The Scourge of Confidentiality Agreements

I just finished a powerful book ""The Innocent Man" by John Grisham about two men who were innocent and convicted of murder. The book tells the story of their unjust conviction and final exoneration. I realized I met one of the two exonerees, Dennis Fritz, while I shopped in the local grocery store. He was hocking his own book and I bought a copy, had it autographed and sent it to a friend for her birthday. He lives here in Kansas City now, away from the Oklahoma courts that had him incarcerated. Now, realizing who he was after reading the Grisham book, I wish I had bought more than one copy of Mr. Fritz' book from him.

After reading the Grisham book, I hopped on the ECF system, a computer program where lawyers and others can read federal lawsuits. I found that John Grisham was sued by the prosecutor and others over the book he wrote which told the tale of unjust convictions of innocent people. I was chagrined to realize I had met the plaintiffs' lawyers, who fortunately lost. There is big business in suppressing the truth in this country.

Quite obviously, people who hurt others don't want their misdeeds made public. I feel the urge to write about so many of my cases, to let the public know what these businesses, the so-called "job-creators," really do. But, I cannot. In one case, if I divulge one company's misdeeds, even though my clients are dead, I will be made to pay $50,000. In another case, I am being required to return incriminating documents and destroy those contained on my hard-drive. I win "60 Minutes" or The New York Times could pick the brains of plaintiffs' lawyers. Maybe we would have safer products, less latent bigotry, more corporate fear of Whistleblowers and concomitant adherence to good business practices.

Money is power, and power corrupts. We live in the era of Citizens United. Big business gets more and more powerful. I respect my clients, the courageous few who risk against these Goliathes. It is daunting to fight back.

I am going to start writing fiction, short stories, maybe a novel. Fiction writers write what they know, within defamation claims or liquidated damage claims for breach of onerous confidentiality agreements. I know about a lot of rotten corporations, and I can tell you, despite what the Supreme Court says, they are not persons. They are inhuman.