The Appeal: A Novel

I always enjoy John Grisham’s books! This was a re-buy of a paperback version I had and I couldn’t put it down!! I absolutely love the way he drags you in and makes all the characters relatable!

I work as a plaintiffs' trial lawyer, having worked in that capacity for well more than three decades. I've directly handled or closely supervised more than 1600 civil matters, and have had good outcomes on all but a tiny few, partly because of having a "no asshole rule," about the clients our office will accept. In the past, I've been disappointed and offended by some of John Grisham's books, as he has often characterized tawdry and wrongful conduct by lawyers, including the plaintiffs bar, as though such conduct were common, when, in my experience, the opposite is true. No system is perfect, but few that I've known from my generation of lawyers chose the law with money as a primary motive, and those that focused on that have not tended towards competency or guts. Consistent with his apparent belief in redemption, Grisham has redeemed himself from the uninformed callousness shown in some other works. This tale of the human spirit, and of evil, is an accurate portrait of very real problems faced by our society, issues and problems that the general public barely even imagines. The Supreme Court election which is central to this story is reminiscent of what happened in California, in 1986, when the then-governor, Mr. Dukemajian, working with ideas from a major Republican PR firm, and as orchestrated by a campaign professional from San Francisco, at a cost of many millions, convinced the people to refuse re-election to three purportedly "liberal," Supreme Court Justices, Bird, Reynoso, and Grodin, based on their alleged hostility to the death penalty. In fact, the support for the process came from the insurance industry, which sought, with ultimate success (through Judges with insurance backgrounds) to undue several cases which had been to the benefit of insurance consumers, notably Royal Globe vs. Butte (construing Insurance Code 790.03 (h) in a way that forced fair settlements), Paul vs. State Farm and Davis vs. State Farm, cases which were de-certified for publication (erasing them from the law by fiat of the Chief Justice), where those published appellate decisions had found a fiduciary level of relationship between the carrier and the insured. These humane cases had cost the insurance industry, by insisting on fairness, and through politics, these cases were undone. The Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court resigned his position, I believe for personal reasons, about six months after an official determination that, no, strictly speaking, he had not violated ethical standards by taking all expenses paid trips from major insurance companies at the same time he was making decisions which happened to be on their behalf. My familiarity with this comes from deep practice experience in the affected areas, including involvement with two of the major cases which were de-certified by this process. The law was politicized, and still has not reached the impartiality that was present when I was originally in practice, though there have been

A frightening glimpse of how the legal system may actually work. After reading you will never view products liability litigation the same. A wonderful book, great reading, lasting lessons.

After such a long time finally there is another court novel by Grisham. Basically the story is about the town Bowmore, where people are warned to drink the local water. Where clean water is trucked in to replace the colored, stinky and obviously life threatening water. A town where cancer is almost in every family and where the cancer rate is 15% higher than the national average. Wes and Mary Grace Payton are lawyers and so far, the only once that sued the Krane Chemical Corporation for 30 years of relieving cancer causing chemicals into Bowmores ground. They give everything, their live savings, their house, their office in those five years it took them to get a verdict. So in the case Janet Barker vs. Krane Chemical Corp. the jury decides against Chemical Corp in all points: Guilty for causing the death by Chad and Pete Barker, Janet's son and husband. Liability $500.000 for Chad and $2.500.000 for Pete. Guilty for the intentional imposition of punitive damages. Liability $38.000.000 Of course there is an appeal and Carl Trudeau, millionaire and owner of the Krane Corp. hires a suspicious firm that promises to find a good candidate for the upcoming judicial elections to replace the most liberal Judge in Mississippi's Supreme Court. Until then a decision in Krane's case isn't expected anyway. Krane pays for these services and a young, clean, ambitious and most of all conservative lawyer is found in Ron Fisk, husband and father to three children. They build him up. They collect the money for his campaign. The money comes from the big business. Companies like Krane Chemical Corporation, churches and private people. Ron speaks for families, about the death penalty and that sexual predators and killers aren't executed, he's pro gun possession and against gay marriage. After what seems for Ron to be an easy campaign he is elected and takes his place in the Supreme Court. Mississippis Supreme Court holds 9 people. Five of them protect corporate wrongdoers by limiting their liability and verdicts are reversed one after another. When it is time to decide about the Krane Corp. Appeal Ron experiences his own tragic family disaster after his son got hit by a baseball that leaves him with a fractured scull and likely permanent damage to the brain. He experienced how those people whose verdicts were reversed by him must have felt when their loved once got hurt or even died. - A long, depressing read that kept me thinking all the time. It isn't fast paced but there is no necessity to that. The mills of justice grind slowly. So the reader is dragged into the tragedy of Bowmore and corporate behavior and the inability to vouch for their liabilities. In a world of money there is no such thing like responsibility. There is only the question how to get out of the mess with the least damage. It was shocking to even read about settlement plans for Bowmores aggrieved party where the loss or illness of a child is worth much less than adults because they have no r

This is the book many of us have been waiting for three year to read -- Grisham back to the legal basics -- this is a fun, smart, and quick read -- I read half the book in the plane on the way across the country, and the other half on the way back. Interesting characters, a topical storyline (made even MORE topical by the current primaries) and fast paced narrative make this one of Grisham's finer novels overall.

Well-drawn characters in conflict, corporations callously rolling over ordinary citizens - oh yeah - Grisham's back! One of his best, if not the best, The Appeal is a great Grisham read. Extremely timely, it works by playing on current issues - back room politics, dirty tricks, greed, the irresistible appeal of power, manipulation of the voting public, what we know happens but, too often, can do nothing to combat. It's all here in a compelling read you won't put down. Get it. Savor it. Five Stars!