Perri O’Shaughnessy - Breach Of Promise

Diane: That’s so unfair. I know how to make beds and do dishes, just like you!

Kris: Unlike Lindy. Can we please vote, now?

Cliff: It’s almost lunchtime.

Kris: This shouldn’t take long.

Frank: Chinese today?

Cliff: No, they had something else planned. But if we’re here tomorrow…

Kris: Christ, I hope not.

Cliff: Okay, let’s see where we stand.

Mrs. Lim: I would like to say something.

Cliff: And we all want to hear it. After we break for lunch. We’ve just got time for a vote.

They vote. It’s split down the middle, six to six.

›Click‹

›Click‹

Jury, Day Two, Afternoon:

Cliff: I want to start off this afternoon saying I’ve considered what Diane said earlier, about my referring to Mike more deferentially. That’s exactly the kind of thing that drives me nuts about other people, so it really hurt. So I really thought hard about ways I am influenced by own biases.

You know, I mentioned that I am recently separated. And I’ve searched my heart to see if that has had some impact on how strongly, since the beginning, I have favored Mike’s case. I have to be honest with you: it does. I took that idea, that the business was their child, very much to heart.

I have a child, and I foresee that my wife and I will be engaged in a bitter battle for custody. I see that child will be hurt, no matter what I do, but I can’t give her up. I will fight to the death for her. Just like Mike is fighting for his company. So I guess I understand. I see Lindy’s ownership, in a way, but it can’t be cut in half or it will be destroyed, you know, like in the Bible story where the real mother won’t have the child cut into two pieces, but the false mother will. Their company will be terribly harmed, maybe irreparably, if Lindy is given a big chunk of their assets. He’ll have to cut off an arm, and maybe a leg, and…

Diane: Oh, please! He might sell a bunch of buildings and machinery, if it comes to that. Since when does metal bleed?

Grace: Can you let him finish? I want to hear the rest.

Cliff: Thank you, Grace. Anyway, I guess what I’m saying is, it’s right to remove yourself from personal considerations, even if it seems impossible. So I went through my whole chain of reasoning one more time…

Diane: Let me guess. Mike still wins!

Cliff: Well, yes. There just is not one iota of evidence to support Lindy’s claim.

Diane: Figures.

Cliff: No written promises, no marriage certificate, no witnesses to direct promises. It just comes down to her word against his, as to an oral contract. How could Mike have made it any clearer that he did not wish to be married? I mean, they were together twenty years. Should he have written it in blood?

No, on the contrary, what I see is that she signed her name to an agreement that said they should separate their property. There were innuendoes made by Lindy’s lawyers that he forced her to do that, using some nasty psychological pressure, but you know, he strikes me as a pretty straightforward person. What she saw was exactly what she got.

Mrs. Lim: Really? What about the fact that for most of those years, he presented her to the world as his wife, and then claimed he didn’t? Doesn’t that prove he’s deceitful?

Frank: He did that out of consideration for her feelings. He wanted to keep her without compromising his own wishes. And as for saying he didn’t recall, well, it’s possible he forgot…

Diane: It’s possible I’m a ring-tailed lemur, but I don’t look like one or act like one. But then some people prefer their delusions…

Frank: Or his very normal sense of self-preservation kicked in.

Cliff: Anyway, I’m hoping we’re all trying to vote the law, and not self-interest. Let’s make sure in our minds we’re being fair to the evidence. And in spite of how we mock the poor lawyers, they provide a necessary service. They must plow through a lot of garbage to pull out the stuff we need to hear to decide. I think they all presented good cases. It’s just that Mike’s was inherently, objectively better.

Courtney: How can you say that? Lindy’s lawyers made as much sense as they did. Also, to me, Mr. Riesner and Ms. Casey had a little attitude, like, the decision’s so obvious. Well, I don’t think it’s so obvious.

Diane: “Smug” is only one of many good words that describe those two.

Courtney: After all, it’s up to us.

Grace: Cliff, going back to what you were saying, you got me thinking. I’m a very emotional person. I got all wrapped up in Lindy’s problems, because that’s the kind of person I am. I just can’t leave a dead dog in the road, you know? I’m out of my car, finding a sack, burying the poor thing somewhere…

Cliff: You have a big heart, Grace. I’m sure we’ve all noticed that.

He asks about her child, and she talks for a long time about what it’s like to be the sole caretaker for a handicapped adult. Many people sympathize with her. You can feel her relaxing, feeling better just to have some recognition for her difficulties. He suggests that after the trial is over, she call his office. He knows of some social service agencies that might be able to find relief for her. There’s a fifteen minute break, and during the break, many people share their worries about how long they’ve been gone from their jobs and daily lives. Everyone except Frank drinks lots of coffee, and many are nibbling on snacks.

Cliff: Like Grace here, it’s clear we all have so many important obligations that are falling by the wayside while we try to decide this thing. So let’s try to be efficient. Let’s try to come to some agreement here. The tide does seem to be moving toward Mike. I’m wondering what the rest of you die-hard Lindy fans need to be convinced.

Diane: (laughing) Well, well, well. No more beating around the bush. You think you’ve got it in the bag. You know, I have to admire you, Cliff. Here you are, and almost singlehandedly, with just the occasional, bumbling help of your male compadres, you’re turning this group around to your point of view. I sure see why you’ve been successful in politics. Here’s how it works, right? You target the weakest links and then you whittle away…

Grace: Weakest link?

Diane: I have to wonder about this child of yours, Cliff, that came out of the blue this morning. You never once mentioned her before. Is she real or rhetorical?

Cliff: I’ve been experiencing a lot of personal pain, Diane. I don’t enjoy talking about it. I’m sure you can understand that.

Diane: You didn’t answer the question.

Grace: You see me as a weak link, Diane? Talk about a piece of work. You think a person has to be able to jump up a mountain on a pogo stick to prove their worth, but I see life very differently, lady. Strength is taking care of the people you love, forging lifelong ties, doing whatever you do well, and that includes laundry on a regular basis.

You know what I don’t hear from you, Diane? I don’t hear a word about your family.

Kris: You don’t have kids, do you, Diane? That would be so irresponsible.

Frank: No, people in a risky business like Diane’s have to fight their basic instincts.

Kevin: Ten to one odds she never even married.

Grace: You’re so pro-Lindy because you’re enjoying all this. You haven’t got much else going in your own life.

Diane: I do have family. And I have resolved my issues about what I do already, so please, how about the rest of you get over it, and get back to the case?

Now, Grace, you talked earlier about Lindy Markov’s loyalty, about her deserving something in compensation. That isn’t a legal argument, it’s a moral one. The proper thing to do is not always the right thing. I think Ignacio said that, too.