Insult to Injury

Chapter ThreeSO SUE ME

27

DEPOSITIONS ARE SOMETIMES HELD IN EXPENSIVE HOTEL CONFERence rooms, with sumptuous buffets featuring freshly squeezed orange juice and croissants, linen napkins, and fragrant floral arrangements.

Someone in my office, perhaps in a misplaced effort to save the firm from profligacy, had instead scheduled this deposition in a court reporter’s office located twenty minutes and two light-years west of the Four Seasons on Boston Common. It was obvious that no one from that hotel’s housekeeping staff was moonlighting cleaning this unpleasant little conference room. It was dirty and damp and exuded the distinct odor of wet, day-old cigarette butts and leftover pizza.

I was there to question several UnumProvident witnesses in ...