Cape May Court House: A Death in the Night [Hardcover]

Lawrence Schiller (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 17, 2002

No one in Cape May Court House, New Jersey, was surprised when Eric Thomas, a popular young local doctor, sued the Ford Motor Company for the wrongful death of his pregnant wife, Tracy. After all, the accident they were involved in was minor, and they were driving a big, powerful Explorer, a family vehicle. Nevertheless, Tracy died in the accident, leaving behind not just her husband but also her cherished young daughter, Alix, whom Eric Thomas would have to raise alone, with the help of Tracy's devoted parents, Doris and Donald Rose.

Backed by the medical examiner's findings, Dr. Thomas's lawsuit claimed that the Explorer's air bag inflated improperly, causing injuries that resulted in Tracy's suffocation. But what starts out as a simple product-liability case rapidly evolves into something altogether different when, after an exhaustive investigation, Ford alleges that Tracy Thomas died not from a defective air bag, but as the result of manual strangulation. Before long, the defendant, the giant automaker Ford, becomes a de facto prosecutor and plaintiff Eric Thomas, who was a passenger in the Explorer, stands accused of the murder of his wife.

Investigative journalist Lawrence Schiller, bestselling author of American Tragedy and Perfect Murder, Perfect Town, now turns his unflinching eye on this unusual case and, as only he can, creates a page-turning suspense story and a gripping legal thriller. Taking us behind the scenes, Schiller exposes the tactics used by the attorneys on both sides of this civil suit and uncovers the lie that eventually torpedoes one party's case.

Was Tracy Thomas killed in a car accident, or was the accident a cover-up for her murder at the hands of her ambitious young husband? In Cape May Court House, Lawrence Schiller gives you more than enough evidence to be judge and jury.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In his latest, Schiller, who has previously written bestsellers on the JonBenet Ramsey and O.J. Simpson cases (American Tragedy, etc.), offers a no-frills narrative: no character development, no background and no resolution. It's a just-the-facts account that, nevertheless, keeps the pages turning. The question of whether or not a crime has actually been committed drives the narrative. Late one winter night in 1997, Eric Thomas, a dentist, and his wife, Tracy, were found in a car crash on a New Jersey highway; Tracy, pregnant, was dead in the driver's seat. The medical examiner determined that the airbag in the Ford Explorer caused her death, and Thomas brought a suit against Ford. But there are some disturbing questions: Why, before going on a vacation with her husband, had Tracy told her mother, "if anything happens to me," her mother should take Tracy's daughter, Alix, to her home? Why did Thomas go on several unexplained trips after his wife's death? And there were no prior cases on record of air-bag asphyxiation. Based on the report of its own forensic expert, Dr. Michael Bader, and their discovery that Thomas had been having an affair just before the accident, Ford accused Thomas of strangling his wife to death. Was this, as Thomas's lawyers claimed, a case of a huge corporation throwing its weight against a bereaved individual? Or was it, as Ford's lawyers said, a case of murder disguised as an accident? Much of the narrative consists of legal battles over discovery and pretrial motions and extracts from Thomas's and others' depositions, and it is compelling, though Thomas (who did not grant Schiller interviews) remains a frustrating cipher.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

A journalist, award-winning filmmaker, and best-selling author, Schiller would seem to have the imagination to take on this case. When Dr. Eric Thomas sues Ford after his wife dies in an auto accident, apparently because of a faulty airbag, the company countersues claiming that Thomas actually murdered her.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Harper Collins; 1 edition (September 17, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 006000665X
• ISBN-13: 978-0060006655
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,459,065 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This fascinating story will turn readers into detectives, October 29, 2002

By 

Bookreporter (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cape May Court House: A Death in the Night (Hardcover)

In an America fascinated, intrigued and frustrated by its legal system, Lawrence Schiller is one of the countries most knowledgeable and sage observers. He has written about O.J. Simpson, Jon Benet Ramsey and master spy Robert Hannsen. He frequently appears on television talk shows discussing the law and its intricate maneuvers. He is a man who understands and appreciates the operation of the American legal system. In CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE: A Death in the Night, Schiller presents a view of the legal system from a perspective distinctively different from most readers have experienced. The legal system presented in CAPE MAY COURTHOUSE lacks the notoriety and glamour of previous cases that Schiller has examined. The case studied is neither a major crime nor a front-page saga. The absence of these elements, however, does not detract from a fascinating and thought provoking story that will leave readers with many unanswered questions when they reach the end of the book.

CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE refers not to the locale of the litigation that forms the basis for Schiller's narrative. Rather, it is the New Jersey community where Eric and Tracy Thomas reside at the time of Tracy's tragic and soon to be suspicious death. The Thomas family had moved to the community after Eric purchased a medical practice and began his career as a dentist. To the residents of the community, the young doctor and his wife, pregnant with the couple's second child, gave the appearance of the perfect young married family. Tragedy would soon enter their lives when Tracy died after the family's Ford Explorer goes off the road in what appears initially to be a minor accident.

Early investigation of the death of Tracy Thomas implied that her death resulted from the improper inflation of the air bag in the Ford Explorer. The inquiry by the medical examiner determined that improper operation of the bag resulted in Tracy's suffocation. As any observer of the American legal system would expect, this information resulted in a civil lawsuit for wrongful death filed against Ford Motor Company and other defendants. Up to this point in the narrative, the Thomas story does not differ from hundreds of thousands of civil lawsuits filed and ultimately resolved in thousands of law offices and courthouses across America.

Civil litigation commences with a process referred to as discovery. Parties to lawsuits are entitled to investigate the claims of their opponents and are obligated to exchange information concerning the litigation. In many complex cases the discovery process can take several years that are often brutal and financially taxing. This process can often determine the outcome of the litigation. During the discovery phase of the Thomas litigation, evidence came to light suggesting that Tracy Thomas' death was anything but an unfortunate accident. Schiller recounts the detection of this critical information in a neutral and detached manner. Using the legal arguments, strategy and news media accounts as an underpinning, he involves the reader in an attempt to answer questions surrounding the death that occurred on that winter evening in 1997.

CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE lacks the definitive denouement that most readers have grown to expect in actual litigation. There is no jury verdict in either a civil or criminal case to bring closure to the fateful events that led to the death of Tracy Thomas. At the end of this book many questions remain unanswered. As a result, the reader may find himself disappointed. Yet, more often than not, that is the actual outcome of litigation. Many cases end leaving both sides with concerns and unanswered questions. Lawrence Schiller has reported the facts of this case as an observer rather than as an advocate. While he may be uncertain as to what transpired in the village of Cape May Court House, he is more than willing to let the reader come to his own conclusion based upon the information he furnishes. Those individuals who enjoy a real life mystery, unencumbered by emotional baggage, will enjoy reading this book and attempting to solve the unanswered questions in the same manner as those parties involved in the death of Tracy Thomas.

--- Reviewed by Stuart Shiffman

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Cape May Courthouse: A Death in the Night, December 29, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Cape May Court House: A Death in the Night (Hardcover)

This is a story about greed and stupidity. A New Jersey
dentist files a wrongful death suit against Ford Motor Company for himself and his minor daughter alleging that a defective, overly aggresive airbag caused his wife's death in a minor, low impact collision with a utility pole. He is a passenger in the front seat of the vehicle at the time. The dentist is able to find a New Jersey attorney who advances $426,000 of his law firm's monies for costs and expert witness fees in expectation
of recovering a substantial contingent fee, from a settlement or jury verdict, before he learns that the dentist has lied to him about certain critical facts which severely jeopardizes his case.

There is a bumbling police and medical examiner's investigation into the wife's death. The wife's family is so suspicious of the circumstances surrounding the accident that they contact the local prosecutor's office which declines to prosecute. Then, in the course of the litigation, Ford spends
hundreds of thousands of dollars during discovery to hire numerous of the world's greatest experts and investigates almost every aspect of the dentist's life because it is also suspicious of the circumstances of the accident, so much so that Ford's attorneys also contact the local prosecutor's office, which again declines to prosecute.

The dentist's attorney hires numerous expert to contradict Ford's experts. The million dollar question is did the dentist's wife die of strangulation or of an airbag injury?

This book essentially offers a chronology of the legal proceedings, intersparsed with newspaper stories about the case,
and offers a glimpse of the strategy and tactics of the Ford attorneys during the case. But there is very little insight into the thinking of the dentist's attorney who is hoodwinked into
investing $426,000 and 7,500 hours of uncompensated time in a client who has lied to him about substantial facts and yet is able to state incredibily that: "I am not bitter but I am terribly disappointed."

You will enjoy this book if you are interested in reading about how the zealousness of a personal injury plaintiff's attorney, in an effort to collect a substantial contingent fee,
can cause him to be blinded, duped and taken advantage of by an untruthful client.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "A Bad Truth is Better Than a Good Lie", October 14, 2002

By 

TundraVision (o/~ from the Land of Sky Blue Waters o/~) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cape May Court House: A Death in the Night (Hardcover)

Six months pregnant, Tracy Thomas died in an accident in her Ford Explorer on February 9, 1997, when she was suffocated by an over-zealous air-bag. Or was this a products liability accident at all? Tracy's dentist husband, Eric, had Double Indemnity accidental life insurance on her ($400,000 worth.) He had a hot and heavy relationship with his former high school sweetheart, whom he married as soon as her divorce became final after Tracy's "accident." Then Eric got really greedy and sued Ford Motor Corporation, alleging THEY killed Tracy. Ford was not amused and did not "roll over" this time.

Lawrence Schiller, another member of the OJ "True Crime" writers association, has written a fascinating account of the goings-on in around the town of Cape May Court House, New Jersey. Unfortunately, Mr. Schiller eschews photographs a la Joseph Wanbaugh. C'mon guys! Let us SEE the people you are talking about. The "Grandaddy" of the Genre, Truman Capote, added to his bleak tale of the Kansas Clutter family by including pictures of the players, and you should too!

The end of this book is really no end. ...