Original subtitles

Morning, Floyd.

Welcome back, Ms. Vanover.

It's nice to be back.

Gracie, come on in.

You want to see me, Bruce?

Welcome back to decor, Gracie.

Thanks, Richard.

We were just talking about you.

I want you to take over one of Dick's cases.

Fine.

Armed robbery, $100,000 theft.

Why can't you do it?

Personal reasons. Now, I've already impaneled the jury, so it's all set to

go.

Am I missing something?

Not a thing.

It's a bit unusual what this guy stole, but we figured if it's up anybody's

alley, it would have to be yours.

Because you're the only lawyer here who can do it with a straight face.

You see, that's one of the benefits of having no sense of humor.

What's the matter with you two?

You could be so hilarious about a $100,000 theft.

Bull semen.

Yeah, the guy knocked over a sperm bank.

Fifteen grand a pint.

Go get him, Gracie.

Bull semen?

Rona versus Gradinger.

Settling.

Richardson estate.

Yeah, we're getting some movement on that, actually. I think the widow is

inclined to settle.

Bonora versus Cromwell aircraft.

Status quo.

A new matter.

Glasband versus Glasband.

A referral from Harley Hunt. My client's husband did Harley's last facelift.

Which brings us to Brophy versus Valley Distributors, Inc.

Yeah, the trial starts tomorrow.

Family's coming in this morning for final prep.

Have there been any last-minute offers?

$75,000 on the wrongful death claim for the little boy. You declined?

I told him it would take $200,000 to settle it out of court.

Why is it you lose an eye, you get a million-dollar verdict, you lose your

life, and it's only worth a fraction of that?

This lawyer I know advises his clients, if you run somebody over, back up and

finish off the job.

Compared to maiming, wrongful death's a bargain.

What about the emotional distress claim for the boy's sister? Well, they offer

10,000. I'm looking for 100.

So you get almost as much for witnessing a death as you do for the death itself.

Well, her kid brother died right before her eyes. She has to live with that for

the rest of her life.

And they think the tax code doesn't make sense.

If you don't mind, people, as we appear to be finished with the business at

hand, I suggest we adjourn.

Do you have any plans for Friday night?

I've got a date. Why? I've got to go to my cousin's wedding.

Oh, I'm sorry, Abby.

It's okay. I'll figure something else out.

I just want this over with.

I'll sign anything he wants.

I just desperately need to get away somewhere.

Mrs. Glasspan, your husband is a big-time plastic surgeon.

He's got to be making close to a million a year. This proposed agreement shows 35

,000 in the bank. It doesn't pass the smell test. Look, he's a decent man.

He would never cheat me, please.

I don't have the strength to make a fight out of this. Which is why you hire

a lawyer who does. And my suggestion, professionally as well as personally, we

sniff his tracks for a few days.

Just if for no other reason... To confirm his decency. You don't

understand.

This divorce is all my fault.

My failure.

My psychiatrist says I need to get it behind me.

I don't want to tread on your doctor's territory, but my experience, in the

long run, you'll feel better if you don't run away from your problems. I

can't stand another night in that house.

I hear noises and I'm scared. You're alone for the first time in your life.

It's perfectly natural to feel frightened. You don't know how I feel.

Carolyn. May I call you Carolyn?

Let me just check some things out so at least we're confident that our decision

is an informed one.

I don't know.

Can you just humor an overprotective attorney for a few days?

I'm sorry.

I know that I'm not making much sense, but it's just... I'm afraid to stay home

alone.

I'm afraid to go out.

I'm... See, I'm a mess, and I... I know that you're vulnerable.

I just don't want you victimized by one short period of insecurity.

Now, I've asked for a meeting for Friday.

Can you give me just till then to review all this?

Rox, let's confirm the Glasspan meeting for Friday.

Is 11 o'clock all right with you, Mrs. Glasspan?

And whenever you're in that courtroom, I want you sitting side by side.

You'll take each other's hand from time to time to lend support.

Every time the jury shoots a glance at you, I want them to see a close, loving

family.

The kids have to be there all the time?

Yes. They remind the jury that it wasn't just your son who was killed in that

accident. It was also their little brother.

I don't mean to sound cynical, and I wouldn't be stressing this if we didn't

have to be our best in court tomorrow.

Now, when I introduce the pictures of the accident and of Anthony, I don't

want anybody looking at them.

You look straight down. They're too painful to view. I've seen them a

hundred times, Mr. Cifuentes.

I think we can take it.

I don't want the jury to see that you can take it.

These shots will make them squeamish. The last thing I want is you people

looking stoic.

When they look at you, I want them to see hurt.

Which brings me to your testimony, Patty.

Now, in your deposition, you were the brave little soldier with a lot of one

-word answers, but tomorrow, you've got to let it come out.

I want you to take your time and describe everything you saw, everything

you felt.

Okay?

As much detail as possible.

Is this really necessary?

Well, the emotional distress claim won't be worth much unless she gets up there

on the stand and describes the horror.

You've got to tell them how he suffered, how you saw him suffer, and what it did

to you.

You've got to make that jury feel like they were right there in the car with

you. You think you can do that?

I don't know.

You've got to try.

Mr. Cifuentes.

I know this is hard.

Believe me, I do.

But what you've got to keep remembering is that they won't compensate you for

pain they can't see. If we don't reenact that horror and unearth some of that

grief... Nothing is going to compensate us for the loss of our little boy.

I know that, ma'am.

But you've come this far.

We'll be okay.

Can you excuse us for a second?

Certainly.

I think the back of my eye is going to go over the test. No, I don't want you

to. Victor, she's going to be a mess on that stand tomorrow. Which is exactly

the way we want her. I need her pain spilling out on everyone in that

courtroom.

The bigger the mess, the bigger the judgment.

Now, Professor Lahamadou, could you please describe for the court the manner

in which these sperm samples are collected?

Well, the first of the two methods is electroejaculation.

However, that's rather an aversive experience for the animal.

And the far more common technique is to... Objection to the question, Your

Honor, and I renew my objection as to the admissibility of Professor

Lahamudu's testimony in general.

What's at issue here is whether my client stole it and how much it was

worth. The manner in which the bull expresses himself is of no relevance

whatsoever.

Tell that to the bull.

Your Honor, it's imperative that the jury understand the intricate process

involved here.

Come on, we all know how it works.

It's not... that simple, Judge.

They don't just send the bull behind a hayloft with a magazine and a baggie.

Miss Van Owen.

It is a protracted and expensive process, Your Honor, one which the dairy

industry takes very seriously.

Look, I'll let him briefly describe it, but keep it short.

Thank you, Your Honor.

Please continue, Professor.

Certainly. The bull is led from the pen into a collection area.

If he's an experienced animal, he knows what's coming. So he's already in a

state of excitation.

What happens next?

By this time, the technician has tethered a stimulus.

I should add that most of the time a male stimulus is used to prevent

accidental intromission.

You mean the bull will engage with another male? A sexually naive animal,

no. But a mature bull will mount almost anything.

Miss Van Owen.

We're almost finished, Your Honor.

After the bull mounts, the animal technician takes hold of his... Can I

say the P word?

Just continue.

He takes hold of the member and inserts it into an artificial...

Can I say the V word?

Counsel, in my chambers, right now.

Why don't you call Peter?

I tried him.

Can you believe he has a girlfriend?

To tell you the truth, my feelings are a little hurt.

You can't blame him.

You didn't give him much encouragement.

Since when do men need encouragement?

Whatever happened to ardent pursuit?

You could go by yourself, you know. Oh, to my cousin's wedding?

Do you have any idea how many of my aunts and uncles are going to be there?

They're all going to be whispering about my divorce.

Feeling sorry for me and trying to fix me up.

Yeah.

How'd you do?

No luck.

You didn't tell these people my whole life story, did you?

No, I just said, you know, you were a colleague of mine. You were in a tight

spot.

Not one nibble?

Uh-uh.

And I asked everybody.

Mike Rudenberg's got Laker tickets that night. But maybe he'd like to meet you,

you know, like later in life.

And Marty Shriver just got married. You believe that?

Unbelievable.

And Danny Glovis thanked me profusely, but he's taken a vow of chastity as of

today. Oh, don't ask.

What are you telling these people?

I don't want to go to bed with them. I just want someone to take me to a

wedding. That's all I said.

Oh, I give up.

It's all over for me anyway. I'm 26 years old. I'm terminally divorced.

On June 20th, 1983...

Patricia Brophy got in her car to drive her 11-year-old brother Anthony to

baseball practice.

They never got there.

A truck driver who had dozed off at the wheel ran through a red light and

smashed his six-ton vehicle into Patty's car, knocking it through a fence on the

other side of the road.

When the police and firemen arrived, they had to use the jaws of life.

to pull Patty free of the wreckage and rush her to the hospital.

But her little brother was not as lucky.

Anthony Brophy's life ended in that car crash, while his family's nightmare was

just beginning.

Well, those are the facts in this case.

And except for one small area of disagreement, they are indisputable.

The only issue is...

How we, all of us good, compassionate people, assess a dollar value on the

loss of a child's life.

I know to many of you the very idea of this sounds offensive.

It cheapens life to say that the loss of an 11-year-old boy is worth a quarter of

a million dollars or half a million dollars or even a hundred million

dollars.

The life of Anthony Brophy and the loss...

that this family has suffered cannot be measured monetarily.

But, sadly, money is the only source of redress available

to this family under the law.

Now, the Brophy's have entrusted their case to me.

But when Mr. Pass and I and all the other witnesses that you'll be hearing

from are through...

the hardest work of all will fall on you as you decide how to compensate this

family for what was so cruelly taken away from them.

I know that you will live up to that responsibility.

Thank you.

I show you this vial, Mr. Lavanchi, and I ask if you can identify it.

It contains the seed of my prized bull, Champion Black Barney.

I see the initials BB.

Now, by seed, you mean semen.

Yes, ma'am.

Mr. Lavanchi, if you recall, how much of Champion Black Barney's seed was stored

in the Los Angeles County Veterinary Center?

50 straws, over 500 cc.

And can you state for us the value of those 50 straws? Objection. He knows the

market value.

He can answer.

Barney's sperm, and I apologize for the graphic language, sold for over $2,000

a straw.

That man stole over $100,000 from him.

Objection. Sustained.

The jury will disregard that last characterization.

How much more of Barney's sperm do you currently have in your possession, Mr.

LaVanche?

All of it gone but what you see.

It's the last of my Barney.

My champion.

Why is that?

Well, he ran out of gas about 18 months ago.

Only shoots blanks now.

I'd like to try to start a whole new herd with a few drops of him I got left.

Don't you have other bulls, Mr. LaVanche?

Oh, not like him.

A cattle rancher gets a bull like Champion Black Barney once in a

lifetime, if ever.

A good share of my business is mortgaged to the profits I'd make from his

heritage.

Now all that's gone.

No more questions.

No cross.

You may step down.

So you're saying, Doctor, that it's possible for the boy to have survived

for a few minutes after impact, correct?

That's absolutely correct.

Thank you, Doctor.

Your witness?

Dr. Christie, given the nature of the crash and the severity of the boy's

injuries, isn't it likely that he died instantly?

It's likely, but it's not definite. And it's not probable that he was ever

conscious after impact, is it?

Not probable.

Thank you, sir.

That's all. You can step down, Dr. Christie.

Your Honor, the plaintiff calls Patricia Brophy to the stand.

Okay.

I call your attention, Patty, to the afternoon of June 20th, 1983, and I ask

you what, if anything unusual, occurred on that date.

I was driving my little brother Anthony to baseball practice.

was an accident.

Patty, I want you to take your time now and tell the jury exactly what happened

from the moment you got in the car.

I had just left home.

I was about a mile or so from my house and I came to the intersection.

of rod road and kennedy drive and then the light was green

so i kept i proceeded and then from

the left this truck came at us straight at us

i hit my brakes but it it came too fast and it knocked us off the road

and into the fence

Do you remember what happened next?

There was blood.

From my head.

I remember reaching up and touching my forehead. There was blood coming down

the side.

And I kept thinking that this really didn't happen.

That I...

And I looked up at Anthony.

He... What did you see, Patty?

He was looking at me.

One of the pickets from the fence.

was sticking through his shoulder.

He tried... What did he do, Patty?

He tried to reach me. He just looked at me.

He couldn't move his arms, but he... He was wiggling his fingers.

Like he was trying to reach me.

Oh, he was so scared. He was so scared.

Then he said...

What did he say, Patty?

Could I get you some coffee or some tea? No, I'm fine.

Thank you.

Arnie, this is... I appreciate you taking the time to meet with me, Mr.

Becker.

Call me Arnie.

Only after hours.

So what can I do for you, Ms. Quintana?

Well, as I explained in my note, I've recently left the LAPD.

Do you mind if I ask why?

Among my other skills, Mr. Becker, I'm a licensed pilot, a third-degree black

belt, I can bench-press 200 pounds, I've climbed mountains, raced motorcycles,

and quarter horses.

So let's just say pushing a pencil down at Parker Center wasn't my idea of life

in the fast lane.

So now you've set up your own PI agency.

And I'm trying to build a select clientele.

Well, your background is very interesting, and you certainly look like

a very healthy specimen.

But the truth is, I already have several investigators who are more than adequate

to my needs.

Well, with all due regard to those other individuals, and I do know and respect

most of them, I'm better.

Really?

Really.

Oh, okay, let me ask you this.

Hypothetically, of course.

Let's say I have a client who's married to a successful physician, leaves her,

files for divorce, and cries poverty.

What are you going to do for me between now and Friday that my other

investigators can't?

Well, judging from the little that you're telling me, he's either stolen

it, gambled it away, put it up his nose, or found another woman, or all of the

above.

What kind of doctor?

Plastic surgeon.

I guess it's another woman.

And since most doctors are too busy and too cheap for a hotel, office in Century

City? Mm-hmm.

They're probably doing it in his office.

I'll get you a videotape.

The people I already have in this case tell me that's impossible.

Shouldn't be.

Not for somebody with professional expertise in long-lens video

surveillance and a nice working relationship with the Century City

window-washing service.

I don't know. No disrespect intended, Miss Quintana, but I find it a little

hard to believe everything you say.

Like what?

Bench press 200 pounds.

It's got to be nearly twice your body weight.

If I can take you down, will you give me this divorce case of yours?

What do I get if I win?

Anything you want.

Victor? You mind waiting for me in the witness room?

200 for the boy, 150 for the girl, and let's get the hell out of here.

Come on, Victor.

She's getting a buck and a half for a scratch.

And he lived a few seconds at most.

The best I can do.

I went to the man for it.

All right, let me talk to them, Harry.

And I'll tell the judge we want a trail till tomorrow.

They have just upped their offer to $350,000.

$350,000?

Take it.

Settle.

What do you think?

It's an acceptable offer.

But you think we can do better?

My God, do you think any amount of money will make things better? What are we

supposed to do with it? Buy a swimming pool? Go to Europe?

You think I give a damn about the money?

I am pushing this so at least something good comes out of this mess.

You're pushing this because you're afraid to put Anthony's death behind us.

I don't think this is the time or the place. To hell with the trial. Take

whatever they're offering and let's get on with our life. What life?

I lost my son. He was my son, too. If you hadn't been too damn lazy to drive

him yourself, he'd probably still be alive.

You think if I'd been behind the wheel, it would have been any different?

It was a senseless, meaningless accident.

And you have taken it out on me.

With your coldness, your looks, your accusations, your silence.

Like it was some sort of conspiracy to rob you of your son. Well, it wasn't. It

was an accident.

And maybe if you could have forgiven then, this family could have gotten past

it. How can I ever forgive?

Somebody has to pay.

We are all paying.

You bastard.

Don't you swear at your father.

Mother, I am...

Be quiet.

None of the stolen merchandise has been directly connected to my client.

With the exception of the one vial that was found in an apartment shared by my

client with three other roommates.

None of the stolen samples can be linked to Mr. Bauer in any way.

And I would respectfully request this jury to return a verdict, the only

verdict consistent with that fact.

And that's not guilty.

Thank you.

When I was 22 years old, I got called for jury duty and I remember being so

excited about it.

I thought maybe it would be a bank robbery or one of those socialite

murders or even a government scandal.

Turned out to be a grocery clerk who assaulted a checkout girl with a

cantaloupe.

I felt kind of cheated.

And now I look at you.

I mean, you come down here, you get the big speech about...

Civil duty, your obligation to uphold the law and serve your community, and

all you get for your trouble is bull semen.

And everybody here, including me, has given birth to at least one smirk since

this thing began. But believe it or not, I was glad to see you people laugh from

time to time.

It was Mark Twain who said, show me a person who knows what's funny, and I'll

show you somebody who knows what's not.

And it's funny to think that the product of an animal's sexual expression could

be the object of...