New Gods of North America.

Chapter 365 Changes
A few days later,

Wayne was basically busy looking for defense attorneys and witnesses.

The housing prices in Georgeburg are relatively clear, and the amount of compensation can be roughly estimated. It is normal for it to be high or low, but the price of townhouses cannot suddenly deviate by a large margin.
The local exorcism department has made it clear that they will not intervene in this matter. After all, they did not intervene at the time. There will be people from the police station testifying in court, but they will also have an attitude of "telling the truth" - for Wayne, this is enough.

If we only talk about the lawsuit itself, even if the detective agency loses, the amount of compensation it needs to pay is just a small amount, which is not a big deal.

But the reputation of "threatening ordinary citizens" is something that the detective agency does not want to be associated with at all.

According to the information Seth had gathered from the "people" he had "known" before, some reports were actually "ready to go out".
One of the reports Wayne got was quite sensational, with the title "Behind the fame, the true face of Wayne National Detective Agency".
Not only do they intend to use this lawsuit to make a fuss, they also imply that some previous news reports were actually the result of journalists being bribed or coerced.

Ok,

From a practical point of view, "outsiders" are more likely to be bullied in this regard in the Commonwealth of America.

Reports on the "ignition" had already begun to appear in the newspapers.

Wayne saw an article today. The wording at this time was still relatively subtle, using a relatively "rational", "neutral" and "objective" tone.

For example, it lists some of the detective agency's previously reported deeds, and then leaves a question, "Is this lawsuit a misunderstanding, or is it the tip of the iceberg that has finally attracted people's attention?"

A trivial matter becomes a hot search.
Do you really think no one can tell that someone is buying traffic?

After becoming a party to a lawsuit, many things have to be avoided temporarily.
For example, trying to use one's own influence to change the opinions of certain reporters or jury members is a high-risk operation for the detective agency at this time. If successful, it may be able to eliminate some negative impacts, but if it fails, it will be accused of hindering "freedom of speech" and "judicial justice."

“Outsiders” can’t do this easily.

Wayne remembered that Ian Fisk had asked the female reporter named Freddie Lowndes about the incident, and when he went to visit Miss Olivia, he specifically asked about the follow-up.
Miss Olivia said that the female reporter seemed to have been employed by the Fisk family, but her specific whereabouts had to be found out by someone else.

Wayne guessed that the other party might have changed his address, so he did not write to him directly, but he still asked Miss Olivia to find out the other party's current contact information.

Let’s let these local reporters see what it means to be a “professional”.

The defense lawyer finally chosen by the detective agency was the novice lawyer recommended by the "Pointed Hat Society" fraternity.
A "big lawyer" who has a deep cooperative relationship with the Fisk family is not someone that Miss Olivia can easily appoint. It would certainly be possible for Miss Olivia to use her own "favors" to ask for help, but that would seem a bit too much trouble.

Judging from Cohen Pharmaceuticals' current style, there might be some trouble in the future, so it's better to keep it in mind just in case.

Wayne even went to the landlord's place. He wanted to pay the rent according to the market price, so that he would not be accused of forcibly occupying other people's property.

The landlord still declined, saying that after Ian Fisk and Miss Olivia heard about this matter, they came to visit him specially, which made him feel very honored and that the money was a small matter.

Well, Southerners still have their stubborn but lovely side.
At least the people I know in Blackrock Town probably wouldn't refuse money for this kind of thing. This is certainly related to the amount itself, but it's more likely that the underlying concepts are different.

After finishing these things,
The people from Cohen Pharmaceuticals came to the door again soon.

The person who came this time was not the "big lawyer" from last time, but a guy I didn't know and whose name I had never heard of.
Compared to the last time, the contract included additional clauses proposed by Wayne.

But it is added in the opposite way: the detective agency "is obliged to provide sufficient manpower to ensure that basic security needs can be met. At least five security teams can be dispatched at the same time, and the number of people in each team should not be less than six. If there is a breach of contract or unexpected situation, the client has the right to deduct the corresponding amount from the total contract amount."

"Security personnel are obliged to obey and cooperate with the command of the protected target and may not interfere with the decision-making autonomy of the protected target for any reason."

It's... pretty good...

Wayne persuaded the other party with a pleasant attitude and said that he needed to consider the contract for a while.

When the weekend was approaching, the college sent Wayne a letter.
The content is mainly related to courses and dormitories.

Students in the college who were previously affected by the "food poisoning" and "arson" incidents - the murderer was naturally Mrs. LaLaurie - should return to class as soon as possible if they have recovered.

If you really can't keep up with the current courses, you can retake them in the next school year, and the college will waive the retake fee. Students who are about to graduate this school year can also choose whether to accept the work-study opportunities provided by the college, and they will be given a certain degree of care.

As for the students who previously lived in Wayne's dormitory, since the dormitory has been burned down, the dormitories will be reallocated. As compensation, the college will waive the accommodation fees for the corresponding students for the next academic year, or allow students to apply for off-campus accommodation in advance.

Wayne chose to apply for off-campus accommodation, but he planned to postpone his return to classes until after the court hearing.

Local courts are relatively efficient these days. The court session will begin next Wednesday.

The question of "how difficult are the Beyonders of the Life School to deal with" is not allowed to be said publicly, so the detective agency's defense focuses on "pre-emptive preventive measures" and "reasonableness of the compensation amount".
At first, the jury members seemed to be prejudiced against the issue of "civil organizations coercing good citizens". Fortunately, Wayne was a student in the "college", and the matter sounded reasonable.

So when the court adjourned to wait for the jury's verdict, the situation seemed to be relatively favorable for the detective agency.

As a result, the other party's lawyer made a bold move.
Chose to withdraw the lawsuit.

The mainstream legal opinion on "coercive behavior" these days is to "invalidate it." For example, if a purchase or sale is forced, the contract will be ruled invalid. The starting point is to protect the rights and interests of the weak.

The detective agency did not ask the other party to pay any additional money. On the contrary, it was the payer. There was no obvious excessive behavior and it was not within the scope of public prosecution, so the case ended quickly.

Even the novice lawyer who came to help failed to successfully accumulate the number of victories...

The other party's claims did not obviously exceed a certain amount, and the newspaper report was not directly written by the other party, so the conditions for counterclaiming "defamation" were not met.

So the matter was left unresolved, which is even more disgusting than a clear "not guilty" decision.

The next day, when Wayne read the newspaper, he saw someone trying to show off his presence again.
"The 'Wayne Detective Agency Coercion Case' was finally dropped, but was this really justified?"

The implicit meaning of the words is simply to hint that the other party's withdrawal of the lawsuit might have been due to the detective agency's secret coercion.

Wayne didn't know what other people thought.

However, the gentleman who had come to Wayne to discuss the steam train line security contract had obviously changed his attitude.
He seemed to have seen the newspaper on the way here, and felt that something that had already been decided had become "maybe some contract terms need to be reconsidered."

(End of this chapter)