Two Very Big Men
Two Basque ranchers, both now having passed to a reward about which I have not the slightest doubt, lived in a remote area of Eastern Oregon as owners of separate ranches of fairly large size. One, who I will call Fred, was very gregarious, ox-strong, and was said to have leveled a horse with a single right hook. And had an explosive temper. The other, who I will call John, was older and more reserved.
John was on the local school board and during a meeting, the discussion turned to a subject, the resolution of which infuriated Fred and he went up to the seated John and hit him. John was taken the many miles to the hospital from which his wife telephoned me, herself furious by the event. When I returned to Eastern Oregon I visited John in the hospital and he told me that he wanted to sue Fred. “For how much?”, I asked. John told me to look into the County property and assessment records and estimate how much of a claim could really hurt Fred, and make a claim for that amount.
I waited until after John was discharged from the hospital before making the claim and during that delay I received a telephone call from John’s wife. She told me that Fred had come to their ranch soon after John returned from the hospital and said that he wanted to see John alone. She was apprehensive, but permitted it and kept an eye on the living room where they were. What she saw was these grown and powerful men on their knees praying together. She heard her husband tell Fred that he intended to hurt him and from that hurt, hoped that Fred would never do such a thing again. Fred said that he understood, that he was not there about money; he was there to ask John to forgive him. I asked her whether John wanted me to make the claim, John came to the phone and instructed me to proceed with it.
When I did, I received a call from Fred’s lawyer within a few weeks. Although a seasoned and skillful lawyer, he did not begin a negotiation or even a discussion. He said he was authorized to pay the claimed amount, but that it would take a few weeks to raise the money by mortgaging. When the very large check arrived, I called John to arrange a time for me to drive down to the ranch to see him. When I arrived, he endorsed the check and handed it to me with the instruction to deposit it, withdraw my fee and costs, and return the rest to Fred. I was dumb -struck. I followed John’s instructions, and Fred’s lawyer was as shocked as I had been.
I saw John some weeks later and reported to him. I suppose he thought he should explain. He told me that Fred had always had a vicious temper, that this was not the first time that Fred had failed to control it, and, perhaps, this was the event that would provide the stimulation for that control. Furthermore, he said that while in the hospital he had been diagnosed with leukemia and only because of that diagnoses was he exposed to his need for treatment.
This story isn’t about lawyering.
