The Appeal

Mississippi attorneys Wes and Mary Grace Payton have battled New York City-based Krane Chemical in an effort to seek justice for Jeannette Baker, whose husband and son died from carcinogenic pollutants that the company knowingly and negligently allowed to seep into their town's water supply. When the jury awards Baker $3 million in wrongful death damages and $38 million in punitive damages, billionaire stockholder Carl Trudeau vows to do whatever is necessary to overturn their decision and save the company's stocks.

Since Mississippi Supreme Court justices are elected rather than appointed, Trudeau plots with Barry Rinehart of Troy-Hogan, a shady Boca Raton firm that deals only in judicial elections, to select a candidate who can replace the liberal Sheila McCarthy. Their anointed candidate is Ron Fisk, a lawyer with no political experience or ambitions. He is naïve enough to be impressed by the attention shown him by his backers, and does not question his source of funding or his campaign team's underhanded tactics. Rinehart also uses Clete Coley, a clownish third party candidate, to draw support away from McCarthy and then cede it to Fisk when he eventually withdraws from the race.

Fisk defeats McCarthy and immediately votes against upholding several large settlements in cases brought before the court on appeal, and the Paytons expect he will do the same when their case comes up for review. What they do not anticipate is Fisk unexpectedly being forced to rethink his stance when his son is critically injured by a defective product and left permanently impaired by a medical error. The issue of corporate responsibility affects him and his family on a personal level. However, even though Fisk is aware that he has been used and tricked, he ultimately reverts the verdict against Krane, as he acknowledges also that changing positions due to his personal tragedy would be an act more compromising of his judicial integrity. Fisk does not immediately take legal action for what happened to his son due to fears of appearing hypocritical, but confirms a less-important verdict concerning medical neglect, implying his judicial philosophy may yet change over time. Meanwhile, stocks of Krane Chemical have plummeted after the original verdict, compounded by Trudeau's negative marketing of the company's health and finance. Trudeau secretly invested heavily while the share price was depressed, to strengthen his grasp of the company. Now, seeing a resurgence, Trudeau has increased his wealth significantly.