What The Heart Wants

It's Almost Here

In chambers on Monday morning, Brian and David Jay laid out their cases for the payment of the initial verdict's damages.

Brian: I had our economists work out what the actual costs to the Hearts were related to the defendant's actions. In retrospect, we came up with a total of $58,725 spent by the club for Hearts United and the expenses taken on as a result of the trial, along with $28,000 that was donated to the Athlete Ally chapters at Penn and Temple. We ask that the Hearts' verdict be adjusted to reflect this, with $86,725 in compensatory damages and $300,000 in punitive damages. As for the individual plaintiffs, we are satisfied with the judgments handed down.

Judge Massiah-Jackson: Your request for compensatory damages paid to the Hearts is granted. David Jay, you are presenting Mr. Orlandini's financial portfolio to explain his means to pay the damages, correct?

David Jay: Correct. Given that his salary from CBS Philly and KYW will total $52,000 this year, of which $39,000 or less will be net, it would take him close to 175 years to pay off the verdict if he handed over every penny he made to the plaintiffs. His assets at present include a 401(k) that is not subject to liquidation by the court and equity in his home of roughly $217,000. If he were to use the equity in his home and 1/4 of his net salary in 2018, he could provide just over $225,000 toward settling the judgments along with $10,000 per year in continuing payments to be divided among the plaintiffs.

Judge Massiah-Jackson: What is the present value of his home and the amount of any liens against the property?

David Jay: The home has been appraised at $401,000 and his present mortgage has a pay-off amount of $184,000.

Judge Massiah-Jackson: Thank you, counselors. I will take a brief recess to run these numbers and will see you in my courtroom to announce the revised verdict.

Brian and David Jay exited the judge's chambers and went to the cafeteria for some coffee.

David Jay: You know that you can't get blood out of a rock, right?

Brian: Yes, and I told my clients that I expected all the numbers to go down and for there to be some degree of proportional judgment. How do you think she is going to break this down?

David Jay: Anything that is purely compensatory will be doled out first in the amounts requested by your side, then restorative damages on a sliding scale depending on the the actual damage done by Greg to each of the parties, with punitive damages parceled out in a manner that will keep him entangled with some of your clients for the rest of his life. How much the judge will give on the last two portions I really can't tell you.

Brian: I feel bad for you in a way getting this case. There really wasn't a means of getting the entire thing dismissed after he pleaded out on the assault charge.

David Jay: I wanted to give him an opportunity to mount the charge that so many members of the male sports fan community have with regards to women in sport, that they aren't all they propose to be. I think he was able to prove that to some extent, but the dynamics of this case were always going to leave us grasping for a partial verdict where we would get parts dismissed or keep the value of the judgments down on some of the individual suits.

Brian: I'd be happy to see that everyone gets something out of this and that he has a portion of the overall judgment hanging over his head into the future. Anything above 1 mil would be more than satisfactory.

David Jay: We shall see.

The pair of lawyers went to the elevators and took one to the sixth floor, where they walked down to Courtroom 654 and waited for the signal that court would be coming into session. After a wait of 15 minutes or so, they were alerted that the judge would be in the courtroom in five minutes and so they entered and went to their respective tables.