Part 26 (2/2)

”What?” Bullock shouted, too shocked to believe what he just heard.

”Kelo?” the clerk said, thinking Bullock didn't know what case she was talking about.

”Yes ... Yes,” Bullock said. ”Thank you.”

He dropped the phone and bolted down the hall to Dana Berliner's office.

She was at her desk doing research. Bullock leaned down and gave her a hug. She had no idea what was happening.

”The Court just accepted Kelo Kelo,” he whispered in her ear before pulling back to see her reaction.

”Oh ... my ... G.o.d!” she said.

Bullock roared.

They couldn't wait to call the clients.

Susette was on duty at the hospital when Bullock reached her.

”I have some incredible news, Susette. The Court has agreed to hear the case.”

”Are you s.h.i.+ttin' me?”

He a.s.sured her it was true. And her life was about to change as a result. Hers was the lead name on a historic case before the Supreme Court of the United States.

”I can't believe it,” she shouted. ”I can't believe it.”

As soon as she hung up, Susette started calling the others. The phones were jammed all afternoon. Friends, family, and reporters were trying to reach the plaintiffs for reaction. When her s.h.i.+ft ended at 3:30, Susette sped back to her neighborhood. The group had agreed to a.s.semble at the Dery house. It was time to raise the gla.s.s again.

Susette didn't bother stopping home to change out of her nursing whites. She couldn't wait to get to Matt's place.

Von Winkle arrived right after she did.

”We're gonna win, right?” she said.

”I think we got 'em now, Red,” Von Winkle said, smiling.

”We gotta win. Why else would they take the case if we weren't going to win?”

Neighbors and friends dropped by to congratulate the group. Some visitors even left gifts. One of Matt Dery's friends, a trucker, called all the way from Jackson, Mississippi, to say he had just heard the news on the radio.

Members of the local press showed up to get reactions.

Susette just beamed.

”It's been like a seven-year prostate exam,” Dery told a reporter as a photographer snapped pictures.

Susette laughed. Dery liked comparing the struggle to preserve their homes to a never-ending rectal exam. She agreed. But suddenly it was all worth it.

The news came like a kick in the gut. Tom Londregan had never expected the Supreme Court to take up the property owners' appeal. All he could do now was shake his head. He could hear the inst.i.tute ginning up its press releases now.

But Londregan did see one positive point-the city would get exceptional legal representation at no charge. Wes Horton was on the hook to handle the oral argument and preargument brief at no charge.

Londregan and Ed O'Connell from the NLDC drove up to meet with Horton in his Hartford law office.

”So, Wes,” O'Connell said, seated across from him at his desk, ”what's it going to be like sitting at counsel table, facing the Supreme Court justices?”

”I don't know,” Horton said, smiling. ”I've never been there.”

Despite having handled hundreds of appeals cases and being admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court since 1975, Horton had never actually argued a case before the highest court.

”Well then, what the h.e.l.l did we hire you for?” Londregan blurted out.

All three men broke into laughter.

”Tom,” Horton said, ”the last time a civil case from the Connecticut Supreme Court made it to the U.S. Supreme Court was over thirty years ago. We weren't even lawyers back then.”

”This place looks like Beirut,” Susette told a feature writer from People People magazine as she walked her through the neighborhood, pointing out the rubble of all the homes and businesses that had been demolished by the NLDC's wrecking b.a.l.l.s. magazine as she walked her through the neighborhood, pointing out the rubble of all the homes and businesses that had been demolished by the NLDC's wrecking b.a.l.l.s.

Back when Bullock had first agreed to represent Susette, he had told her she'd have to get used to working with the media. She had never imagined that would mean talking to a celebrity magazine like People People, not to mention reporters from the New York Times New York Times, the Wall Street Journal Wall Street Journal, USA Today USA Today, the Was.h.i.+ngton Post Was.h.i.+ngton Post, ABC's World News Tonight World News Tonight, CNN, and NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw. All had called since the Supreme Court took up her case. Some wanted to know more about the woman whose name appeared on the case. The inst.i.tute had arranged for a writer and photographer from People People to spend the day with Susette at her home. On December 13, 2004, the magazine ran pictures of her and her pink house with a story about the case. to spend the day with Susette at her home. On December 13, 2004, the magazine ran pictures of her and her pink house with a story about the case.

Later that week Susette received a personal letter from Steve Forbes, CEO and editor-in-chief of Forbes Forbes magazine. It read, ”Dear Ms. Kelo: You might be interested in one of the editorials on page 25 of the enclosed magazine. It read, ”Dear Ms. Kelo: You might be interested in one of the editorials on page 25 of the enclosed Forbes Forbes magazine. Best Wishes. Steve Forbes.” magazine. Best Wishes. Steve Forbes.”

The enclosed editorial, ”Don't Junk Property Rights,” had been written by Forbes himself and included a photograph of Susette's house. Forbes's essay called on the Supreme Court to do the right thing.

Susette didn't know Forbes's name and she had never read his magazine. But she appreciated his support.

Tom Londregan got almost as many media inquiries as Susette. Only his weren't nearly as flattering. Reporters from around the country were calling his office with questions he felt were unfair, such as, ”I hear you're taking an eighty-seven-year-old woman and throwing her out of her house?” which one writer from Texas asked.

Trained to ignore the media and focus on the law, Londregan nevertheless finally agreed to sit down with a television interviewer and tell his side of the case. Tired of sitting back while the Inst.i.tute for Justice framed the case for the media, Londregan spent over an hour being interviewed.

When he watched the news report a few nights later, he discovered that his entire interview had been reduced to a ten-second sound bite. The reporter had completely ignored all the legal arguments Londregan had used to justify the exercise of eminent domain. Instead, the entire segment focused on plaintiff Byron Athenian and the fact that he and his elderly mother were being driven from their home.

”Oh my G.o.d,” Londregan said. ”This is a nightmare, an absolute nightmare.”

Despite all the negative publicity the city faced in the national press, nothing outraged Londregan as much as a short letter-to-the-editor that appeared in his hometown paper, the Day Day. After the NLDC publicly criticized the Inst.i.tute for Justice for its public-relations efforts, Scott Bullock had submitted a five-paragraph letter to the editor. In it he said his clients could hold their heads high knowing they had fought for the rights of every homeowner in America. ”In contrast, New London city councilors, NLDC members and their lawyers should hang their heads in shame at what they have done to Fort Trumbull property owners, the citizens of their city and state, and to the Const.i.tution of the United States,” Bullock wrote.

The suggestion that he should hang his head in shame pushed Londregan over the edge. He called up Bullock and ripped into him for what he had written. ”That is the most insulting thing anyone has ever said to me in my entire practice of law,” Londregan said.

”Are you kidding me?” Bullock asked.

Londregan wasn't kidding. And he let Bullock know he didn't care for his style.

Convinced he was on the right side of the argument and that lawyers shouldn't be immune to criticism, Bullock didn't care what Londregan thought of him.

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