Manager vs. Negotiator
12th in the series The Great Cluster Fu… A treatise on questionable journalism and pre-litigation practices
Your words for the day:
- negotiator (1) = one who converses, bargains, or discusses with another in an attempt to reach an agreement (yourdictionary.com)
- negotiator (2) = one who concludes a business transaction (yourdictionary.com)
- manager = an individual who is in charge of a certain group of tasks (BusinessDictionary.com)
In the 5th installment of this series (The Truth Hurts), I posed three questions: (1) Who the hell is he (Doyle Raiznor) representing, (2) who the hell is he trying to convince in the absence of a court room and jury, and (3) how much money does he expect to clear from this yellow journalism venture. As to the client, Sparky mentions “several State National Guard Units” so that is probably Raiznor’s class-action gold mine. That indirectly answers question number 3, in that the more claimants in a successful suit THE GREATER THE LITIGATOR’S CUT. That leaves just question number 2…
…Who the hell is he trying to convince in the absence of a court room and jury? In the words of the deceased scientist in Isaac Asimov’s classic, “I,Robot” (a Will Smith movie adaptation): “That, detective, is the right question.”
In the ordered setting of the judicial forum, claimant’s attorney presents his side of the argument, and the defendant’s attorney provides his side of the argument, each attempting to poke holes in the other’s claims. That forum is presided over by a judge (a referee) in the presence of a jury which will vote on its perceptions of the opposing arguments. For Raiznor, there’s the rub.
That ordered setting will glaringly show that, because of acts of war (you know, all that crap that can. and does, happen when you are trying to do a good job while other people are trying to kill you) and the contractual exceptions granted KBR by its client, the US of A., the claimants have no case at all. Worse, plaintiff’s attorney has a short period of time to convince jurors who, like their clients, have had their lives abruptly impacted by government mandate. UN-like their clients, the jurors did not sign a contract beforehand permitting this unannounced inconvenience; they might not be receptive to “somebody-owes-me” arguments. What’s a salty litigator to do:
Well, there’s always jury tampering, but messing with jurors during a trial is considered unethical… and… in some circles… HIGHLY ILLEGAL. Super Dan’s retirement fund may be screaming for refreshment, but he is neither that greedy nor that stupid. Besides, Danny Boy has been to the mountain-top and has experienced an epiphany: If I can’t get to the impaneled jury, maybe I can taint the potential jury pool against KBR.
Since the exit of the Bush-Chaney administration and the back-off from KBR by Halliburton, negative criticism of KBR by the media has subsided considerably (no evening news hot-buttons). Clearly The Press (with the big P) could not be counted on for pre-emptive bad-mouthing of his mark. Gotta take matters into his own hands.
That fake deposition being touted by Sparky’s site looks for all the world like a draft of a possible strategy in attacking KBR’s defense in court. For that purpose, it is totally legitimate. But, Super Dan’s decision to use it in a reputation-smearing campaign against a possible court opponent clearly qualifies as unethical. Those subpoenaed testimonies (reformatted, biased “explanations” patched in, packaged in the tabloid presentation of a fictionalized “expose“) and a fake “news” site filled only with Doyle Raiznor anti-KBR propaganda have been posted on-line for months and years. The purpose: INSTILL THE PERCEPTION THAT KBR CAN’T POSSIBLY BE RIGHT ABOUT ANYTHING. The target audience: THE POTENTIAL JURY POOL (that be the public) FOR ANY CIVIL SUITS AGAINST KBR.
And that brings us to the importance of manager versus negotiator. One title implies “tight control” and the other, “free-wheeling and dealing.”
Next up: Hot-button offense
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WORDS according to Dean 