King_of_Tortes

Drive down the road, turn on your television, or open a magazine, and you will likely see an advertisement that asks the question: “Have you taken this drug' There have been recent discoveries that this drug might be harmful to your health. If you or one of your family members has taken it, then call this 1-800 number.” We’ve all seen them; we are constantly exposed to this type of advertising, and yet society has become conditioned to it. In bestselling author and lawyer John Grisham’s legal thriller The King of Torts (2003), all is revealed about the scandalous behavior of tort lawyers and big business that our culture has readily adopted. John Grisham, who was born in Arkansas, schooled in Mississippi, an attorney, and a bestselling author writes compelling books on current law practices. Grisham got his start in writing in 1989 when he wrote his first bestseller. The title was A Time to Kill, a story about a 12 year old girl who was raped. He says that he got the idea from a conversation he heard outside of a courtroom. From there he started to imagine that since the girl had been raped then her father would take revengeful action to find her rapist. The Firm (1991) and The Pelican Brief (1992) quickly became the springboard to launch his writing career to the award-winning, bestseller author that he is today (Doubleday, 1995-2011). All of Grisham’s books have been in some way about corruption in law practice, except for Skipping Christmas (2001) and A Painted House (2001). Many of his books have been made in to popular movies. In all of Grisham’s books, he describes two common stereotypes that have plagued the legal profession (Kanahara, 2006). One type is the money hungry, blood sucking, donned in expensive attire lawyer that is only in it for his/her financial gain. The other type is the young, idealistic, ambitious type who only wants to work for the betterment of society. Cultural beliefs, practices and patterns of the American consumer have caused Grisham’s popularity to “soar” because of their hunger for legal thrillers (Ogden, Ogden & Schau, 2004). In The King of Torts, John Grisham exposes the devious and corrupt practices of money hungry tort lawyers. The scene opens on the city streets of Washington, D.C., when Tequila Watson, a 20 year old crack addict leaves drug rehabilitation on a two hour pass, and kills childhood acquaintance “Pumpkin” for no apparent reason. Two eye witnesses report Tequila’s description to the police, and eventually he is arrested. Clay Carter, a public defendant lawyer, is persuaded by the judge to defend the case. He tries to “pawn” the case off onto another lawyer at the Office of Public Defenders (O.P.D.), but without success. As Clay investigates the case, he soon becomes suspicious as to why Tequila Watson killed his friend Pumpkin. Clay Carter, who graduated from the prestigious Georgetown University, never imagined that after 5 years, he would be practicing law in the O.P.D. Like most of the other lawyers at the O.P.D., he felt that working there would give him the skills that he needed in order to work for a prestigious firm one day. His salary was $37,000 a year, the cost of keeping a felon in prison. He lived in modest accommodations with his college friend Jonah, who worked as a computer consultant, and failed the boards several times before finally passing them. Clay’s plan had been to work in his father’s firm, but because of unethical practices, the firm was closed and his father ended up living his self proclaimed beach bum life-style in the Bahamas. Because of these circumstances, Clay had very little ambition and a low self-esteem. Not to mention, his high society girlfriend Rebecca, whose parents loathed him, and constantly reminded him of his failures. Rebecca soon leaves him after challenging his morality and ethics, giving him the ultimatum of trading them for wealth. As with every book, Grisham shows that success for young lawyers will only come by “selling one’s soul to the devil.” In The King of Torts, this comes by way of “fireman” Max Pace, who was an ex-lawyer who did damage control for large pharmaceutical companies, whom Grisham describes as dressing in all black attire. Max Chase had been following Clay since he took on the murder case of Tequila Watson, because he feared that he could uncover a horrific conspiracy committed by the company he is representing. The company he represents had recently taken a drug off the market that was being used to cure substance abuse that was thought to be causing some of the addicts to randomly kill people. He enticed Clay with $10 million and the chance to have an expensive uptown law firm. Clay weighed his options, and soon his greed for the quick score soon took over. All Clay would have to do was quit working at the OPD, and get rid of Tequila Watson. He was to find the next of kin of the people that were murdered because of this drug and offer them a quick settlement. Clay, who once despised the immorality of the wealthy, soon learned to relish in it. Immediately after settling all the cases, he received the monies, bought himself a new Porsche, a million dollar Victorian townhouse, a jet, and a new girlfriend. After settling the cases, Max Pace would again show up at Clay’s office, and offer him the case that would give him all the wealth and fame he desired. After receiving illegal “insider” information from Pace, about a newly released arthritis medication that one of his clients wanted off the market, Clay would soon be taking on one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies. Clay who once resented the “jet setting” tort lawyer, was now about to become one of the king of the torts overnight. But unbeknownst to Clay, this was the start of his downward spiral. At the end, he lost the case, and was left bankrupt; all that remained were the memories of his former riches. Clearly the The King of Torts was written by Grisham to underscore the vulnerability of the American public when it comes to outlandish and immoral practices of certain tort lawyers. He cleverly demonstrates how American popular culture accepts these practices, which inspire advertising to target this susceptible audience (Petracca & Sorapure, 2007, p. 49). Eventually the “common” person will no longer have enough money to stand up to the “deep pocketed” machine of corporate bureaucracy. References Doubleday, R. H., Inc. (1995-2011). John Grisham: The official site. Retrieved November 4, 2011, from http://www.jgrisham.com/bio/ Grisham, J. (2001). A painted house. New York, NY: Bantam Dell, Random House, Inc. Grisham, J. (1989). A time to kill. New York, NY: Bantam Dell, Random House, Inc. Grisham, J. (1991). The firm. New York, NY: Dell, Random House, Inc. Grisham, J. (2003). The king of torts. New York, NY: Doubleday, Random House, Inc. Grisham, J. (1992). The pelican brief. New York, NY: Doubleday, Random House, Inc. Grisham, J. (2001). Skipping Christmas. New York, NY: Bantom Dell, Random House, Inc. Kanahara, S. (2006, December 1). A review of the definitions of stereotype and a proposal for a progressional model. [Electronic version]. Individual Differences Research, 4(5). Ogden, D. T., Ogden, J. R., & Schau, H. J. (2004). Exploring the impact of culture and acculturation on consumer purchase decisions: Toward a microcultural perspective. Academy of Marketing Science Review, 2004, 1. Petracca, M., & Sorapure, M. (2007). Common culture: Reading and writing about American popular culture (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. .