Back when I was a very young man, and in fact lied about my age so that claims departments wouldn't throw me out before I got started, I got a chance to work my first big settlement on what was at the time the biggest case in the City of Boston. Back in the last 70's the Copley Hotel, a landmark property in Copley Square in the Back Bay area of Boston, had a serious fire set by a disgruntled employee late in the evening on a winter night. As the hotel was a historic building, codes hadn't caught up with them, there were NO fire detectors in the halls or room, despite it's ownership by The John Hancock Life Insurance Company, which was right next door.

The fire raged, two people died, and more notoriously Summner Redstone, the now mogul of Viacom, was a guest and he hung by his hands, as they burned, to a window sill until fireman rescued him from one of the higher floors. The case I was involved in was the burn death of a promising young Warner Brothers executive with a young wife and child, and they were represented by Attorney Jan Schlichtmann who at the time was still partnered with the firm Reed and Mulligan, with Barry Reed being the author of the book ,which at the time of the settlement, was being made into an award winning movie called, The Verdict, starring Paul Newman and set in Boston. It was a colorful time to work in the city and to have that as my first case was a bit overwhelming.

The settlement negotiations were to be held, at the insistence of the flamboyant Attorney Schlichtman, at the Ritz Carlton, at which time he would present his case, wine and dine the defense, and hope that we would see his brilliance and throw money at him to make the case go away. Jan, who now all these many years later is my good friend and cohost on The Legal Broadcast Network, was clearly ahead of his time, and the claims and defense attorney's were a bit stunned at the setting and degree of his presentation. Lets face it, how often do you go to a settlement conference and have waiters in tuxedo's, carved ice swans and caviar for lunch?

That said it was scheduled for two days of negotiation, with day one dedicated to Jan putting on his presentation in the hopes that a significant offer would be made and to then have the case settle on the second day of serious negotiations. However, what Jan didn't know was that my friend and client, who was the senior claims adjuster responsible for paying most of the claim, had at the time a significant drinking problem, and if 4:30 pm rolled around and he hadn't had another drink after his lunch time "couple of pops", he wasn't really able to function well enough to stay and settle the case. So, just prior to 4:30 pm he told me to leave the grandiose board room up on the mezzanine level of the Ritz, wait outside while he presented his "last and best offer", and that no matter what happened or what anyone said, just keep walking until we got to a little bar down on the corner of Arlington St near the bus station where he got his ride home every evening.

I heard voices raised, shouting, swearing, a few chairs slamming and then boom, the doors opened and out came the old Irish claims adjuster who said to me " just keep walking kid, just keep walking". Chasing us down the hall was Attorney Schlichtman, all 6' 5" of him in a three piece suit, swearing, screaming, threatening us, as we walked through the lobby and tea room of the Ritz to the amazement of the white gloved little old ladies having tea. He chased us across the street, and stood screaming at us as we disappeared around the corner, we got to the bar and the drink my friend needed. As we stood there, me catching my breath and him getting his fix, I asked if every case was like this,  and he just smiled and said, "No kid, this is a fun as it gets. God, I can't wait to hear what he has to say in the morning when we show up. I offered him half what it's worth, and we will pay what it's worth tomorrow, but I have to make him work for it or i'll never hear the end of it from my boss that I gave in easy. Besides, I needed a drink and if I had to hear one more word from those lawyers I was going to lose it."

Well, the next day it settled, but not until after Jan had given us about 30 minutes of pure venom and threats in the morning that if we walked out again it would be the end of the case. The case was at the time the biggest burn settlement in state history, was on the front page of the Herald and Globe, and one of the very first structured settlements done in the City of Boston. It was just immediately prior to Jan's infamous Woburn water case that would be the basis of the book and movie, A Civil Action, so he was at the peak of his career, just prior to leaving Barry Reed and starting his own firm. It was a fascinating start to a colorful time in our business, in what is now an increasingly bland, PC, by the numbers career.

How about some first time stories from the rest of you?