"Bud Sparhawk - The Tompkins battery case" - читать интересную книгу автора (Sparhawk Bud)

handkerchief. Arthur noted that it was Bruges lace and added an extra ten percent to his normal fee.

"Why don't you start at the beginning, dear lady," he said. He gave her a small smile, as if pleased that
she should honor him with her story. He glanced at the clock on his desk; with luck he could still meet
Frank for golf in an hour, if the crosstown traffic wasn't too bad and her problem was a small one.

The delicate lace hankie fluttered to her lips and then dropped to her lap. "The beginning? Oh dear, that's
too far back. I mean, you know all about that! Er, are you sure that it's all right to talk here, Mr.
Coggins?"

"Quite sure, dear lady. The only one who might hear us is my secretary, who is the soul of discretion."
he assured her.

"Well, if you think it is all right." She looked questioningly at him. Arthur smiled again and nodded his
head. "My husband is George Tomkins: George Alyoisous Grant Tomkins."

Arthur's pencil tip broke abruptly, the splintered point driving through the paper on which he was
writing into the padded surface of his desk. He stared at her with wide eyes as his mind raced, dredging
up the facts of the case from memory.

G.A.G. Tomkins, 95. Tomkins, Tomkins versus United States. Grundy 95 op cit.

George Tomkins had been a field engineer who, because of his wealthy father, had bribed and
influenced his way to a government job. George had been neither more nor less competent than his co-
workers and would never have become famous if it hadn't been for a fateful accident: one fine day a
poorly designed bridge section had collapsed and crushed poor George's legs to a pulp.

The case resulting from the accident had become a cause celebre because George and his family had
decided that the simple compensation and supportive care called for by his contract were not sufficient
recompense. They had sued the federal government for full restitution.

Old Grundy, a young trial lawyer at the time, had himself worked on both sides of the case in the long
process of trail, retrial, appeals, and rebuttals. Eventually, thanks to the family fortune, Tomkins et al
had won.

"That's when George got his solid state legs," Mrs. Tomkins was saying, her narrative keeping pace with
Coggin's racing mind.


file:///J|/sci-fi/Nieuwe%20map/Bud%20Sparhawk%20-%20The%20Tompkins%20battery%20case.htm (2 of 11)17-2-2006 3:25:21
 The Tomkins Battery Case


George continued to work for another five years before he was involved in a second serious accident; a
rocket crash. That one had crushed his torso and destroyed most of his internal organs, and one outside
one.

The family had filed suit against the government even before George's heart had failed. By the time he
was on a dialysis machine the courts had decided that the previous ruling on George's medical care still
held. The government had dutifully given him artificial kidneys, bladder, pancreas, liver, and other items