Original subtitles

This is for white paper.

This is for colored paper. Uh -huh. This is for this paper.

Right. This is for shiny paper.

Benny, try not to spend the whole day on this. You know what I mean?

Okay. Where's my buddy?

Hey, Ben.

Dominic?

There he is. How's it going, Chief?

Dominic, hi.

Put out your hand.

Now come. Put out your hand. I got something for you. Ha -ha.

I wield an exact in the eighth race and a 25 to one shot. Bingo.

He has no idea what I'm talking about. We had a very big day today, Ben.

There's three large right in the palm of your hand.

Oh, thanks.

This isn't my friend Dominic. A little dribble on your shirt.

How do you do? Fine, thank you. Nice to make your acquaintance. Very beautiful

offices you have here. Very nice. Very centrally located.

Where do you know Benny from?

Oh, we sit at the counter at Duke Park and have supper every night.

Are we still doing that thing? What thing?

You know the place you said we were going. If I said we're going, we're

Going where?

It's a secret.

Oh, this guy. Everything's a big game. It's no big deal, Benny.

Well, it is to me.

Don't get all emotional on me, all right?

Sorry. Okay. Now, there's a two -year -old running today that looks very good

me. Okay?

Daryl Vianna's the trainer.

McCarron's up. I intend to show this horse some support by going out to the

track and betting next month's rent. Who's coming along?

We have work to do, Dominic. Why, you sure it's nothing to come wait?

Thanks anyway.

I don't think so. How about you, dearie, interested in dating a jockey?

Excuse me?

All right, never mind. Listen, Benny, don't spend it all on comic books, huh?

I'll see you for supper, same time, same station. Nice meeting you.

Yeah.

All right, folks.

Busy day today. Let's get on with it.

The Craig Estates. I'll handle that myself, Douglas. I'm available if you

me. Well, thank you. Given the length of time that I've known the family, I

think Vivian would be more comfortable if she had to deal only with me.

Moving on, McAllister versus the United States Postal Service.

Brian McAllister's wife was shot and killed by a deranged co -worker.

What's the cause of action?

Wrongful death. If the co -worker's deranged, how do you get liability on

part of the post office? Negligent supervision together with a particularly

high... Stress work environment?

Excuse me, the post office is high stress?

The way it's run now, it is. Hey, delivering the mail is not high stress.

This is high stress.

What we do is high stress.

And I think that at least a few of us here are probably deranged as a result

it. Melina, wasn't this matter supposed to be settled? It's not for want of

trying that it isn't, Douglas. Unfortunately, what that means for us is

you're going to be consumed with a trial. You're worried about Southern

savings. You're right. What's the problem? The problem is we've been

by their general counsel to perfect an appeal, and the clock is ticking. What's

the lawsuit about?

discriminatory lending practices. And we're representing the bank? Yes, we're

representing the bank, and my hope is that we represent the bank well enough

that we get to represent other banks. All right, Douglas, calm down. All I

is you better get some help. I will, Douglas, I will. I'm available.

Melina, this is a complicated case. Get some help.

Jonathan, I'm sorry, I don't have it yet.

What? That law review article you asked me to bring in.

See, between the trial and the appeal and all the rest of what's on my desk, I

just didn't have time to look for it. I'm sorry.

I have to go digging through this whole bunch of boxes, and I didn't have a

spare moment in which to do it. It's okay.

I feel badly, Jonathan. I promised I would help you with your brief, and I

haven't done it. You're busy.

Yes. You need to lighten your load.

How do I do that?

Just do it.

Any way you can.

Benny, we'd like you to tell us a little bit more about this friend of yours.

What do you want to know?

For starters, we'd like to know why it was that he gave you $3 ,000.

The horse he bet on won.

But why did he give you money?

He always gives me money when the horse wins.

I give him money to bet with, and he gives me money if the horse wins.

And sometimes I think even if the horse comes in second, he can still win.

You give him money to bet with? Yeah. How much money do you give him?

Oh, that depends on how much money he needs to bet with.

Sometimes he doesn't bet anything, and other times he says, you've got to bring

down the hammer.

That's what he calls it.

And I give him $100, $200.

One time I gave him $500.

Vinnie, you have to stop doing that.

Why? Why? Because you work hard for your money. You don't have that much of it,

and you shouldn't be giving it to some guy to blow at the track.

But he didn't blow it. He won.

The other night, I gave him $200, and yesterday he gave me $3 ,000.

That's yesterday.

What's he going to do tomorrow?

I don't know.

The paper that has all the different horses that are running comes out in the

morning. Benny, the point is that he shouldn't be doing this with your money.

should be doing it with his money. But he doesn't have any money. Then he

shouldn't be gambling. He should be working.

Well, he says that gambling is working.

He says some people go to the office to work, and other people go to the track.

Benny. This guy is taking advantage of you. That's okay, guys, really.

I don't mind giving him money. He's my friend.

The fact that Nathaniel didn't leave a will means the estate goes to you,

Vivian. Which is as it should be, Mom. You do with it whatever you see fit.

Well, Leland, tell me this. Are we all right as far as taxes go?

Yes, we can pay whatever's owed out of savings.

I'll go on living in the house since we own that, and I'll keep whatever

investments we've made through the years.

There are a lot of other things I want you kids to have, and I'd like you to

decide who gets what. Mom, we want what you want.

Why don't you let her tell us what they are?

Leland, you have the list. Why don't you go through it?

Yes, there are golf clubs.

Frank?

I don't want them.

I guess Dick could use an extra set.

There's a 1975 Cadillac. Mom, why don't you keep that?

I don't need two cars, Judith.

Frank, you take it.

All right.

There's a stamp collection. I've taken the precaution of putting it in the

vault. Which, if no one wants it, I'd really love to have. But I certainly

don't. Do we know what it's worth? I have no idea. I just have the most

incredibly vivid memories of Dad shutting himself in his study with the

closed and the blinds drawn, pouring over his stamp.

I'd like to get some idea what it's worth, Judith. I can remember him

we couldn't even knock on his door as long as he was working on those stamps.

It would be nice for the kids.

Well... I hate to stand in the way, but I'd like to find out what the stamp

collection's worth. What it's worth in dollars or what it's worth in memories.

Are you saying that you could sell Dad's stamp collection?

I'm up to my ears in debt, Judith.

Damn right I would sell it. Oh, kids, this is just what I didn't want to

I don't want to see you fight about it. May I suggest that the first thing we do

is have the collection appraised. That way we'll know whether it's worth

and what the tax situation is. I don't want to sell that stamp collection.

Nice to have money, isn't it, sis?

My husband and I work for a living, Frank. That's how you get to have money.

right, all right. The fact is that whether or not you're going to sell the

collection, it has to be appraised for tax purposes.

It has to be appraised to have it appraised.

But you are not going to sell my father's stamp collection.

We were married seven and a half years.

Any children?

Elected for two, Susan just turned four.

Did your wife work, Mr. McAllister?

She worked where I worked, at the Northfield Postal Facility, Regional

Distribution Center No. 5. And what were your jobs at the Northfield Postal

Facility? We sorted mail.

Did you know George Whalen?

Yeah, he also sorted mail.

Would you describe for us what it was like to work at the Northfield Facility?

What it was like?

Well, they have a machine called an optical character reader.

It spits out 30 ,000 letters an hour.

There's a man with a stopwatch standing behind you, timing to see how long it

takes you to read an address and punch in the first three digits of the zip

code. And what, if anything, would a man with a stopwatch do if you weren't fast

enough?

Write you up.

If you move too slow, they write you up.

If you take too many steps, they write you up.

If you hold an envelope at the wrong angle, if you're...

Five minutes late for your lunch break. If you don't ask permission to go to the

bathroom, anything, everything, they write you up.

I once saw them write up a 60 -year -old woman for showing a picture of a

grandchild. You have no idea what it's like in there.

Would you describe the event that took place on April 15, 1991?

I was finishing my shift.

George Whalen walked out on the floor and asked me if I'd seen our postmaster,

Mr. Daggett. I told him I hadn't.

He turned around and walked toward the door.

Next thing I knew, he had a gun in his hand.

Did you see him fire that gun?

Yes, I did.

When Mr. Daggett came out of his office, he fired at him.

And what happened after he fired at him?

He got my wife instead.

She just punched in and was walking out to the floor.

She caught a bullet right in the head.

She died in my arms.

Mr. McAllister, you hold that the Postal Service is responsible for your wife's

death. I'd like you to explain to us why.

Because George Whalen never would have done what he did if the Postal Service

hadn't driven him to do it.

Thank you. Nothing further.

Mr. McAllister, I'm very sorry about your wife.

But there are a few questions I have to ask you.

Did you observe anything...

unusual about George Whelan prior to the day of the shooting?

Did I?

No, I didn't. I didn't know the man that well. You work together.

Why didn't you know him that well? There are 600 people working there. That's

right, Mr. McAllister. There are 600 people working there. Yet you maintain,

you not, that it was incumbent on the supervisory personnel at the facility to

not only know this man, but to know him well enough to predict what he would do.

They knew the pressure he was under.

They knew the pressure we were all under. But all of you didn't do what

did. All of you didn't take a gun and start shooting. No, but George Whelan's

not the only postal worker who has, though, is he? There are more than 700

employees in the United States Postal Service.

What percentage of them do you suppose have behaved as Mr. Whelan has? I have

idea. Objection. The witness isn't qualified to answer.

An objection is sustained. My wife wasn't supposed to get shot.

My kids weren't supposed to lose their mother.

That's absolutely true, Mr. Callister. The question is, who's to blame? Right.

And according to you, no one's to blame.

George Whelan's insane, so you can't blame him. The post office is too big

too busy, so you can't blame them.

According to you, it just happened, right, Mr. Spitzer?

According to you, it's one of life's little oddball tragedies, and it just

happened. Mr. McAllister. You're wrong, Mr. Spitzer, wrong.

It didn't just happen.

George Whelan didn't just one day go insane.

Mr. McAllister. Sons of pitchers like the man at that table drove him insane.

He's the one to blame.

Mr. McAllister, that's enough. He didn't pull the trigger, but he's the one who

killed her.

These are the transcripts from the trial and the briefs that were submitted.

Read them, digest them, and we'll talk about them tomorrow.

Okay. Go ahead and use my office. Start culling through the cases that were

cited. And if anything jumps out at you that you need an answer for, call the

general counsel's office at the bank.

I can call them? By all means.

Because I am going to be buried under this trial for at least a week. No one

here knows anything about the case. So if you need to know something, call the

bank's lawyers.

I have to say I kind of hate the idea of working on the side of the bank in this

case. Why is that?

Because I think they do discriminate in their lending policy.

Read the papers.

I will. I think you'll find that the bank was using very reasonable criteria

evaluating the credit risk.

Maybe it's just a matter of general principle.

That's usually not a good way to decide the merits of a specific case.

No, you're right. I appreciate you doing this, Gwen.

I'm really underwater right now.

Tell us, Dr. Gerhardt, what is your field of expertise?

The psychological effects of stress in the workplace.

And have you spent much time in the Northfield Postal Facility? Yes, I have.

Have you examined George Whelan? Yes.

And what observations are you prepared to make?

That there was a direct link between conditions at the postal facility and

Whelan's actions on the day he shot and killed Tina McAllister.

In your opinion, what was responsible for that link?

Workers are governed by machines at the Postal Service. Whether we're talking

about optical readers or stopwatches, management has made it abundantly clear

that the pace of work has nothing to do with human behavior and everything to do

with mechanized efficiency.

Add to this draconian regulations and few meaningful outlets for worker

frustrations, and you have the conditions that result in tragedies like

one. In your opinion, could this tragedy have been prevented?

Yes. This wasn't the first episode of violent behavior on the part of a postal

worker. Far from it. The fact is that there have been clusters of such

ranging from homicides to suicides to fistfights at postal facilities all over

the country.

Now, had management been willing to view these indications as a fundamental

problem and taken steps to remedy that, this tragedy could have been prevented.

Did the management, in your opinion, have any basis to conclude that George

Whelan was a person who was likely to become violent?

Again, the answer is yes.

See, contrary to popular myth, people don't just suddenly snap.

In 17 years, George Whelan had never filed a single grievance.

Now, suddenly he was disciplined for a petty infraction, and in the span of two

weeks he filed six.

He wrote three letters to supervisors and requested an appointment to speak to

Mr. Daggett, something he had never done before.

He made numerous references in his letters to acts of violence committed at

other postal facilities.

These were signals.

These were calls for help.

And anyone who was listening would have heard them.

I have nothing further.

You referred to the clusters of violent behavior among postal workers. Tell me

something, Doctor. How does the Postal Service compare with other industries in

that regard?

Not having done a statistical analysis on other industries, I really couldn't

say. In that I have done a little statistical analysis, let me run the

figures by you.

The number of homicides and or suicides among postal workers is 2 .3 for every

500 ,000 workers.

Among hotel clerks, the rate's 10 for every 500 ,000 workers.

Should we look into on -the -job stress in the hotel industry, doctor?

I'm sure you know, Counselor, that those kind of statistics are hardly what I

base my conclusions on. Doctor, I don't think you base your conclusions on any

kind of statistics.

Objection. Sustained. Is there scientific proof of any kind that on

stress was responsible for acts of violence in postal workers?

Well, if you mean hard and fast verifiable data, the answer's no.

In other words, it's impossible to prove, impossible to disprove. It's a

isn't it, Doctor?

Yes. It's a theory that, if accepted as fact, will allow the plaintiff in this

case to collect a great deal of money because the Postal Service is, after

a deep, deep pocket.

Did you have that in mind by any chance when you were formulating this theory?

No, I didn't.

All right, Doctor.

I have no further questions.

Oh, my.

How does it look?

This is quite a collection.

Not necessarily in terms of its monetary value, although that's not

inconsiderable, but primarily in terms of its intellectual organization, its

understanding of historical significance.

A superb series of 1923 imperforates.

Never hinged plate block of a 1924 Huguenot Walloon.

Some fine examples of graph zeppelins.

This was a real collector.

Well, that doesn't surprise me.

Nat was very methodical about everything he did. He was a very thoughtful,

rather scholarly man.

It shows.

Do you have any idea yet as to how much it's worth?

Well, from what I've seen thus far, I would say we were into the mid -five

-figure range.

And there are a couple of boxes that I haven't been through with him yet.

Let's see what we have over here.

All right.

Speaking strictly as a fellow philatelist, I can tell you there's much

here. There are themes and confluences running throughout what this man has

done.

What is this?

What? There's a false bottom in this box.

It appears that there's pornography in here, Mr. McKenzie.

What?

It appears that it didn't get in here by mistake, either.

Well, I have no idea where it would have come from.

It's quite an array, isn't there?

Look at this degradation.

Did you know George Wayland, Mr. Daggett?

Not personally, no.

Were you aware of the fact that he had requested an appointment with you?

I wasn't aware of it for the simple reason that all employee communications

handled further down the chain of command.

It was dealt with. It just wasn't dealt with by me.

Was there any mechanism in place to deal with worker stress?

Yes. There's a referral service for psychological counseling.

There's the grievance procedure if an employee feels he or she has been

And then, of course, there's all of us.

By which I mean employees and supervisors both.

Our number one resource at the U .S. Postal Service is our people. We should

never lose sight of that.

In your opinion, was there any way that you could have prevented this tragedy

from happening?

I wish there had been. The truth is, I don't know what I would have done

differently.

I don't know what I could have done.

I'm trained to move the mail, not diagnose mental illnesses.

But what I want to say to Mr.

McAllister is this.

that while I did not lose anyone dear to me, I too was devastated by what

happened.

I think I can safely say that all of us whose lives were touched by this event

will never be the same.

I have nothing further.

Since you say that your life will never be the same, I'd like to start by asking

exactly how it's different.

I'm not sure I know what you mean. Do you have the same work rules in place

that you had in place before?

Those work rules exist for a reason. Is that a yes?

Yes. Do you still write people up for taking too many steps?

We've conducted studies, Miss Paros. You write them up for holding an envelope

at the wrong angle to read it? Those studies have shown us the optimally

efficient method to perform each task.

And if someone deviates from that which is optimally efficient, you bust them.

I correct them.

That's my job. Isn't it also your job to provide a work environment that's safe?

What happened that day could have happened anywhere. It could have

the street. It could have happened on a bus.

It could have happened right here in this courtroom. I try to provide a work

environment that's safe, but sometimes unforeseen events will occur that render

it otherwise.

And it's your testimony that the work rules in place at your facility did

nothing to bring about this unforeseen event.

Look, I have a very clear -cut mandate, Ms. Peros.

Do it faster. Do it cheaper. Do it better.

People want their mail delivered. They want it delivered promptly.

And they don't want the price of a stamp to go up by as much as one single

penny. I do what I have to do to get the job done.

Fix your collar.

We're not going on a bus. We're going on an airplane.

Gotta look a little sharp.

Do I look sharp now?

Like a tech.

I'm so excited. I can't believe we're doing this. Remember what I told you.

is a business trip.

Okay. We're a couple of businessmen. We're going on a business trip. If we

should happen to enjoy ourselves along the way, all well and good. But the

purpose of this trip is business.

Business.

You all packed?

Yeah. Good.

Let's make like a hockey stick and get the puck out of here.

Let's go.

Huh.

Where are you off to, Benny?

Oh, I asked Douglas if I could leave early and he said it was okay.

Where are you going?

I gave out the mail and I put extra paper in the copier and I cleaned up the

kitchen. Benny. Tell him where we're going.

We're going to Vegas.

I'm going to get rid of it. You can't get rid of it, Leland.

It's hardcore pornography, Stuart. The family doesn't know about it. What

possible good would it do them to find out? Yeah, I guess I wouldn't want to

know that my father collected pornography.

Your father collected pornography?

No, no, the deceased in this estate matter collected pornography.

What do you mean by collected?

I mean collected. I mean boxes of magazines, films, playing cards, a

puzzle. Have you seen it?

No, I haven't seen it. I really think everyone's interest would be best served

if I just destroyed it. Well, you can't destroy it, Leland. You have a fiduciary

relationship to the estate.

But it's not as if it's worth any money.

Are you sure?

Are you telling me there's a market in second -hand pornography?

I don't know whether there is or there isn't, but before you dispose of this

stuff, I think I ought to call Yale Tobias to come and take a look.

Oh, that's a great idea.

Yeah, his wife divorced him because of his collection of pornography.

He's rich. He's obsessed.

I think we ought to get him in here.

Give him a call, Arnold.

One way or another, I want that material out of my office.

Where do you now reside, Mr. Whalen? I reside at Atascadero State Hospital,

Atascadero, California.

And how long did you work for the Postal Service, Mr. Whalen?

Seventeen years.

Would you tell us what your job was?

I sorted mail.

Did you like your job?

One time I did.

Did that change?

Yes, it did.

What happened?

They roped me up.

What'd they write you up for?

For being late.

Were you late?

No, I wasn't. In 17 years of working there, I was never late.

I'll make something of a point of that.

I figure out how long it's going to take me to get from point A to point B.

I allow for traffic, I allow for weather, and as a result of that, I'm

time. Then why were you written up?

Because the pipe broke in one of the restrooms. As a result of that, they

the entrance I was accustomed to using.

As a result of that, I had to go around half the circumference of the building

to get in. As a result of that, I was, in fact, late in punching in,

but I was not late in getting to work.

How late were you in punching in? Ten minutes late, which I know seems trivial

to many people.

But the rule was you had to be on time.

And I have no quarrel with that rule.

In this instance, however, it wasn't my fault.

Did you say that? I said it repeatedly.

I put it in writing.

I wanted that lateness notation expunged from my record.

And were they willing to do that?

No.

They weren't.

And because I was unwilling to let it go, I was disciplined.

How were you disciplined?

I was told to watch the scale.

They'd bring packages over to weigh them, and I would see how much they

There were yellow lines painted on the floor, and I was told to stay inside

those lines my entire shift.

I was permitted out for lunch, for two ten -minute breaks, and if I had to go

the bathroom and ask permission to go.

Why did you bring a gun to work, Mr. Whelan?

Because I felt as though I had been unfairly treated.

And maybe I made too much of that.

I did make too much of it.

I know, Mr.

Daggett, that you had a lot more on your mind than my excuses.

If I was late, I was late, period.

But now that I have your ear, sir,

There's something else I'd like to say.

If you could find it in your heart to give me my job back, you'd never have to

worry about my being late again.

That's a promise.

Benny, you need to tell us what's going on.

What do you mean?

We understand that your friend Dominic took you to Las Vegas.

Yeah. Who paid?

I did.

I think we've got to take some action here.

What do you mean?

What do I mean? How much did you spend to go to Las Vegas, Benny?

Oh, airplane tickets were $387.

Wait a second. You paid for his ticket as well as your own? Uh -huh. What else

did you pay for?

Well, I paid for chips. How much?

$500 worth. Can we get protective order? We can certainly try.

What happened after you bought the chips?

Dominic played this dice game they have.

If you throw the dice and get a seven, you win.

Or if you get another number and then you get it again, you win.

Or if you put a chip down on a square and somebody else is throwing the dice.

Yes, we know. It's called craps. We know what the game is.

Dominic let me throw the dice.

And we kept winning.

And the man kept giving us more and more chips.

Then what happened?

Then we went and played blackjack where you got to get 21.

And then the man kept giving us more and more chips.

And then I went over to the slot machines, and I kept putting quarters in

$50 and quarters came out.

Benny, how much money did you have when you got there?

$620. How much money did you have when you left?

$3 .75.

We had to take the bus home from the airport.

I don't get it, Benno.

You're a thrifty guy. You're smart with money. Why are you doing this?

It was fun, Arnie.

We saw Siegfried and Roy.

He's got the complete Santa Cruz series.

The Svenborg bestiality plates.

These are very rare editions.

Oh, how long is this going to take, Arnold?

What I find most remarkable is the scholarliness and the discipline

this collection.

Most collectors collect along the line of fetishes.

This gentleman's approach was historical.

There are pieces from Nazi Germany.

There's a wonderful soft core section from the 50s with those zebra combs of

women posing with garden hoses and guitars.

Arnold.

There's the quote -unquote free love hippie years.

The Chicago school.

The so -called existential nymphomania period represented like I've never seen

it represented before.

I take it that you're interested.

Oh, my God.

Correct me if I'm wrong, Leland. I think what we're interested in doing here is

selling the entire collection.

Absolutely. Arnold, you don't break up a collection like this.

I mean, even if I wanted to, what wouldn't I take?

The 8mm reels?

How much, yeah.

All right.

I can give you a check right now for... $50 ,000.

Mr. Tobias.

We know what we've got here.

We know what the Svenborg bestiality plates alone are worth. Now, out of

consideration to Arnold, I'm showing you the collection before I show it to

anyone else. But I'm not willing and I'm not able, as an executor of the estate,

to make any concessions on price.

You think you can do better than $50 ,000?

Yes, I do. I've already got a call from a Japanese collector willing to buy the

entire collection, sight unseen.

Well, I am not letting this fall by the wayside because I wanted to save a buck.

An opportunity like this comes along once in a lifetime, and I am not about

let it pass me by.

I want this collection.

How much do you want it?

I want it very much.

Do you want to tell me what it was you were thinking about when you fobbed off

your responsibility for this appeal on Gwen?

What do you mean? I mean that Gwen's not a lawyer, Melina. She's not authorized

by either the state of California or this firm to practice law.

I asked her to assist me.

She called the general counsel's office.

For what?

He spoke to one of their bank's senior attorneys.

So what? Did it ever occur to you that the bank's attorneys, like most

attorneys, don't appreciate having their time taken up explaining the fine

points of an appellate brief to someone who is themselves not an attorney?

Were the questions, Gwen, a stupid question?

I don't think that's the least bit relevant.

You had no business bringing her into that case.

Look, I am doing what I have to do to manage my workload. If she screwed up, I

would take responsibility for that. She didn't screw up.

She just violated what you and some other pompous lawyer with a pole up his

regard as an inviolate caste system.

And for that, you're in here wasting what precious few moments I have left in

which to prepare to go to court. Now, you listen to me, Melina, and listen

I wouldn't be in here if I hadn't gotten a call from the bank's attorney, and I

wouldn't have gotten that call if he hadn't been unhappy.

Now, you may think that's insignificant.

Let me assure you.

You're wrong. This bank represents what could potentially be a substantial

source of revenue for this firm. As the managing partner, it's my responsibility

to do everything in my power to make sure that potential is realized,

with making sure that their attorneys are not unhappy.

Now, if you can't assure me of that, let me know, and I'll give this case to

someone else. Douglas, I have been working till 10 o 'clock every night for

weeks. I haven't had a day off in over a month.

Maybe you should give this to somebody else.

Done.

It's always difficult to understand a tragedy, to try and make sense out of

senseless.

An innocent woman dies and we all grieve.

Unfortunately, random violence is part of society.

A day doesn't go by that we don't read about another murder, another shooting.

Is the post office a demanding, high -stress environment in which to work?

Undoubtedly. Is there a connection between violence and the working

at the post office?

We have no idea.

The only issue here, ladies and gentlemen, is did the management at the

Northfield Postal Facility cause George Whelan to do what he did?

All of us, in varying degrees, are under stress.

Punching a time clock, pleasing your boss, those are stressful things.

Most of us, however, don't take a gun to work and start shooting, and none of

us, if we did so, would be entitled to hold our employers responsible.

While it may be comforting to believe that a dangerous individual can somehow

singled out, somehow be stopped, the truth is that no one knows how to do

Does the post office regret that Tina McAllister was killed?

Absolutely. But are they in any way to blame for her death?

Absolutely not.

The defense counsel's right.

We all have stress.

If we work for a living, we depend on our boss's approval.

We need our paychecks, and we want to do a good job, and so we're vulnerable.

We're vulnerable to our boss's whims, to their moods, to the pressures that

they're under themselves.

There are some bosses who are reasonable and fair.

And there are some who are petty and abusive and cruel, and they get away

being like that because the people who work for them need their jobs.

I would maintain that the Postal Service is one such employer and that Richard

Daggett is one such supervisor.

I would maintain that when a worker becomes violent after having been

hounded and humiliated, it's self -evident why he's done so.

Grown men and women should not be treated like children.

should not have to ask permission to go to the bathroom or be expected to

perform like robots.

Heightened efficiency is no justification for the systematic

human being.

And that's what was done to George Whelan.

And that's why Brian McAllister's wife is dead.

The Postal Service is to blame, and it's only fitting and proper that they be

made to pay.

I've gotten an appraisal on the stamp collection.

Please.

And? It's worth close to $80 ,000.

Well, I guess that settles that question. There's no way I can persuade

to sell Dad's stamp collection. Sure there is. You can give me $40 ,000.

Now, there may be another solution.

Within your father's collection, I found some other items that have considerable

value. You mean not stamps?

Right. Not stamps.

What did you find?

Oh, well, I found some men's magazines and

some film, and I found pornography.

That didn't belong to my father. When you say pornography, how much

are you talking about?

$110 ,000 worth.

I don't believe that. You actually have someone willing to pay that much?

Yes, yes, I do.

How many dirty magazines did the old man have?

Well, there's quite a few.

I think I'm going to be sick.

Well, let me suggest that what it does allow you to do is keep the stamp

collection and sell the pornography and split the difference between the value

of the two. I don't want to have anything from the sale of his

Well, you are entitled to it. I don't want it.

That's what he was doing in his studies?

It's not like that's all he was doing. I have to get out of here.

Well, we're supposed to sit down with your mother today and let her know what

we're going to do. It's fine.

Right now, I just have to be by myself.

Judith, come on.

He spent part of the time on his stamp collection.

Right?

Yeah, yeah, well, yeah.

The matter of McAllister versus the U .S. Postal Service.

Has the jury reached a verdict?

We have, Your Honor. I'll see.

We fine for the plaintiff and award damages in the amount of $1 million.

Jury is dismissed with the thanks of the court.

We are adjourned.

We won.

So now they appeal, right?

Either that or offer to settle.

Forget about that.

Well, let's just see what the offer is. They can keep us in appeals for years.

Let them.

Don't you want the money, Brian?

Not if it means capitulation.

It doesn't mean that. It just means that you've made a rational decision to get

on with your life. Don't use that expression with me, all right? The life

is over.

The woman I loved is dead.

There's nothing more important to me right now than taking on the people who

killed her.

Come here.

Come on. Come sit down.

Now, you can tell me to mind my own business, but I disagree.

Because you've got two kids to bring up, and that's a lot more important.

And you can come away from this with enough money to make a difference and be

done with it.

I don't think I want to be done with this.

I think it'd be best for all involved if this thing just dragged on as long as

possible.

Why?

Because I don't know how much difference there is between me and George Whelan.

When this case is over, I just might kill someone too.

How are you feeling?

I'm still in a state of shock.

He was a human being, Judith.

He had flaws.

In my book, this was a little more than a flaw.

That didn't stop him from being a good father now, did it?

I don't know.

Yes, you do.

You know the kind of father he was.

This makes me think of him differently, Frank.

He wasn't this kindly white -haired man in a cardigan sweater working on his

stamp collection.

He was an obsessive sicko pawing through dirty pictures.

No, no. I haven't said anything about this to your mother.

Oh, my God. I would hope not. No, no, no. She shouldn't know anything about

It would kill her. I mean, however disconcerting this is to us, we could

deal with it a hell of a lot better than she could. So we won't say anything?

Nothing. Hello, children.

Hi, Mom. Hi, Mom. Well,

have you kids worked out your differences?

Yes, Mom.

We have.

Good. I think the last thing your father wanted was for something like his stamp

collection to have driven the two of you apart.

By the way, did you ever find his dirty magazines?

So you know, Mr. Newsy.

We take an interest in Benny Stelowitz's welfare.

Lester, you're about to tell us that it's none of our business.

Right, because we maintain it's very much our business.

In addition to being Benny's employers, we also administer his trust.

Now, if need be, we can march into court and get control of all of Benny's

assets, as well as a protective order against you personally.

And while we'd rather not do that, the next time we find out you're taking

from him, that's exactly what we'll do.

Are you done?

Yeah. Good. Let me set you straight about something. I'm not afraid of you,

right? That's for openers.

Ben Stulwitz and I have our own arrangement. That arrangement doesn't

anything to do with you.

You're taking advantage of someone who is mentally retarded. So far as I'm

concerned, I'm not taking advantage of anyone.

So happens Ben's an adult.

A retarded adult.

An adult, a grown man who doesn't have to answer to you or anyone else about

he spends his money. You're the one who's got to answer for it, Dominic.

Either of you ever take Ben to Vegas? That's not really the point. I think it

the point. The fact that we're 45 minutes from the greatest spectacle in

Western world, and before I took him, he'd never been, that's exactly the

Believe it or not, Benny has never expressed any interest in Las Vegas.

that's sadder still, because I'll tell you what. He's real interested in going

back. He saw life. He saw action. He saw Siegfried and Roy, okay?

He saw white tigers appear and disappear on command.

Not much compares with that. And we're supposed to ignore the fact that it's

Benny who pays for everything?

Hey, right now, he's the one who's got, so he's the one that pays. When I'm the

one that's got, I'm the one that pays.

With me, Benny is Ben.

He's not a retarded messenger boy. He's a man. We do the things that men do. We

go to the track. We go to Vegas because we're men. We don't need your

permission, your approval.

You want to take me to court? Be my guest.

Dominic? Hey, Ben, how you doing?

What's going on?

We're just having a little...

Hey, you guys getting to be friends?

Absolutely. Maybe they could go to the racetrack sometime.

Yeah, I don't see why not. Hey, listen, Ben, walk me out, will you? I gotta get

going. Hey.

So, we have a good time in Vegas or what?

We had a great time.

Hey, next time we go, we go see Ann -Margaret.

Really? Oh, hey, she's only the most beautiful woman in the face of the

What, she should be there and we wouldn't go see her?

So we will go.

That's what I'm saying.

Are you going to bet on any horses today, Dominic?

I don't know yet.

I went to the bank and I got money.

Here.

Give me.

How many times have I told you not to keep your money in a wallet?

I forgot.

Farmers keep their money in wallets.

Anyone that's hip keeps their money in their pants pocket.

Look at this mess.

Look.

All right. I'm going to tell you this one more time.

Bills. Right side up.

Okay? Larger denominations on the bottom. Smaller denominations on the

Fold it in the middle. And when you pay out, you always peel them off towards

you. Not towards the other guy. Towards you.

Huh? Okay.

Trying to teach you something here. I know.

Here.

Don't you want any money to bet with?

No. You sure?

Yeah.

I'll see you at DuPars tonight?

Hey, I gotta eat supper, right?

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