Chapter 7 - THE DESPERATE LAWSUIT
Humiliated and locked out of her Greenwich home, Valerie hired a discount lawyer on credit and filed a frivolous lawsuit claiming I was suffering from dementia and had illegally seized her assets. We met in a sterile mediation room downtown. Valerie sat across from me, looking exhausted, the dark circles under her eyes betraying her bravado. Her lawyer slammed a massive binder on the table, threatening a brutal public trial. Arthur, my lawyer, didn't even open his briefcase. He simply slid a single, notarized piece of paper across the mahogany wood. It was the medical and psychiatric evaluation I had passed with flying colors just forty-eight hours prior, co-signed by three top neurologists in Boston. Alongside it was the police report I had filed the night of my birthday for assault and battery. "Drop the suit," Arthur said softly, "or the next papers you receive will be criminal charges."
