“Because I come here every Tuesday or Wednesday afternoon, depending on my trial schedule, for a couple of india pale ales and some good old vitamin D while I think through whatever case is on my mind. There’s never anyone here in the middle of the day, and I didn’t want anyone in my office to know that we were meeting. I doubt anyone here cares.”
Jason glanced around and saw a couple of bearded guys drinking beer inside and a woman with purple streaks in her hair nursing a cold pint and working on a laptop at one of the inside tables. No one else was outside.
“I doubt anyone does,” Jason agreed.
“So what can I do for you?” Knox asked. “I assume that you’re interested in what I can tell you about the medical malpractice action that the Cowan family brought against Dr. Waters.” He took a sip of beer, his eyes never leaving Jason’s. “I also assume that you’re looking at either Trey Cowan or perhaps his mother, Trudy, as an alternative suspect. Someone else to shine the spotlight on so the jury might be confused enough by the prosecution’s evidence to find reasonable doubt.” He set his glass down. “Sound close?”
Jason gave him a sheepish smile. “You get right to the heart of it, don’t you?”
“I don’t suffer fools, and my time is valuable.” His tone was matter of fact and bordering on arrogant. Jason had heard that Knox Rogers was able to get juries to eat out of his hand, but that he could be intimidating to other attorneys. Especially those that don’t know what they’re doing, Jason thought.
“I understand,” he said. “And you’re correct. I want to know what you can tell me about the med mal case. The Cowan family and especially Trey would seem to have a lot of reason to be mad at Dr. Waters. Is that a fair assessment?”
“Yes,” Knox said, enveloping his pint glass with both hands and peering at the ale. “They were very angry, especially his mother. I remember it was difficult to get through her deposition. She kept yelling at Dr. Waters from across the table. Saying that he ruined her son’s life.” He looked up from the pint. “I’ll get you a copy of the transcript.”
Jason was shocked. “Thank you.”
“You should also look at the trial transcript. I think we have a copy of it somewhere. After the jury returned a defense verdict, the Cowan family appealed, so we had to put the whole record before the appellate court, including the transcript. As I recollect, Trudy Cowan made similar comments during the trial. Her testimony was genuine. Very effective.”
“What about Trey?”
He shook his head. “He was pitiful. Numb to everything, it seemed. I can’t remember him saying anything other than he trusted that Dr. Waters would fix him, and he didn’t.”
“And the father?”
“A drunk. Smelled of alcohol on the day of his deposition. You’d know something about that, wouldn’t you?”
Jason ground his teeth and tried to keep his temper in check. So far Knox Rogers had been of great help. He could endure a few wisecracks.
“I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist.” Knox took a sip of beer. “I like a cold one or a nip of whiskey as much as anyone else, but I have no respect for someone who would do that while representing a client’s interests, especially during something as important as a deposition.”
“My client wasn’t compromised,” Jason said, keeping his tone low. “Only my law license.”
“So you say.”
Jason crossed his arms and stared at the other man. “What can you tell me about the case? Why were the Cowans suing?”
“It was a surgical repair of a broken tibia. A routine operation in most cases, but infection is a possibility. With Trey Cowan, the hardware became infected.”
“I’ve heard that Dr. Waters failed to follow up in a timely way.”
“That was one of the allegations. He didn’t come back to see Trey that afternoon or the next morning. He assigned it to a physician’s assistant, and the PA forgot.”
“Isn’t that malpractice?”
“No,” Knox said. “The patient was being followed by nurses as well as anesthesia. And the PA did see him the following morning, and antibiotics were ordered.”
“Were they ordered soon enough?”
“That was the heart of the case. The plaintiff argued that there was an eight-hour delay without treatment, which was a breach of the applicable standard of care and which caused irreversible damage to Trey’s leg.”