American History 1988
Chapter 171 - 165: The Upright Judge

Chapter 171: Chapter 165: The Upright Judge

Orina first prepared a cup of coffee and some cookies for each of the three men before she went back to the kitchen to continue her tasks.

Bill Dreaper’s house was a typical detached villa, not as extravagant as Dean’s, but still spacious enough.

A few sofas, a coffee table, a thick Persian carpet, and French-style classical carved windows—this was where they discussed matters.

Setting down his coffee on the low table beside him, Bill spoke up first, "So, to what extent can we achieve this?"

It was clear that the question was not intended for Dean. However, the other person present, James Weir, motioned for them to wait a moment by pointing with his finger.

His target was the roasted cookies on the low table; he picked one up, tossed it into his mouth, and closed his eyes in bliss.

"Oh~ God! Orina’s cookies have always been my favorite."

Bill spread his hands, "You can take them with you when you leave."

"That’s why I love visiting you, Bill~!" James wasn’t the least bit polite.

The crispness of the cookies and the richness of the coffee made James immensely satisfied at that moment.

He took out a handkerchief, wiped his mouth, and finally returned to the topic at hand under the patient gaze of the other two.

"You’re too impatient, Bill. Your character hasn’t changed at all, it’s not a simple ’Yes’ or ’No’."

"Is it because of Judge Swase?" Dean, who had so far been an observer, started to join the conversation.

James looked at Dean, surprised, then nodded, "Yeah, that’s one of the reasons. Look, Bill, Mr. Price here is not clueless about the situation."

"Call me Dean, I heard you were also a student at Stanford Law School. I really like it there; I have a friend who’s about to get a PhD from the law school."

"Right, let’s call him Dean—you both come from Stanford." Sitting in the middle, Bill glanced from side to side, obviously implying that they were all insiders.

"OK, Dean, you just touched on a key point," James said, crossing his legs to relax his posture, "Judge Swase is from the East Coast."

"East Coast?" Dean seemed a bit perplexed. Was there a connection there?

"He graduated from Harvard and was once a senior advisor to the Rockefeller Committee. You know, they are all products of East Coast power."

The Rockefeller Committee is widely known by another name, Central Qing or Sidar Love.

"Whether it’s AT&T or Bell, they’ve both donated heavily to Harvard or provided lobbying funds for the people of the Rockefeller Committee.

So it wouldn’t be hard to understand if Judge Swase favored Bell."

Clearly, James knew very well who the real players were behind the curtain in the Byte Company’s lawsuit.

AT&T was the one exerting effort, while Bell was more like a shield thrust to the forefront.

After listening to his explanation, Dean finally understood why he had been the specific target of questioning during the hearing.

Well then, it was all the gang from the East Coast.

"What about now?" Bill looked toward James, more concerned about the current situation, "I guess we have our own advantages too?"

"Bill, if you asked me this three days ago, I couldn’t have given you an exact answer, but now things have taken a turn," James turned his gaze toward Dean.

The latter shrugged, "Because I took a trip to Los Angeles?"

James gave Bill a "look at that" expression, "Captain, honestly, Dean is much smarter than his uncle here."

"Come on, that’s why he could get into Stanford from the countryside; he’s the smartest kid in Youngstown," Bill proudly narrated Dean’s impressive history.

"OK~" James opened his hands, "Although your performance at the hearing earned you a lot of praise in the Bay Area,

it wasn’t enough to influence the court to make a biased decision in your favor, or to say, to affect Swase’s choice.

However, you made it onto the Los Angeles Times, the paper that most politicians love and hate in equal measure.

You should be glad that you’ve never expressed any politically biased viewpoints, so they portrayed you as purely a tech industry person.

Now the situation has turned a corner; it’s not just the Bay Area that’s following the lawsuit between Byte Company and Bell, but the entire West Coast and the technology industry across America."

"So because I appeared on a TV show, it brought a lot of attention to Byte Company.

Now the otherwise biased Judge Swase can’t easily make a decision anymore?"

Dean seemed to understand another benefit brought by his trip to Los Angeles.

"Mm-hmm~" James nodded, "But to be precise, it’s the Los Angeles Times.

Talk shows may have more viewers, but those legislators don’t have the habit of staying up late for talk shows."

James even brought several newspapers to give Dean a more tangible sense of the situation.

"This is..." Dean flipped through the newspapers in his hand, which didn’t seem like the mainstream papers from California.

"These are newspapers from Arkansas, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Texas; they’re all discussing the impact of this lawsuit."

At James’s prompting, Dean found various editorials and articles. Senator Gore, Governor of Arkansas Bill, Massachusetts’ Dukakis...

Well, he even saw the future Mr. Total Barrel. Although most politicians are only looking for issues to attract attention, on the whole their remarks are favorable to Byte Company.

The public sympathizes with Byte Company, so politicians will tend to side with Byte for the sake of their support rate, using this as a way to please the public.

"Our Governor is also paying attention to this matter now, so Judge Swase wouldn’t dare to act rashly."

That was also the reason for James’s visit today. Bill Dreaper had indeed been inquiring about this for some time.

But it wasn’t until today that James loosened up, which had to do with changes in the external situation over the past two days.

"Judge Weir," since the topic had come up, Dean decided to get straight to the point, "What do we need to do now to ensure Byte Company gets a fairer treatment?"

James’s gaze flickered; he did not directly answer the question.

"The reason Judge Swase was initially inclined towards Bell was because of who he had behind him.

However, when the rewards do not match the associated risks, those rewards can no longer sway Judge Swase into making biased decisions."

Swase had leaned towards AT&T because of past benefit relations. But now the situation had changed, and the scales of victory were tilting towards Byte Company.

There were many concerns at Bell, and whether AT&T would continue to raise the stakes was something Dean could not know.

But if one based it on the 7.96 million US Dollar lawsuit compensation, it seemed no longer worthwhile to invest more resources.

"Additionally, Judge Swase’s term is coming to an end. Next year he might move to an appellate court or possibly the Supreme Court.

As for where he ultimately goes, this lawsuit could very well be the key."

James revealed another insider tip: Swase, who was responsible for this lawsuit, was not without weaknesses.

Aside from Byte Company’s current advantage in public opinion, if you wanted to make him afraid of making a reckless decision, internal maneuvering was naturally indispensable.

Whether it’s pulling strings or power balancing, all these could be part of the tactics.

And the person who could deal with Swase internally, besides James at present, Dean could not think of anyone else.

At this moment, the African American judge, after giving an overview of the situation, began to indulge in the roasted biscuits on the low table once again.

His leisurely demeanor was as if he truly was just there to enjoy a pleasant gathering with a comrade.

"Mr. Weir, although Byte has expanded very quickly, we are also striving to find more investment.

As a Stanford alumnus long since graduated, I wonder if you might introduce some suitable investors.

You know, Byte plans to go public next year. With just one more round of investment, we’ll soon be heading to Nasdaq."

After finishing, Dean deliberately handed over a business card as if he too was indeed there seeking investment.

Bill Dreaper’s eyes flickered, but he said nothing.

Although he was a man of few words, this did not mean he was ignorant of social etiquette and norms.

Otherwise, Bill would not have flown from Ohio to California, landing a job at Lockheed.

Now he was a senior manager in the electronics communications division of Lockheed, managing a team of several hundred people.

So although Dean handed over his business card under the pretext of seeking investment, the true purpose behind it was clear to everyone in the room.

James licked the biscuit crumbs off his fingers, then looked carefully at the business card.

"I’ll find a few reliable friends to introduce to you. But as far as today is concerned, we never met; I merely came to visit Captain Bill."

"Of course," both Dean and Bill nodded as a matter of course.

"Now that I’ve found a party involved in related litigation in Captain Bill’s house, in order to avoid any conflict, I plan to immediately terminate this visit!"

"A very sensible decision!" Dean and Bill continued to nod understandingly.

"Orina! I’ll come to see you and Jimmy next time." James picked up the roasted biscuits from the low table and headed straight for the door.

"James, won’t you stay for lunch?" Orina, having heard the news, came out of the kitchen, wiping her hands.

"No, I need to avoid the defendant!" James refused Orina’s invitation on a point of principle.

Blinking, Orina soon exaggeratedly exclaimed, "James, you truly are an upright judge!"

"It’s a rule I must adhere to." James winked at everyone in the room, then made a beeline for his Audi.

"James, before you go, could you leave my plate behind?" Bill Dreaper reminded him, arms folded.

James looked at the roasted biscuits in his hand, "I’ll return it to you next time~"

The so-called ’to-go,’ of course, meant taking the plate with him; where else would he put them?

The hum of the engine faded into the distance; James had come quickly and left just as swiftly.

Bill shrugged at Dean, "At least we’ll hear some good news."

"Indeed," Dean nodded, "And don’t forget, Uncle Bill, when the time comes, you and Aunt Orina must join James’s friends in investing in Byte software."

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.