ARBITRATION PANEL WITH JIM HEWSON-INHERIT THE WIND

    Several years ago, during my 20+ years as a plaintiff personal injury attorney, I sat on an arbitration panel with Jim Hewson, of Hewson & VanHellemont, currently the largest employer in Oak Park, MI.  I was the plaintiff's arbitrator, and Jim was the defense arbitrator.  Funny, I don't remember who the neutral was, nor do I remember the names of the lawyers representing the litigants.  I do recall that the case was highly contested and there were issues involving medical, insurance and governmental liens.  The defense carrier sent Jim's firm a lot of work, so I was expecting a real battle.

    How to get an edge or break the tension I anticipated at the hearing.

    One of my personal pet projects is the collection of historical items from Detroit area Catholic schools.  I am admin of the Facebook group, "I Went to Catholic School in Metro Detroit", currently closing in on 10,000 members.  I have a couple hundred Catholic high school yearbooks in my basement.  It so happened that one of those books was the 1970 Juggler, from Harper Woods Notre  Dame High School.  It also happened that in that book are several pictures of Jim Hewson , class of 1970,  portraying Henry Drummond (a character based on Clarence Darrow), in the play Inherit the Wind. The play, based on the 1925 Scopes Monkey trial, was made into a movie in 1960, starring Spencer Tracy as Drummond, and for the 10 years after the movie's release, the Tracy Drummond was the defining interpretation of the role.  After 1970, however, it is generally agreed that the Hewson Drummond is the standard against which all subsequent portrayals are judged.

    On the date of the arbitration, I took the yearbook with me to the hearing, and as we got started, I said, "Mr. Hewson, I have always been a big fan.  I was hoping you might autograph your picture for me."  Taken a bit by surprise, and not really knowing what to do, he looked at the book and his picture, and signed it for me then and there.  And, here it is:

    How could we all not be friends after that?  I am not saying this alone swung the balance, but the panel worked very hard for about 3 hours, on some very complex issues, and rendered a result that I think was very fair to both parties.

    If you want to see an amateur portrayal of the role, watch Tracy's Drummond examine Frederic March's Matthew Harrison Brady (a character based on William Jennings Bryan, Darrow's opponent in the Scopes trial).  I am informed that my favorite exchange, beginning at about 5:30 of the clip:

Matthew Harrison Brady:
"I do not think about things I do not think about."

Henry Drummond:
"Do you ever think about things that you do think about?"

are actual quotes from Bryan and Darrow at the trial.

 

 

 

  I had my own Scopes trial experience.  Around 2007, some genius in Wayne County decided that they could save some money tuning off the air conditioning entirely at the end of every business day.  The system had been on a computer program that cut the system back, but not off, during non-business hours.  The strain of the system starting from a complete stop every day finally took its toll, and the system broke down in mid-July.  A replacement would take a couple of weeks to arrive and to install

    I had a week-long trial in front of Judge Bob Colombo during that period. To reduce the heat and for the comfort of everyone, Judge Colombo shut off the overhead lights, and let the jurors come in shorts.  Even better, he let the attorneys try the case in their shirt sleeves.  Sadly, I had passed my "suspenders" period.  Plenty of hand fans were used during the trial.  The less said about the trial's result, the better.  Let's just say, I could have used both Spencer Tracy and Jim Hewson for that one.