Jan’s parents, Mary and Blain Jourge arrived at the hospital about ten, Judd’s, Ellen and George Sanders got there just before noon. The burn unit was one large room with portable curtains to provide privacy and not impede the staff. The burned arms were wrapped and all of them were being given massive doses of pain-killer. The room had an odor that was a mixture of burned flesh and the usual hospital smell.

The parents doted over the children. There was so little they could do to help.

The lawyers for the liability carrier and the studio met. The liability carrier was surprised and impressed with the job the studio had already done. The case had already been pretty well founded and was progressing. The liability carrier may have to cover at the worst a few million dollars of the damages but it appeared that they would be able to avoid a settlement that could have gone to several hundred million. The lawyers were commended for their prompt and prudent action.

The lawyers discussed the possibility of settling now with the performers. They discussed the amounts and decided upon an initial offer of $40 million each. The studio lawyers were advised that they could easily go beyond $100 million with a cap of 135 million if that would get an early settlement.

The studio lawyers contacted Jan’s lawyer and proposed a meeting with them to discuss the accident and the injuries. He declined the meeting at this time. He was an expert in performing contracts, not tort and liability. He would advise his client to seek other representation in this matter. He would consult with his client at a later time when they were able to discuss this change of counsel. An attempt to contact Judd’s lawyer failed. He was out of town till late Thursday.

Thursday

Jan and Judd watched as the burn unit people dressed their arms. Just moving, touching, anything was intense pain. Neither were able to move the elbows, fingers or wrists on the burned arms.

The contract lawyer handling Jan’s affairs called the hospital and was advised that he could see his client for a few minutes later in the day. When he arrived he was gowned and masked before being taken into the room to see her. He asked why the gown and was told that any of the injured could easily be infected and that could result in their death. He had not considered the burns could be that serious. He spent a few minutes with Jan. He discussed retaining alternate counsel and she asked him to go ahead and see if he could arrange alternate counsel if he felt that was prudent. He assured her that it was prudent, he had not handled tort since law school. Since she could not sign any document authorizing this, he asked the one nurse to witness her statement and he signed her name with the nurse confirming her statement. He returned to his office building. On the way he called a friend who handled tort cases for an insurance company for advice on a lawyer. The suggested lawyer had an office across the hall from his. He went in and went to the receptionist.