She stared straight ahead as Judge Bevins said, “I want to caution everyone. I don’t want any ruckus in the courtroom when the verdict is read, or I’ll have the offenders arrested.
“Anyone who might not be able to restrain their emotions, here’s your chance to leave now.
“All right, then. Will the jury foreman please hand the verdict form to the bailiff.”
The foreman was a stocky man in his fifties with big black-rimmed glasses and a sun-lined face, wearing a golfer’s jacket and a pressed white shirt, the cuffs of his tan Dockers touching the tops of his buff suede shoes.
Yuki thought that he looked to be a man of conservative values, the kind of person who might despise disorder and “mistakes.” At least, she hoped that was the case.
Judge Bevins looked at the sheets of paper for a long moment, then turned to the foreman, asking, “Is the jury’s decision unanimous?”
“It is, Your Honor.”
“In the case of Jessica Falk against San Francisco Municipal, do you find that the hospital acted negligently?”
“Yes, Your Honor.”
“Have you found that the plaintiff has been damaged?”
“Yes, we have.”
“In what amount has the plaintiff been damaged?” the judge asked.
“Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, Your Honor.”
“Were the defendant’s actions in this case so egregious that an award of punitive damages is warranted?”
“Yes, Your Honor.”
“And what is the amount of punitive damages?”
“Five million dollars, Your Honor.”
A collective gasp was heard throughout the courtroom.
The judge banged his gavel and glared until the room was silent again.
Then he continued reading the next nineteen plaintiffs’ names individually, asking the jury foreman the same five questions and receiving the same five answers each time. Every one of the plaintiffs was awarded $250,000 in damages and another $5 million in punitive damages.
Yuki felt light-headed, almost nauseous.
The hospital was grossly negligent.
Negligent on all counts.
Despite the judge’s warning, the room erupted in shrieks and cheers from the plaintiffs’ side across the aisle.
Sharp cracks of Bevins’s gavel rang out repeatedly, and still, O’Mara’s clients swarmed out of their seats, formed a raucous ring around her, shaking her hand, hugging and kissing her, many of them simply breaking down and weeping.
Yuki felt the same explosive jubilation. As the judge thanked and dismissed the jury, Yuki heard Cindy calling her name.
Cindy was grinning, beckoning to her from just inside the courtroom door.
“I’m supposed to be neutral,” Cindy said to Yuki as they walked together, right into the milling throng in the hallway.
“But this is a great verdict. O’Mara is over the moon. What’s her share of the award? Eighteen million? Oh, Yuki.”
Yuki tried to cover her swelling emotions by coughing, but her eyes swam with tears. Then her small chest was heaving, and she was having a full-scale public meltdown.