History Film / TheVerdict

** Laura is implied to be one as well. She always matches Galvin drink for drink while they're together.

* BittersweetEnding: Galvin wins the case, but is clearly devastated by Laura's betrayal. The final scene shows her calling desperately to him, who refuses to answer the phone.

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: While the jury is deliberating on a verdict, the Archdiocese asks one of his colleagues whether he believes nurse Price's testimony, despite it being thrown out. The colleague's inability to answer clues the Archdiocese in that the jury also likely believes her and will decide accordingly. Sure enough, they do.

-->''(Colleague looks away and drinks their tea. Archdiocese sighs as he [[ThisIsGonnaSuck realizes]].)''

-->''(Colleague looks away and drinks their tea. Archdiocese sighs as he [[ThisIsGonnaSuck realizes]].)

However, a visit to the girl deeply affects him, and at the meeting with the Archdiocese of Boston to hammer out the settlement, he rejects the money, deciding that this is his last chance to save himself and resolving to fight it out. This, of course, displeases everyone, from the woman's family to Judge Hoyle (Milo O'Shea), who's presiding over the trial. Opposing Galvin for the defense is celebrity attorney Ed Concannon (Creator/JamesMason), backed by a large and professional legal team.

** Judge Hoyle incorrectly rules that Nurse Kaitlin Costello-Price's testimony is inadmissible. Topping it off, the "best evidence" rule (that when witnesses testify to the content of a document, it must be produced) gets utterly bungled. The document is a photocopy that Nurse Price brings in showing that she altered an admissions form at Towler's order to cover up his negligence. To explain, the form is a ''photocopy'' of the original, and the best evidence rule requires that the original document be entered into evidence. The real problem was that the best evidence rule allows the exclusion of a copy of a writing; it does not bar a witness from testifying about what she wrote in the original document. Galvin does not even attempt to offer the document into evidence. Rather, he just asks the witness what she wrote in the document. Furthermore, there is an exception to the best evidence rule: when the original is unavailable owing to a bad act by the party against whom the copy would be offered. Here, the witness is claiming that she altered the original document under the threat of the defendant, but made a photocopy of the original before she did so. So in real life, the copy would almost certainly be admissible. This one can probably be explained as Judge Hoyle a) blatantly favoring the defense and b) not being a very good lawyer.

''The Verdict'' is a 1982 courtroom drama film directed by Creator/SidneyLumet, written by Creator/DavidMamet (based on the novel of the same name by Barry Reed) and starring Creator/PaulNewman.

-->-- '''Frank Galvin''' (Creator/PaulNewman) to Judge Hoyle (Milo O'Shea).

''The Verdict'' is a 1982 courtroom drama film directed by Creator/SidneyLumet and written by Creator/DavidMamet, based on a novel by Barry Reed and starring Creator/PaulNewman.

Frank Galvin is a washed-up alcoholic attorney who hasn't won a case in years and trolls for clients at funerals. His friend, Mickey Morrissey (Creator/JackWarden), gets him a medical malpractice suit about a woman rendered comatose during surgery with a guaranteed large settlement that will let her family put her in a nursing home.

However, a visit to the girl deeply affects him, and at the meeting with the Archdiocese of Boston to hammer out the settlement, he rejects the money, deciding that this is his last chance to save himself and resolves to fight it out. This, of course, displeases everyone, from the family to the judge. His opponent in the trial is celebrity attorney Ed Concannon, backed by a large and professional legal team.

To make matters worse, no one seems to be able to tell him what actually happened during the surgery. Also along the way he finds a lover in a woman named Laura, a complex relationship that isn't made any easier by the trial.

* TheJudge: Judge Hoyle, who wears his dislike for Galvin on his sleeve.

Frank Galvin is a washed-up alcoholic attorney who hasn't won a case in years and trolls for clients at funerals. His friend, Mickey Morrissey (Jack Warden), gets him a medical malpractice suit about a woman rendered comatose during surgery with a guaranteed large settlement that will let her family put her in a nursing home.

* WouldHitAGirl: Galvin, when he finds out Laura is TheMole. He punches her so hard she gets knocked to the floor. As far as we see, it's the last interaction they ever have.

** Judge Hoyle incorrectly rules that Nurse Kaitlin Costello-Price's testimony is inadmissible hearsay, though it falls under the "admissions" exception. Topping it off, the "best evidence" rule (that when witnesses testify to the content of a document, it must be produced) gets utterly bungled. The document is a photocopy that Nurse Price brings in showing that she altered an admissions form at Towler's order to cover up his negligence. To explain, the form is a ''photocopy'' of the original, and the best evidence rule requires that the original document be entered into evidence. The real problem was that the best evidence rule allows the exclusion of a copy of a writing; it does not bar a witness from testifying about what she wrote in the original document. Galvin does not even attempt to offer the document into evidence. Rather, he just asks the witness what she wrote in the document. Furthermore, there is an exception to the best evidence rule: when the original is unavailable owing to a bad act by the party against whom the copy would be offered. Here, the witness is claiming that she altered the original document under the threat of the defendant, but made a photocopy of the original before she did so. So in real life, the copy would almost certainly be admissible. As for the hearsay issue, while the admissions exception would apply to Towler's out-of-court statement to Price, the statement was not hearsay to begin with, because it was not being offered to prove the content of the statement; whether Dr. Towler would have actually had Nurse Price fired for refusing to alter the admissions form is completely irrelevant to Galvin's case. It is only hearsay when the out-of-court statement is offered as evidence for the truth of the statement. This one can probably be explained as Judge Hoyle a) blatantly favoring the defense and b) not being a very good lawyer.

* TheOner: A nearly four-minute scene without a cut or camera movement in which Galvin, panicked after his expert Dr. Gruber disappears, first calls Concannon's firm to try and get that settlement, and then starts desperately calling around for experts.

Both Tobin Bell (later of the ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'' franchise) and Creator/BruceWillis can be seen as courtroom spectators in the climactic court scenes.

* WouldHitAGirl: Galvin, when he finds out Laura is TheMole. He punches her so hard she gets knocked to the floor. As far as we see, it's the last interaction they ever have.

* DrinkOrder: Galvin always orders Bushmills.

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: The first several scenes all establish Galvin's various traits: he's a drunk who spends his time playing pinball at a bar and trolls funerals for clients, but the fact that he transfixes the regulars with a theatrical joke shows that he's got HiddenDepths.

** The defense should have been able to win at the close of Galvin's case by making a motion for "judgment as a matter of law" (i.e. the judge ruling in their favor as no rational jury could find against them). However that doesn't happen.
** Judge Hoyle incorrectly rules that Nurse Kaitlin Costello-Price's testimony is inadmissible hearsay, though it falls under the "admissions" exception. Topping it off, the "best evidence" rule (that when witnesses testify to the content of a document, it must be produced) gets utterly bungled. The document is a photocopy that Nurse Price brings in showing that she altered an admissions form at Towler's order to cover up his negligence. To explain, the form is a ''photocopy'' of the original, and the best evidence rule requires that the original document be entered into evidence. The real problem was that the best evidence rule allows the exclusion of a copy of a writing; it does not bar a witness from testifying about what she wrote in the original document. Galvin does not even attempt to offer the document into evidence. Rather, he just asks the witness what she wrote in the document. Furthermore, there is an exception to the best evidence rule: when the original is unavailable owing to a bad act by the party against whom the copy would be offered. Here, the witness is claiming that she altered the original document under the threat of the defendant, but made a photocopy of the original before she did so. So in real life, the copy would almost certainly be admissible. As for the hearsay issue, while the admissions exception would apply to Towler's out-of-court statement to Price, the statement was not hearsay to begin with, because it was not being offered to prove the content of the statement; whether Dr. Towler would have actually had Nurse Price fired for refusing to alter the admissions form is completely irrelevant to Galvin's case. It is only hearsay when the out-of-court statement is offered as evidence for the truth of the statement.
** Judge Hoyle, who was obviously in the defense's pocket, could have issued a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judgment_notwithstanding_verdict judgment notwithstanding verdict]] nullifying the jury's decision, if only Concannon had asked for it. Of course, Galvin would still have the option of appealing and getting a new trial based on the defense's misconduct in placing a mole in his office. And the longer this grinds through the courts, the more chance of the news media picking up the story, creating bad publicity for the Church.

* WouldHitAGirl: Galvin, when he finds out Laura is TheMole.

* HesBack: Galvin was a brilliant attorney prior to the evens of the film. He begins the story at rock bottom, but he returns to his former shape.

* DavidVersusGoliath: One attorney representing a small family versus a large high payed legal team payed for by the Catholic Church.

Frank Galvin is a washed-up alcoholic attorney who hasn't won a case in years and trolls for clients at funerals. His friend, Mickey Morrissey (Jack Warden), gets him a medical malpractice suit about a woman rendered comatose during surgery with a guaranteed large settlement that will let her family put her in a much better nursing home.

* TheUnreveal: The bulk of the plotline is kicked off by Galvin's decision to go to trial to get a larger settlement than the Archdiocese originally offered. While it's implied that the jury awards Galvin a larger sum than he's requesting (which is implied to be several times greater than the original offer), the film skips the scene where the jury announces the actual figure.

* DisregardThatStatement: Costello's entire testimony is thrown out on a legal technicality, and both Concannon and the judge strenuously urge the jury to forget they ever heard it. In the end, however, it's pretty clear that the jury makes their decision based ''entirely'' on that witness's testimony.

** Since Galvin had failed to communicate the Archdiocese's settlement offer to the family, he could have been sanctioned by the court for failing to communicate the settlement offer to the family, and could have additionally been held liable for malpractice. Courts have consistently held that lawyers have a duty to communicate all settlement offers to their clients before accepting or declining such offers. Galvin was not disciplined in this case, although he was confronted by his clients for not telling them about the offer of $210,000 that the Archdiocese had made.

** Judge Hoyle incorrectly rules that Nurse Kaitlin Price's testimony is inadmissible hearsay, though it falls under the "admissions" exception. Topping it off, the "best evidence" rule (that when witnesses testify to the content of a document, it must be produced) gets utterly bungled. The document is a photocopy that Nurse Price brings in showing that she altered an admissions form at Towler's order to cover up his negligence. To explain, the form is a ''photocopy'' of the original, and the best evidence rule requires that the original document be entered into evidence. The real problem was that the best evidence rule allows the exclusion of a copy of a writing; it does not bar a witness from testifying about what she wrote in the original document. Galvin does not even attempt to offer the document into evidence. Rather, he just asks the witness what she wrote in the document. Furthermore, there is an exception to the best evidence rule: when the original is unavailable owing to a bad act by the party against whom the copy would be offered. Here, the witness is claiming that she altered the original document under the threat of the defendant, but made a photocopy of the original before she did so. So in real life, the copy would almost certainly be admissible. As for the hearsay issue, while the admissions exception would apply to Towler's out-of-court statement to Price, the statement was not hearsay to begin with, because it was not being offered to prove the content of the statement; whether Dr. Towler would have actually had Nurse Price fired for refusing to alter the admissions form is completely irrelevant to Galvin's case. It is only hearsay when the out-of-court statement is offered as evidence for the truth of the statement.
** Judge Hoyle, who was obviously in the defense's pocket, could have issued a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judgment_notwithstanding_verdict judgment notwithstanding verdict]] nullifying the jury's decision, if only Concannon had asked for it. Of course, Galvin would still have the option of appealing and getting a new trial based on the defense's misconduct in placing a mole in his office.