Balance of Power

    Lenihan seemed to sense this as well and, Sarah suspected, hoped to use their client's unease to reassert control. "Maybe," he told Sarah, "you'd better explain to Mary why you want to add the Sons of the Second Amendment as a defendant in her lawsuit. Even after hearing Bresler's story, I'm having some difficulty articulating your rationale."

    Ignoring him, Sarah faced Mary. "Two reasons," she said crisply. "The first is politics. As you know, the Senate is taking up a bill which would wipe out your lawsuit, and you're appearing within days before Palmer's committee. He, and the Republicans, will look far worse if what they're trying to do is immunize the SSA.

    "Second, the SSA effectively controls Lexington Arms—both through intimidation and, I'm willing to bet, by funding its defense. We'll never get a settlement from Lexington unless we can divide them." Briefly, Sarah paused. "It's challenging, for sure. But as I understand it, the SSA snuffed Bresler, and then Callister told President Kilcannon that Lexington wouldn't voluntarily impose background checks at gun shows because the SSA wouldn't stand for it. If the SSA was in effective control of Lexington, then the SSA may be liable for the deaths of your mother, Joan and Marie."

    As Sarah finished, Mary turned to Lenihan. With an elaborate show of gravity, he slowly shook his head. "It's a terrible idea, Mary—terrible. If this case becomes a holy war against the SSA, they'll launch the most vicious PR campaign you've ever witnessed, in or out of court.

    "I can tell you what they'll say—'the President's behind this. He can't succeed in Congress, so he's using Mary Costello's lawsuit to smear and punish advocates of gun rights.' In the public mind, your case will go from a search for justice to an exercise in hardball politics."

    This was clever, Sarah conceded. At once Lenihan touched a nerve— Mary's resentment of her sister and, perhaps, the President; her fear of being dragged into the morass of politics. He also spoke a truth: in and out of court, the SSA would be a well-funded and no doubt vicious opponent. "Bob's right," she told Mary. "As far as it goes. My point is different. The ultimate reason your family was murdered is not John Bowden or Lexington Arms. It's the SSA."

    Listening, Mary Costello looked even slighter than Sarah recalled. "But is that a harder case?" she asked Sarah.

    "Much harder," Lenihan interjected. "Legally, and even morally. Far worse, we'd be buying an opponent with fanatic zeal and tons of money, who'll use this lawsuit to raise still more. We'll be faced with hordes of lawyers, crushing expenses, and every delaying tactic they can dream of . . ."

    "We'll get that anyway," Sarah said dismissively. "At least if you believe, as I do, that the SSA will pick and fund the lawyers for Lexington Arms. They've got a stranglehold on the industry and on Congress. The only way to break that is to expose them."

    "How?" Lenihan's sharp tone combined exasperation with contempt for her inexperience. "This is a lawsuit to recover damages for Mary Costello, not a political crusade against the SSA.

    "As citizens, Sarah, you and I may despise the SSA and all its works. But we're lawyers, for Godsakes. Tell me how the SSA has violated the law. Not by lobbying. The Kilcannon Center does that, just on the other side. Not by threatening boycotts. Martin Luther King boycotted segregated diners, and our entire country boycotted South Africa . . ."

    "By violating the antitrust laws," Sarah shot back. "So hear me out, Bob. For our client's sake."

    Cornered, Lenihan turned to Mary, eyebrows raised. "I don't understand any of this," Mary told Sarah. "What did the SSA do?"

    "Given what happened to Martin Bresler," Sarah answered, "what I think they did is conspire against Lexington through the other manufacturers."

    "In what way?" Lenihan asked with skepticism.

    "By threatening the others; by coordinating resistance to the President; by promising the rest that—if the SSA put Lexington out of business for agreeing to background checks at gun shows—they could split up Lexington's market share." Turning to Mary, Sarah finished, "That violates the laws against unfair competition."

    "It's also a fantasy," Lenihan rejoined. "Even Bresler couldn't tell us that. For that, we need the SSA to confess—if you can imagine it—or the other companies to rat them out. Or, at the least, testimony from George Callister more forthcoming than I can possibly imagine."

    "True." Sarah still faced Mary. "So we'll go after the SSA's files—all contacts between the SSA and Lexington, and between the SSA and the other companies. We'll depose Charles Dane, all the CEOs. By far the best way of doing that is to sue the SSA itself."

    "On what basis?" Lenihan persisted. "You're just guessing . . ."

    "Not about the ad in the SSA magazine. So we can also bring a negligent marketing claim . . ."

    "The SSA ran the ad, Sarah. They didn't write it. There's no precedent for suing them."