The Appeal By John Grisham (pages 1~80)

So far in The Appeal, we started in a Mississippi courtroom, waiting for a verdict to be decided. they describe both sides, one being a small hometown firm with a crying widow on one side, and a large "Armani suit" type firm on the other with a wealthy business man holding a straight face. Leading the small firm are the owners Mr. and Mrs. Payton, who own Payton & Payton law. The other side is led by a single man who has a reputation of winning 99% of the time. The Plaintiff is a mother who has lost both a son and her husband to the chemical dumping of the defence aka Krane Chemical; Her name is Jeannette Baker. On Krane Chemical's side is the CEO Mr Carl Trudeau, and his team of crack lawyers. After a lengthy decision time, the verdict is annouced as guilty with an award of $3 million in wrongful death charges, and $38 million in punitive damages. We then have a predictable twist of Mr. Carl Trudeau finding that the stocks dipped from $50ish dollars to about $18.50, then the real suprise of him finding through an ex senator, a corperation that specializes in "fixing" these problems. And that is pretty much where we end.