Chapter 2: Years Apart
Two years later, Logan is back in Neptune for meetings with Dick. He meets Mac and Dick for dinner after they attend Miguel Garcia's funeral. A lot of employees at Kane Enterprises were there. Of course Veronica was there. He hasn't seen or heard from her since that evening in Dick and Mac's dining room. He knows that Dick and Mac haven't seen or heard from her either. He comes back to Mac who is talking about the funeral, "I was talking to Miguel's son and he told me that when Veronica moved to LA to attend UCLA, she moved in with his oldest sister. His sister has three children and Veronica helped the family with expenses and babysitting." Looking at Logan she adds, "Apparently when Miguel was near the end, Veronica came to Neptune every weekend to help look after him. They were able to keep him at home with the help of the hospice nurses. It is easy to see that she is one of the family."
Dick adds between bites, "Dude, she speaks Spanish like a native."
Logan met Mac's gaze and she answered his unspoken question, "She was very polite in the reception line and then avoided us the rest of the reception."
"Do you know who else she avoided?" Dick asked his voice a little gleeful. When he knew he had Logan's attention, he finished, "Jake and Duncan Kane."
Looking surprised Logan asks, "Really?"
Dick is more than happy to tell the story of how Veronica was in the greeting line at the reception when Jake and Duncan walked arrived. Veronica excused herself to go into the kitchen to make sure everything was set in there. Dick talks about how when Duncan caught her alone, she refused his request to meet with him or have dinner together. She told him that they weren't friends and she wasn't interested in rehashing the old days. Mac adds, "Then one of the children came to her and asked her something in Spanish. She picked her up and then excused herself."
Dick continues, "Jake and Duncan left shortly after that so it looks like DK struck out with her."
Logan doesn't comment and Mac thankfully changes the subject away from Veronica. He knows that he messed up believing Jake Kane's lies. Unhappy with how Veronica was treated and how Jake lied to his face, Logan has sold his shares in Kane Enterprises. Dick thinks he is crazy to sell because Mac is excited about the new products coming down research and development. Logan just can't swallow what Jake turned into. He told Duncan what his parents had done and as usual, Duncan merely said that he didn't agree with what they did. He sees Duncan and Lilly from time to time when he is in Neptune. At first Duncan was set on seeing Veronica and getting their relationship back but eventually he stopped talking about her. Now from what Dick told him, Veronica has been very clear she doesn't want to see him.
At the reunion the following year, Duncan, Logan, Dick and Mac attend together. Wallace is there with his fiance. On the video of the class, Logan's bio said that he is single and a real estate investor. Dick and Mac sent in a wedding picture. The speaker says that Dick is a real estate investor and Mac works at Kane Enterprises. Duncan has a picture of him with Lilly. His bio says he is Vice President of Operations at Kane Software, father of one and single. Wallace has a picture of him and his fiance. The announcer tells the class that he is a basketball coach at Hearst College and he is engaged. Veronica was listed as missing and no information available. Wallace, when questioned by Mac, admitted that Veronica is on Law Review and is going to write the bar soon after graduation. Logan is not surprised that Veronica made law review. He has no doubt that she will pass the bar first time and will get hired at a prestigious law firm. Logan asks Wallace to congratulate Veronica on making Law Review and to wish her luck writing the bar exam even though she doesn't need it. Wallace agrees to pass on his message and then goes back to his table where many of the basketball players are sitting.
Over a year later, Mac tells Logan that she received notice that a law firm Hodges, Field and Rodriguez got a court order to look her employment contract. One of their lawyers, Veronica Mars, is representing Miguel Garcia in the matter of Kane Enterprises vs. Miguel Garcia. Logan supposes it would make sense that Veronica would represent her family and he asked Mac what the case was about. Mac tells him that Miguel Garcia had ten or eleven patents in his name and they are due to come to him ten years after he retired. Since he died the patents are supposed to go to his wife but Kane Enterprise has stipulated that since Miguel Garcia retired very young, they are going to keep the patents until he would have been seventy five. Curious, Logan asked if the patents were going to be worth anything. Mac immediately nodded and said, "We based our new program on a program that Miguel Garcia patented before he left."
Understanding, Logan commented, "So it will be worth a lot of money if the new software sells well." Mac had merely nodded but had not said anything further.
Dick didn't give Veronica much of a chance in the lawsuit. Kane Enterprises had a well respected team of lawyers. Dick talked to Duncan who told him that the lawyers for Kane were pushing for a quick trial because they had a lot of support staff while Veronica belonged to a small law firm.
Logan found that he couldn't stay away from the trial. He drove to Neptune to watch and ended up sitting with Dick and Mac. The truth was, he wanted to see her at work but he also just wanted to see her. Looking around the courtroom, he sees that there are a lot of reporters and people in suits who Logan guesses belong to competitors of Kane Enterprises. Behind Veronica is the whole of the Miguel Garcia Family. Sitting at the defense table with Veronica is a middle aged Hispanic woman who looks nervous and worried. Veronica looks calm and professional in her navy suit with a crisp white blouse. The Kane Enterprise table has four lawyers sitting there in expensive business suits. In the row behind the lawyers, Jake Kane, Duncan Kane and a few top executives are there to watch. Logan has to admit that he is nervous for Veronica. She looks very over-matched right now.
The jury is brought in and the trial starts with the head attorney outlining the case for Kane Enterprises. He was strong, confident and friendly to the jury. He talked about how expensive research and development is and how Kane Enterprises has to keep each patent a certain number of years to make their money back. He talked about how hard it is to be successful in the fast changing world of software development. He finally talked about how many employees worked at Kane Enterprises and how important the company was to the community. He pointed out that retirement age in the US was sixty five and suggested that Miguel Garcia wait until he would have been seventy five to get control of his patents like was outlined in his contract with Kane Enterprises. He made eye contact and smiled at each juror.
Veronica in her opening statement, makes a true connection with the jury. She talks about how Graciella Garcia was swept off her feet by Miguel Garcia when she was seventeen years old and he was a handsome software programmer with a bright future. They married young and had five children and twelve grandchildren. It was everything he promised her; hard work, love and laughter. Her tone changes when she tells the jurors that it ended too soon as when he was forty five, Miguel Garcia was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease. The incurable disease ravaged Miguel Garcia's body and forced him to retire from a job he loved, took away his physical and then his mental prowess. There is a long pause as Veronica looks away to gather her thoughts. The jury sees her pain and the pain in the faces of the Garcia family.
Veronica walks closer to the jury and changes the tone of her conversation with them. She talks about how the Kane lawyers would have everyone think that the contract between Kane Enterprises and Miguel Garcia is like a divorce where parts are negotiable; when in fact, it is just a standard employment contract that Kane has been signing with most of their new employees for the last thirty years. She easily explains how she likes contract law because it is black and white; it is either in the contract or it is not. Teasing she asks the jury if they ever wondered why they had to sign so many places when they bought a house and their marriage contract is a once only signing. They all laugh, enjoying her humor. She explains that the mortgage company wants everything, every important outcome in writing. Then once both parties sign, there is a legal contract and both parties must live up to their part of the contract. The tiny blonde slowly walks over to the jury box and stands at the end by the judge. She explains how in a written contract if one party doesn't live up to its part, then things may end up in court. In what Logan thinks is a brilliant final statement, Veronica leans against the jury bench and turns to look at the lawyers from Kane Enterprises. She says, "Occasionally one party lives up to its part of the contract and ends up in court anyways because the other party wants to change the conditions of the contract after they have signed it." The jury follows her eye line and sees that she is looking at Kane Enterprise lawyers and executives. She has established that her client followed his part of the contract and now Kane Enterprises wants to change the contract. Logan smiles. She is everything he thought she would be. Kane Enterprises needs to be afraid; very afraid.
By the end of the second day, Logan is even more impressed. She ended the first day by having each jury member randomly select a retired Kane employee by their employee number. Then she asked Mr. Jacobs, the Kane Head of Human Resources pull their file and black out the important information for his questioning the next day. The next day she called Mr. Jacobs back to the stand and she began to question him. She put each of the retired employees' contract up on the overhead screen. She clearly showed that the clause regarding patents was the same as the one in Miguel Garcia's contract. She then brought up contracts from employees that still worked at Kane Enterprises that she subpoenaed before the trial. In each case, she blackened out the name and numbers but showed how employees that were hired fifteen, ten, five and this year all had the same clauses regarding patents in their employment contract. Veronica asked Mr. Jacobs why if Kane Enterprises wanted to own the patent until the person they hired was 75 years old, didn't they just put that in the contract. Mr. Jacobs did not have a satisfactory answer. He ended up admitting it had never come up before and he also had to admit he has worked there fifteen years.
Logan sucked in his breath at how clear Veronica was outlining Kane Enterprises contracts to the jury. She then asked Mr. Jacobs what in Mr. Miguel Garcia's contract is different than the other contracts that the jury randomly selected. Clearly reluctant, he admitted that they were all standard contracts. It turns out that seven of the twelve randomly selected retired Kane personnel had patents when they retired. Methodically, Veronica went over each contract showing how Kane Software released control of the patents ten years after the person retired, not after retirement age of sixty five. She asked Mr. Jacobs after each person why he didn't make the person wait until ten years after sixty five? He finally had to admit that usually he just released the patents if the employee didn't break their contract.
Looking at Mr. Jacobs she parroted, "Usually? If this is the first time you have had this situation in fifteen years, wouldn't it be more accurate to say almost one hundred percent of the time Kane Enterprises released the patent to the employee ten years after he/she retired no matter what age it was?" Mr. Jacobs hedged but Veronica had made her point with the jury.
Mac sitting next to Logan, looked at him after this part of the testimony. She shook her head as they were both thinking how good Veronica is at questioning. For the next part of her questioning, Veronica asked what the most common reason for withholding a patent from a retired employee? Mr. Jacobs shared that it was because of a broken contract.
Dick watching sees that now Veronica was going to prove that Miguel Garcia never broke his contract. . She walks over towards Mr. Jacobs and asks, "Let's look at Miguel Garcia's contract more closely." She puts up his contract on the overhead board and starts at clause number one. "So did he break the clause of working for a rival company and that is why you are withholding the patents?" Mr. Jacobs admits that he didn't. Veronica adds, "In fact, isn't it true that Miguel Garcia never worked again?" Mr. Jacobs admitted that he didn't.
She carries on going through each clause until she gets to the clause about reasons for retirement. Friendly Veronica asked him the official reason that Miguel Garcia retired. When he answers, she follows up by asking him to explain to the jury what a health related retirement entailed. After his explanation, Veronica asked him who was the doctor that recommended Miguel Garcia take a health related retirement? He had to admit that Dr. Johnson was employed by Kane Enterprises. Veronica then asked what rationale the doctor put on the form for Miguel Garcia's early retirement. She got Mr. Jacobs to read it out loud to the jury and then she got him to read his final comment since he was the Human Resource Director at the time. Reluctantly he read, "Retired for health reasons serious enough to negate his value to the company." Veronica wisely says nothing and just looks at him for a few seconds. Logan can tell the jury members are a little disgusted by how the businessman thought of the employees.
After a long pause, Veronica continues through the rest of the clauses in the patent part of the employment contract. At the end of the list of clauses, it has become clear that Mr. Jacobs can't say that Miguel Garcia broke his contract. She finally says, "So as far as Human Resources is concerned, Miguel Garcia met his part of the employment contract?" After he answers that he did, Veronica very politely thanks him for his time and tells the court she has no further questions for this witness.
Kane Enterprises the calls the Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Henderson to the stand. He outlines how part of his job is to oversee Human Resources. He readily admits that it was his decision to withhold the patents from Miguel Garcia. The Kane lawyer leads him through the reasons that he ended up deciding to withhold the patents. He sounds very reasonable and businesslike.
When Veronica was called to cross examine, she very politely thanked him for giving the court an overview of his decision to withhold the patents from Miguel Garcia. She then said, "I have things I want to clarify on the employee contract between Kane Enterprises and Miguel Garcia and then we will get back to your claims about the finances of Kane Enterprises." Logan sees the four Kane lawyers whispering together. Veronica has just given notice that since Mr. Henderson brought up Kane Enterprises finances, she will be addressing it in her questions of this witness.
She began by questioning him on basic contract law theory. She gets into the ridiculous citing a rock star who wanted only pink in her dressing rooms and only white and pink M&Ms. Mr. Henderson admitted that if it was in the contract, it would have to be provided. Veronica asks him if he can make changes like she gets a blue dressing room. Mr. Henderson tells her that she is within her rights to demand what she was promised in writing. Veronica asks, "If she decides she can't write in a pink dressing room, can she ask for a green one?" Mr. Henderson explains that she would have to ask to have the contract changed. Nodding Veronica says, "I have to agree with you. If something is written in the contract, the only way for either party get out of it, is if both parties agree to change it."
Logan smiles. She is so good at questioning witnesses. Next she asks a series of questions on what happens if an employee at Kane Enterprises asks for something that was not in their contract. He had to admit that they don't give it to the employee since it wasn't in the contract. She then gets him to admit that sometimes the contract does not benefit Kane Enterprises. Under oath he has to admit that if it is in writing in the contract, Kane Enterprises has to legally honor it. During her questions, she gets Mr. Henderson to admit that it is his job to make sure that the contracts are favorable to Kane Enterprises.
She puts Miguel Garcia's contract up on the board again. She asks him why they don't have a clause in the employee contract that outlined the amount of time that Kane Industries controlled the patent. She points out that as it is worded, the patent could be anywhere from ten to fifty years old depending on when the employee put the patent in. Mr. Henderson could not give a reason why it wasn't outlined in the employee contract. She then asked why the age of sixty five or government mandated retirement age was not put in the contract instead of when the employee retires? Mr. Henderson then says that it is just an understanding that sixty five is the retirement age.
Leaning on the witness box Veronica asks, "Perhaps, Mr. Henderson, you will have to admit that the patent part of the contract is poorly worded if Kane Enterprises needs to control the patent until the person is seventy five? Under pressure, he does admit that although they have never had problems with this particular part of the contract before, it could be worded more clearly. She follows that it looks like this is also one of the cases he mentioned that the contract does not benefit the employer. Since the contract is not worded clearly for retirement to be sixty five years of age and Kane Industries has repeatedly interpreted this clause to be ten years after the date the employee retires, shouldn't Kane Enterprises legally have to adhere to the present wording and perhaps change it for future employees?"
Mr. Henderson, of course, disagrees and says that sixty five as retirement age is implied. Veronica's eye brow arches and she parrots, "Implied?" After a pause for effect, she carries on, "My contract law professor would be very upset right now if he heard you."
Straightening up she starts, "Mr. Henderson I have already demonstrated how Kane Enterprises Human Resource Department has been giving benefits according to the day the employee retired, not the implied age of sixty five." This is complete with finger quotes. She asks, "How can you give one employee a benefit you are with holding from my client when they have the exact same contract?"
Mr. Henderson talks about since Miguel Garcia retired early, Kane Industries was not given the benefit outlined in the contract of having the patent until Mr. Garcia was seventy five. She looks at him and says, "Employee number 4 retired at fifty and was given his patent at sixty. How do you explain that?"
Mr. Henderson just repeated that he felt Kane Industries deserved and needed control of these patents until Mr. Garcia would have turned seventy five. Veronica bluntly asked what criteria he had for withholding patents from people who had not broken their contract? Pushed, Mr. Henderson admitted that the difference between Employee 4 and Miguel Garcia was that Kane Industries was still using one of Miguel Garcia's patents.
Veronica now changes the topic. She starts asking about his concern that if Kane Enterprises gives up control of Miguel Garcia's patents, they will lose money. "What is driving you to say that?" After he talks about how they need to use the patents until they make the money back from research and development, Veronica asks the question she is most interested in learning the answer to, "Why are some patents only used for a few years and others for many years?"
Logan unconsciously leans forward. Now she is getting to the real crux of the issue. With a series of questions, Veronica pushes Mr. Henderson to admit that the patent that Kane Enterprises is using was issued to Miguel Garcia when he was thirty six which was over twenty years ago. She asks how a twenty year old patent in an ever changing industry can be important enough for him to make the decision to withhold the patent even when Miguel Garcia did not break his contract? Mr. Henderson gets very evasive telling her that he was unable to talk about why the patent was important as it has to do with programs that have not been released to the public.
Changing the subject, she asked what his salary was last year and the year before. When the Kane attorney objected, Veronica merely pointed out that he opened the door by voicing his concern about keeping the maximum number of employees working. The judge overruled and Veronica made him answer. Of course his salary and bonuses increased each year. She had him figure out what percent his salary increased and when he couldn't say, she figured it out on her computer and the number was up on the screen for all the jurors to see. Logan could see he had a thirty percent jump in his salary. Now Veronica asked what percent the employee salaries went up. Of course after much hedging he admitted that he only authorized three percent raises no matter how good their evaluation was. He defended this practice stating there were a large number of employees and it would have hurt the bottom line to give them all large raises. He also pointed out that three percent was good in this bad economy.
Curious she asked how Kane Enterprise leadership decided on the bonuses they paid out. Under questioning he admitted that his bonus and wage increases were outlined in his contract. Rubbing her hands together, Veronica said, "Now we are getting somewhere." She pushed a few keys on her computer and up popped Mr. Henderson's contract. Clearly angry, he admitted that it was his contract and of course there were objections from the Kane lawyers.
Veronica pointed out that she blackened all the numbers and told the court she wasn't disputing that Mr. Henderson deserved his contract, she was merely interested in the wording of it. When allowed to continue, she easily found the bonus clauses in his contract. They were directly related to the profits each quarter. Veronica asked him how he made such a large bonus the first three quarters in this bad economy. He had to admit that Kane Enterprises made profit the first three quarters this year. She reiterated, "So Kane Enterprises gave large bonuses to its leadership because of the large profits. " After she made him say yes aloud instead of nodding, she moved on to the amounts paid out to shareholders this year. He also admitted that they paid out record amounts to the stockholders this year. Finally she tilts her head at him and asks, "If someone above you at Kane Enterprises decided that you wouldn't get a bonus this quarter, what would happen?"
Logan could tell the jurors liked that question. She was essentially asking him what he would do if someone did to him what he did to Miguel Garcia. Under pressure, he admitted he would have to seek legal advice. Veronica shook her head at him and dismissed him from the box. She clearly showed the jury his double standard and how his reason was it is just business to make money; nothing personal.
Veronica goes back to her table and sits beside Gracelia Garcia. After Kane Enterprises rests, Veronica stands and says, "The defense rests." There is a shocked silence in the courtroom as Veronica sits down. Logan sees the Kane lawyers talking with each other and Jake and Duncan talking together. He realizes that both of them thought Veronica would call them and she didn't. The judge after a hard look at Veronica sends the court to lunch and says, "We will hear final arguments after lunch."
Veronica turns to Graciella and talks to her quietly. Then she stands up and goes into the embrace of her family and talks to then quietly. They all leave and Veronica leaves with them.
Logan watching with Mac looks at her and says, "Why do you think she didn't call anyone?"
Mac frowns and then shrugs, "I guess she made her point without using a shareholder or a CEO. She didn't call Jake Kane either."
Dick says, "Jake would have eaten her alive."
Logan looks at Mac and sees that she doesn't necessarily agree with Dick. He doesn't either. He wishes he could talk to her and tell her how impressed he is. Hell, he wishes he could talk to her.
In the afternoon, the Kane Enterprises lawyer talks seriously with the jury reiterating how expensive research and development is, how Miguel Garcia retired early and they didn't get to use his patents as long as they anticipated and how important Kane Enterprises is to its employees and the community. He was a good employee. It's business. Logan is impressed at how sincere he sounds. He looks at the jury and can see they are also impressed.
What happens next is one of the most amazing things Logan has ever seen. Veronica walks over to the jury and proceeds to debunk everything the Kane lawyers have said. She talks about what a strong, well run company Kane Enterprises is. She talks about how many awards the executives have won, how they recruit the best of the best and how their stock is well respected as it continually rises and makes money for its shareholders. She talks about how they have been in business over twenty five years in a very competitive industry. She says, "I seriously doubt that having one hundred percent of the profits from Miguel Garcia's patents is the key to making or breaking this solid company that is worth one hundred and twenty six billion dollars. Would they fold if they only had ninety percent of the profits from his patents?"
Then she talks about how Kane Enterprises does business. She never criticizes; she merely states the facts. Kane Enterprises state they pay the best; the fact is they only pay management well. The programmers are not paid the best in the industry. They also don't let the employees have any percentage of their patents when the industry standard is five percent. She talks about how much money Miguel Garcia already lost by not getting his five percent and how he never complained because he signed the contract willingly; just like Kane Enterprises did. Neither knew what the future held. Miguel could have had no patents and Kane Enterprises could have gone bankrupt. They both took their chances on each other. Fortunately both their risks paid off. Kane Enterprises flourished and Miguel had a job to support his family. Miguel used his wonderful brain to develop hardware and software for Kane Enterprises and made the executives and their shareholders lot of money. Win-win.
She talks about how much money the shareholders got at the end of the first three quarters this year and the projected shareholder dividends are going to be at year end even though Mr. Henderson characterized this as a bad economy. Then she talked about how the workers only got the minimum pay raise; less than the cost of living. She says, "I am not here to judge how Kane Enterprises runs their company. I understand it is just business. Now they must understand that paying Miguel Garcia what he is owed is just business; it is not personal.
Standing near the lawyers for Kane Enterprises, Veronica continues on, "It appears that this time the contract is not worded the way that Kane Industries would like. They have some very savy lawyers who specialize in contract law so I anticipate that now that they see the holes in the contract, they will change the patent part of the contract for new employees." Pausing she looks briefly at the Kane lawyers and then turns her attention back to the jury. "However that is not what it says right now. In Miguel Garcia's contract, he gets control of his patents ten years after he retires. He retired ten years ago this month and that is why we are all here." Looking at the jurors she says, "They don't like how their contract is worded and they want to arbitrarily interpret Miguel Garcia's contract to benefit them." Gently shaking her head she explains that that is not how contract law works. It is either in there or it isn't. There isn't a lot of grey areas. In this case, what Kane Enterprises wants is not in there."
Walking closer to the jurors, the tiny blonde tells them quietly, "Mr. Jenkins, Head of Human Resources for Kane Enterprises admitted that almost always Kane Enterprises releases the patents to retired employees ten years after they retire. In fact, all seven of the retired employees you selected got their patents ten years after their retirement date; not when they turned seventy five. Mr. Jenkins also admitted that Miguel Garcia lived up to his part of the contract. When Kane Enterprises forced him to retire citing that his illness caused him to be more of a liability than an asset, it was a business decision for them and the Garcia family understood. Although the family of Miguel Garcia understands that Kane Enterprises wanting to keep Miguel's patents longer than agreed on is not personal..." She smiles winningly at the jurors, "After all, what company wouldn't want to make even more money?" Logan sees that the jurors are responding to her; smiling back at her and listening to what she has to say. Veronica continues, "Kane Enterprises must understand that Miguel's family wanting what they deserve is not personal either. It is just part of the legal contract that Miguel Garcia signed when he was twenty two years old. It's business."
Pausing as she walks down the front of the jurors' box, Veronica looks at each and every juror before she continues, " Of course while the executives at Kane Enterprises are busy chanting it's just business, they don't see that winning doesn't have to be one sided." She waves her right arm to the side and then her left arm out to the other side. "Kane Enterprises doesn't have get one hundred percent and Miguel Garcia zero." She pauses for effect and then carries on, "Both sides can win." She puts her hands together and carries on, "There are other options. Kane Software can rent the patents for ten years. They can offer Miguel Garcia company shares for his patents. They can outright buy the patents from Miguel Garcia's family. They could bargain for a percentage of the profits from using the patents... 90 for Kane, 10 for Miguel Garcia. There are actually a lot of options that they didn't even attempt. They did not contact Graciella Garcia once this year to discuss Miguel's patents. It appears that the Kane Enterprise business model does not include anything but 100 percent for them."
She stops and looks around the courtroom before she looks back at the jurors. She tells them, "I didn't call any witnesses because I didn't need them. Miguel Garcia's signature on his employment contract is clear as well as the signatures from personnel in Human Resources at Kane Enterprises. Their own employees told the court that they interpreted the patent clause in the employment contract to mean ten years after the employee retired. Mr. Jenkins also told us that Miguel Garcia had not broken his contract. Mr. Henderson admitted that he made an exception of Miguel Garcia because Kane Enterprises was still using his patents. He also admitted that Kane Enterprises had let other retired employees have patents that were less than twenty years old so his statement that Kane Enterprises needed the patent because it was only twenty years since Miguel Garcia developed it doesn't hold water either." Pausing she says, "No the testimony from the Kane Enterprise employees outlines the situation even better than the witnesses I was going to call."
She does an audible sigh and then waves at the Kane executives and then the jury, "You are here because Kane Enterprises wants it all or nothing. You are here because Kane Enterprises wants to change the contract they had with Miguel Garcia without talking to his family about it. You are here because Kane Enterprises chose to forgo any negotiations and just take Miguel Garcia to court." There is a short poignant silence and then Veronica changes the tone of her voice from accusing to sorrowful. "Sadly, because Kane Enterprises wants only one hundred percent, you are left with a choice of giving the patents to them or giving them to Miguel Garcia. If you give them to Miguel Garcia, Kane Enterprises will be forced to abide by the contract they willingly signed and enforced all these years. If you vote no today, you will force Kane Industries to follow all the clauses of the contract, not just the ones that benefit them. You will tell them that they are a big, important company but they must follow the same laws as everyone who enters a contract in the United States. If you vote no today, you will force Kane Enterprises to actually bargain in order to keep using the patents." She looks fondly at the defendant area. "Graciella Garcia represents her late husband. She is sitting there in the defendant's box waiting to see if the big corporation is going to be allowed to break its contract with Miguel. She and her family are waiting to find out if Miguel is going to be allowed to benefit from his hard work and his huge, amazing brain. "
Veronica ends by thanking them for their time and she points out that the family of Miguel Garcia would trade any money they get from Miguel's patents for him to have been disease free and still working for Kane Enterprises. She looks at them and adds as she waves at Miguel's family. "The patents are his work legacy and these wonderful, loving people are his personal legacy. Miguel loved his family and left them wonderful memories of his love and his strength. He also left them his patents and it is fitting that his hard work benefited Kane Enterprises for over thirty years and now a portion of the profits from his patents should benefit the people he loves."
Logan watching the jury knows that the verdict is going to go Veronica's way. Her closing statement was full of hope, wonder and fairness. It will really appeal to the jurors. She has given the jurors a real reason to side with her client. Both parties can win; no one has to lose. Kane Enterprises have only given the jurors a choice of them winning and Miguel Garcia and his family losing. The unfairness of their proposal has been glossed over by their mantra of 'it's business and what is good for Kane is good for the employees and the community'. They did not allow for even giving Miguel Garcia part of what he is owed. Logan thinks that Veronica has really done well and he is really proud of her.
The jury is only out a few minutes when they come back rejecting Kane Enterprises claim on Miguel Garcia's patents. Logan waiting around sees the happiness on Veronica's face as she looks at her family. He sees the stress leave her shoulders. This was important to her and her family.
Logan watches and has to smile as after the verdict was read, Veronica hugged Graciella Garcia and then they were both hugged by the large family. Veronica ran over to Wallace and his fiance and was hugged by them both. In the meantime a man walked up to where Jake and Duncan Kane were walking out to leave and handed them each an envelope stating, "You have been served." Dick elbows Logan and points over to where Jake and Duncan Kane are being served. Logan imagines that the letter tells them that Kane Enterprises must cease and desist using any software or hardware related to Miguel Garcia's patents. Mac standing beside her husband comes to the same conclusion. She looks at Logan and comments quietly, "This is going to cripple our new phone and computer software line."
Logan looks at Veronica being hugged by her family and comments, "They probably don't know it yet, but they are all millionaires."
Mac nods and starts to move down the bench towards the isle. Dick comments, "Kane Enterprises will appeal."
"It won't matter," Logan points out, "Veronica won't be alone in this fight anymore." He nods to some of the men and women in suits sitting at the back of the courtroom and adds, "I think that Veronica is going to get some support from rival companies legal teams."
Kane Enterprises 1 Veronica Mars 1