The Runaway Jury
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''The Runaway Jury'' is a
legal thriller The legal thriller genre is a type of crime fiction genre that focuses on the proceedings of the investigation, with particular reference to the impacts on courtroom proceedings and the lives of characters. The courtroom proceedings and legal a ...
novel written by American author
John Grisham John Ray Grisham Jr. (; born February 8, 1955 in Jonesboro, Arkansas) is an American novelist, lawyer and former member of the 7th district of the Mississippi House of Representatives, known for his popular legal thrillers. According to the Am ...
. It was Grisham's seventh novel. The hardcover first edition was published by Doubleday Books in 1996 (). Pearson Longman released the
graded reader A graded reader book is an "easy reading" book that supports the extensive reading approach to teaching English as a second or foreign language, and other languages. While many graded reader books are written for native speaker children, more ofte ...
edition in 2001 (). The novel was published again in 2003 to coincide with the release of ''
Runaway Jury ''Runaway Jury'' is a 2003 American legal thriller film directed by Gary Fleder and starring John Cusack, Gene Hackman, Dustin Hoffman, and Rachel Weisz. An adaptation of John Grisham's 1996 novel ''The Runaway Jury'', the film pits lawyer We ...
'', a movie adaptation of the novel starring
Gene Hackman Eugene Allen Hackman (born January 30, 1930) is an American retired actor and former novelist. In a career that has spanned more than six decades, Hackman has won two Academy Awards, four Golden Globes, one Screen Actors Guild Award, two BAFTAs ...
,
Dustin Hoffman Dustin Lee Hoffman (born August 8, 1937) is an American actor and filmmaker. As one of the key actors in the formation of New Hollywood, Hoffman is known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and emotionally vulnerable characters. He is th ...
,
John Cusack John Paul Cusack (; born June 28, 1966)(28 June 1996)Today's birthdays ''Santa Cruz Sentinel'', ("Actors John Cusack is 30") is an American actor, producer, screenwriter and political activist. He is a son of filmmaker Dick Cusack, and his ol ...
and
Rachel Weisz Rachel Hannah Weisz (; born 7 March 1970 ) is an English actress. She is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Rachel Weisz, various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Laurence Olivier Award, and a BAFTA Award. We ...
. The third printing () bears a movie-themed cover, in place of the covers used on the first and second printings.


Plot

Wendall Rohr and his team of
tort A tort is a civil wrong that causes a claimant to suffer loss or harm, resulting in legal liability for the person who commits the tortious act. Tort law can be contrasted with criminal law, which deals with criminal wrongs that are punishable ...
lawyers have filed suit on behalf of
plaintiff A plaintiff ( Π in legal shorthand) is the party who initiates a lawsuit (also known as an ''action'') before a court. By doing so, the plaintiff seeks a legal remedy. If this search is successful, the court will issue judgment in favor of the p ...
Celeste Wood, whose husband died of
lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissue (biology), tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from tran ...
, against the tobacco company Pynex. The trial is to be held in
Biloxi Biloxi ( ; ) is a city in and one of two county seats of Harrison County, Mississippi, United States (the other being the adjacent city of Gulfport). The 2010 United States Census recorded the population as 44,054 and in 2019 the estimated popu ...
,
Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...
, a state thought to have favorable tort laws and sympathetic
juries A jury is a sworn body of people (jurors) convened to hear evidence and render an impartial verdict (a finding of fact on a question) officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgment. Juries developed in England dur ...
. Before the jury in the Pynex trial has been sworn in, a stealth juror, Nicholas Easter, has begun to quietly connive behind the scenes, in concert with a mysterious woman known only as Marlee. Rankin Fitch, a shady "consultant" who has directed eight successful trials for the tobacco industry, has placed a camera in the courtroom in order to observe the proceedings in his office nearby, plotting many schemes to reach to the jury. He plans to get to Millie Dupree through
blackmail Blackmail is an act of coercion using the threat of revealing or publicizing either substantially true or false information about a person or people unless certain demands are met. It is often damaging information, and it may be revealed to fa ...
ing her husband through a tape that has him trying to
bribe Bribery is the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official, or other person, in charge of a public or legal duty. With regard to governmental operations, essentially, bribery is "Corr ...
an official. He gets to Lonnie Shaver by convincing a company to buy his employer and convince him through orientation. He also tries to reach Rikki Coleman through blackmail of revealing her
abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregn ...
to her husband. As the case continues, Fitch is approached by Marlee with a proposal to "buy" the verdict. Meanwhile, Easter works from the inside to gain control of the jury – being warm-hearted, sympathetic and helpful to jurors who might be won over, and rather ruthless to those who prove impervious to his efforts. Eventually, he becomes
jury foreman A jury is a sworn body of people (jurors) convened to hear evidence and render an impartial verdict (a finding of fact on a question) officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgment. Juries developed in England duri ...
after the previous one falls ill (resulting from Nicholas spiking his coffee). He also manages to hoodwink and repeatedly manipulate the judge. Meanwhile, Marlee Easter's partner/lover acts as his agent on the outside, convincing Fitch that Easter controls the jury and can deliver any verdict on demand through a series of highly secretive meetings, in which Marlee repeatedly threatens to disappear if Fitch's team attempts to track her. Marlee gives Fitch the impression that the pair's objective is purely
mercenary A mercenary, sometimes also known as a soldier of fortune or hired gun, is a private individual, particularly a soldier, that joins a military conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any o ...
– to sell the verdict to highest bidder. Still, he makes a great effort to discover her true name and antecedents to satisfy his mounting curiosity. This turns out to be extremely difficult, and the detectives employed by Fitch express their grudging respect for her skill in hiding her tracks. As the trial reaches its climax, Fitch – still in the dark about Marlee's past – agrees to her proposal to pay $10 million for a favorable verdict. Only after the money is irrevocably transferred to an
offshore account An offshore bank is a bank regulated under international banking license (often called offshore license), which usually prohibits the bank from establishing any business activities in the jurisdiction of establishment. Due to less regulation and ...
do the detectives discover the truth: Marlee is in fact an anti-smoking activist whose parents both died from smoking. Thus, Fitch realizes that he lost Pynex's $10 million in addition to having lost the trial. Inside the closed jury room, Easter convinces the jury to find for the plaintiff and make a large monetary award – $2 million in
compensatory damages At common law, damages are a remedy in the form of a monetary award to be paid to a claimant as compensation for loss or injury. To warrant the award, the claimant must show that a breach of duty has caused foreseeable loss. To be recognised at ...
, and $400 million in
punitive damages Punitive damages, or exemplary damages, are damages assessed in order to punish the defendant for outrageous conduct and/or to reform or deter the defendant and others from engaging in conduct similar to that which formed the basis of the lawsuit. ...
. While not able to sway the entire jury, Easter gets nine out of twelve jurors to back him – sufficient for a valid verdict in a
civil case - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil acti ...
. Pynex and its defense lawyers are devastated. In the
Cayman Islands The Cayman Islands () is a self-governing British Overseas Territory—the largest by population in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located to the ...
, Marlee
short-sell In finance, being short in an asset means investing in such a way that the investor will profit if the value of the asset falls. This is the opposite of a more conventional "long" position, where the investor will profit if the value of the ...
s the tobacco companies' stocks and makes an enormous gain on the original $10 million. Easter quickly disappears from Biloxi and leaves the US. While Easter and Marlee are now wealthy and satisfied that they served justice, the tobacco industry, once undefeatable, are now vulnerable to an avalanche of additional lawsuits. The book closes with Marlee returning the initial $10 million bribe to Fitch, having almost doubled the money on the
derivatives market The derivatives market is the financial market for derivatives, financial instruments like futures contracts or options, which are derived from other forms of assets. The market can be divided into two, that for exchange-traded derivatives an ...
, and warning Fitch that she and Easter will always be watching. She explains that she had no intention to steal or lie, and that she cheated only because, "That was all your client understood."


List of major characters

Wendall Rohr: A successful tort lawyer who sues big corporations. He tried the case in his home state of Mississippi. Durwood Cable: The main defense lawyer. Rival and sometimes friend of Wendall Rohr. Rankin Fitch: A "consultant" for the "Big Four" tobacco companies. Directed eight trials, engineered two mistrials. Known for using unethical schemes to win the trials. Nicholas Easter: The decisive juror of the trial. Real name is Jeff Kerr. Also had identifications of David Lancaster and Perry Hirsch; used to try to enter previous cases, but failed. Had two years of law school before he met Marlee. Marlee: The girlfriend and outside contact of Nicholas Easter. Real name is Gabrielle Brant. Parents died due to smoking. Has since meeting Jeff Kerr, schemed to follow and benefit from tobacco litigation. Frederick Harkin: The judge in the case ''Wood v. Pynex'' Loreen Duke: Black female juror. Divorced with two children. Voted for plaintiff. Angel Weese: Fellow black female juror. Boyfriend is Derrick Maples, who was bribed by Rohr to try to convince Angel to vote for plaintiff. Although this attempt was unsuccessful, she nevertheless voted for plaintiff. Lonnie Shaver: Black male juror. Manager of supermarket, later convinced by new employer to vote for defense. Employer was friend of one of the tobacco companies. Stella Hulic: Obnoxious white female social climber. Later got removed due to being followed by tobacco company. However, it was actually Marlee who phoned Stella and stated that the tobacco companies followed her. Frank Herrera: Retired white male colonel. Later removed for having unauthorized materials. Those materials were actually planted by Nicholas secretly to have Herrera, a pro-defense juror and very antagonistic to Nicholas, removed. Herman Grimes: The previous white blind male foreman. Very neutral, follows judge's orders very devotedly. Removed due to a sudden illness on the final morning of the trial. This illness was secretly created by Nicholas through drugging Herman.


Critical reception

''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' wrote: "The story's suspense builds like that of a lengthening cigarette ash that refuses to drop off. And the plot's eventual outcome is far more entertainingly unpredictable than anything Mr. Grisham has done before." The ''
Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...
'' wrote that "the guts of the book is the cat-and-mouse game played by Marlee, Easter and Fitch, and it is probably Grisham's best storytelling to date."


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Runaway Jury, The 1996 American novels Novels by John Grisham Legal thriller novels American novels adapted into films Novels set in Mississippi Biloxi, Mississippi