Milne. She decided she must have imagined it. She tried and failed to feel the jury’s vibes behind her.

Back at the table, Genevieve squeezed her arm, murmuring, “Excellent,” and Winston gave her an under-the-table, double thumbs-up.

Lindy looked at Mike, who looked pointedly away from her.

Looking debonair and confident, without a hair out of place, wearing his trademark half-grin, Jeff Riesner took the podium. With all the heavy baggage removed from his character, Nina realized a stranger might actually consider him attractive. He looked innocuous and cool up there, like a man without a bone to pick. That shiny polish on the surface was exactly what made him so successful in his profession. More than in almost any other profession, success in law depended on the right look, and Jeffrey Riesner had spent years cultivating it. The jurors waited to hear an opposite take on the same situation, and he basked in their attention.

“Let’s talk about the evidence,” he said. “In this case, we will have testimony from people, each with a point of view, each with a stake. Your job is to judge their credibility and weigh the value of what they say. You might feel from listening to all the witnesses that this is a complicated or confusing case. There is a lot of money involved, and this may make the case seem more complicated.

“But it’s not complicated. This case is simple, and comes simply down to black and white.