The guilt (Grisham)

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The guilt (original title: The King of Torts ) is a novel by the American author John Grisham .

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The book tells the story of the rapid rise and fall of attorney Clay Carter in Washington, DC

Clay Carter is a hard working public defender and is primarily involved in violent crime. His long-time friend Rebecca works for a congressman and is the daughter of a wealthy building magnate. However, Clay detests Rebecca's parents, which is more than clearly opposed to their growing desire for an early marriage and children. Rebecca's parents also keep telling Clay that they don't consider him worthy of their daughter with his low income. When Rebecca's father, for the sake of Clay, tries to find a much better paid job for his daughter and Clay refuses it, they finally split up.

A few days later, Clay suddenly had the chance to become rich himself. The district judge gave him the duty to defend an initially normal murder case in which his client Tequila Watson suddenly shot another man. Motive or cause are unclear. Shortly thereafter, a large pharmaceutical company approached Clay through the middleman Max Pace and offered him several million dollars if he was able to reach quick settlements with the relatives of the victims of several similar murders. It turns out that in some cases one of the company's drugs has the fatal side effect of turning harmless people into cold-blooded killers. His current client is also a victim of this drug. Clay quits his job as a public defender, resigns from Watson's mandate and founds his own law firm , to which he takes several acquaintances and friends. The settlement is concluded quickly and Clay became a multiple millionaire overnight.

While the proceedings are still ongoing, Max Pace offers the next, similar case, which again involves a drug with side effects. Aided by his fast-growing law firm, Clay begins aggressively recruiting clients through television commercials and websites , attracting several thousand cases. At the same time, he allies himself with other compensation lawyers who specialize in class actions . Together they put the manufacturer under pressure until a settlement is finally reached that brings Clay around $ 100 million. Clay's star rises rapidly. In addition, an affair with the model Ridley begins, also in response to Rebecca's marriage to a wealthy but boring lawyer. His life changes significantly due to the sudden prosperity and instead of paying attention to the constantly increasing expenses of his law firm and his private life, he spends millions of dollars on jet charter, bonuses, yachts and houses.

He thinks he's safe, because Max Pace is once again conveying a major drug case. However, this is where serious difficulties begin, because the defendant company shows itself to be a much tougher opponent than the previous one. Clay's colleagues do not join his class action suit with their own cases either, but wait and see. In addition, not all of his previous clients agree with the settlement negotiated for them, and when some of them become seriously ill, Carter himself becomes the target of a lawsuit for breach of lawyer duty. When the current case, in which Clay has now invested a large part of his assets, does not generate any income due to a spectacular individual court decision and he is increasingly confronted with claims for damages and investigations by the FBI for insider trading , he runs out of money and declares bankruptcy on. Rebecca, whose unhappy marriage is about to divorce, is reconciled with Clay and they both leave for London to make a fresh start.

References to the book "Der Richter"

Attorney Patton French, who played a minor role in Grisham's book The Judge , also features in this book. As in the previous book, there are also scenes in “The Guilt” on French's luxury yacht. The original title of the book "The King of Torts" is in "The Judge" the name of Patton French's yacht.

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