Customer Reviews

Cape May Court House: A Death in the Night

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

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

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.

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. ...

I've had this book for over a year and just now finished it, after the 3rd time trying to read it. It is just so tedious, 90% courtroom dialogue, which is great if you want to fall asleep.

The two stars I awarded are strictly for the inherently interesting case which Schiller chose as his subject. However, his plodding style wrings the life out of the story. The key individuals never come alive--barely any physical descriptions, no photos, no enriching details. It was difficult to keep all the attorneys straight, because none was described in any fashion, and no personality traits were portrayed. I've read better written grocery lists.

...This is an UNSOLVED mystery. Of course there is no clear cut end. It is not a fairy tale. This actually happened...and no criminal charges have been filed. Lawrence Schiller's books are not for simple minds. He gives all the facts and legal surroundings and leaves it up to an educated reader to crack the case. Was it an airbag or murder?? I found the entire investigation fascinating. I can't even imagine being Ford's attorney and uncovering what Conroy did based on the experts Ford hired. I commend such fine lawyering and hats off to Schiller for having the guts to print such a controversial book.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I finished it in 4 days. The story at times seemed unbelievable as if it was fiction. I appreciated the detail of the narrative without it being too technical. I would definitely recommend this book to reading clubs so that you can debate whether it was an accident or murder.

The facts of the story are quite interesting, but there is not enough background given on the victim and her husband or enough character development of the primary characters AT ALL and no pictures of them. It's hard to find a mental picture of them too. There is just not enough here to make a book..
It seems like an magazine article blown up into a book.
It is frustrating to read. I'd like to know more background on the characters, but it is not there. I would have liked to hear from more people who actually knew the victim, the husband, and the second wife and less from the lawyers.

I read a lot of true crime, but this was absolutely the driest account of murder that I've ever read. Throughout the tedious accounts of each lawyer's actions, motions filed, and depositons taken, we learn very little. The case does not reflect any emotion; we don't care about Eric Thomas (husband of the deceased) or about his wife. The characters are never personalized. We know more about the mass of attorneys involved than we do about the people involved in the case. I would rather have read the court transcripts than the excrutiatingly detailed legwork involved in this case.

Unless you're interested in reading about the legal research involved with building a case, Save yourself some time and just read the inside flap and find something more interesting to read.

Well, if I could select "three and a half," that's what I'd give it. Very, very interesting story. But, as others have said, the writer gets bogged down in detailed timelines of court filings, depo transcripts, etc. A little of that goes a long, long way. I also agree a previous customer that I would have preferred a section of photos and/or diagrams, to make the characters more real. I was kind of frustrated at the end of the book, when so much is left unresolved. But that is why it's nonfiction! The story really IS unresolved in real life.