L.A. Law (TV Series)

Hello and Goodbye (1993)

Annie Corley: Phyllis Wodjack

Quotes 

• Gordon Reeve : About 7:00 that night, Bill Collins called the newsroom.

  Phyllis Wodjack : Did you know who he was?

  Gordon Reeve : Sure. After the trademark closing, Collin was all over the airwaves, giving speeches. A lot of people knew who he was.

  Phyllis Wodjack : What did Mr. Collins say on the phone?

  Gordon Reeve : He said he was gonna set himself on fire in front of the Trademark building, to protest American jobs going overseas. He said, "Send a camera."

  Phyllis Wodjack : And what did you do?

  Gordon Reeve : First, I called the police. Then I told my Station Manager, Eric Simms, and he said, "Cover it."

  Phyllis Wodjack : What happened when you got to the Trademark building?

  Gordon Reeve : I didn't see anything at first. But, uh, as soon as I set down my equipment, Collins walked out of the alley carrying a can of gasoline, stood on the sidewalk, said he was gonna kill himself. I asked him why. He said, "Turn on the camera and I'll tell you."

  Phyllis Wodjack : What happened next?

  Gordon Reeve : I did what he said. I was, I'm... expecting the cops to show.

  Phyllis Wodjack : And what happened after you began rolling the camera?

  Gordon Reeve : Collins made a speech, poured gasoline on himself, and then he lit a match.

  Phyllis Wodjack : You have no regrets about your actions that day?

  Gordon Reeve : Do I second-guess myself? Sure. I feel for Bill Collins... and his family. But who's to say that he died in vain? After what he did, Trademark scratched plans to close that Anaheim plant.

  Melina Paros : Objection. Speculation.

  Judge Richard Lobel : Sustained.

  Phyllis Wodjack : Mr. Reeve, do you feel responsible for Bill Collins' death?

  Gordon Reeve : Over 19 years as a cameraman, I've seen a lot of tragedy. I've seen, uh, soldiers blown up by grenades. I've seen, uh, children starving.

  [sighs] 

  Gordon Reeve : I, uh, I just photograph these things. I don't cause them.

  Phyllis Wodjack : Thank you. Nothing further, Your Honor.

• [Back here in is the Los Angeles Courthouse in Los Angeles. The testimony continues crossing the examination is Eric Simms, Station Manager of KINX News] 

  Phyllis Wodjack : Mr. Simms, as Station Manager of KINX News, have you set a policy governing the way that your reporters cover the news?

  Eric Simms : Yes. We tell our people to get as close as possible to the event, without breaking the law, of course.

  Phyllis Wodjack : Did Mr. Reeve conform to station policy when covering the self-immolation of Mr. Collins?

  Eric Simms : Yes.

  Phyllis Wodjack : Assisting a suicide is against the law, isn't it?

  Eric Simms : Gordon didn't assist a suicide. He didn't pour the gasoline. He didn't offer a match. He was there to record an event.

  Phyllis Wodjack : How do you respond to the plaintiff's charge that the very act of videotaping encouraged Mr. Collins to kill himself?

  Eric Simms : We've been hit with these charges before. During the riots, we were accused of fermenting the looting, simply because we showed pictures of people looting. But that doesn't change the fact that what was happening was news.

  Phyllis Wodjack : But you could be selective in what stories you pursue.

  Eric Simms : Editorial decisions shouldn't be made by courts. Start telling us what we can and can't cover, and that's the slippery slope to tyranny.

  Phyllis Wodjack : Thank you. Your witness.

• [Here at the witness room. Melina and her plaintiff Belinda Collins sitting quietly. Coming from outside, Phyllis Wodjack and her two defendants Gordon Reeve and Eric Simms has arrived at the witness room, have a seat, talk, and make the offer] 

  Melina Paros : What's your offer?

  Phyllis Wodjack : Mr. Collins made 40,000 a year when he was let go. Assuming he remained healthy, he had another 10 years of earnings. Add loss of love and affection, we're round it up to 500,000, present value of 385.

  Melina Paros : Belinda?

  Belinda Collins : Okay. On one condition. I want you to go on TV and take responsibility for what you did. I want you to say that what you did was immoral.

  Eric Simms : Mrs. Collins, I can't allow Gordon to do that, even if he wanted. We'd be inviting lawsuits from every person who didn't like what we put on the air.

  Belinda Collins : Then I reject your offer.

  [Belinda declines the offer. Phyllis Wodjack is taking Eric Simms outside and leave. While Melina is outside the witness room, waiting for Belinda, but Gordon Reeve want to owe Belinda an apology of how Gordon feel, ashamed and terrible about what happened to Belinda's late husband Bill Collins] 

  Gordon Reeve : Mrs. Collins, I want you to know that. I feel terrible about what happened to your husband, and if I had it to do over... I wish I had done something.

  Belinda Collins : Why didn't you say that under oath?

  [Belinda is leaving with Melina and Gordon will be alone] 

• Melina Paros : [Ms. Paros prepares the closing argument]  Gordon Reeve says that taking pictures of a distraught man burning himself to death is all in a day's work. "I'm a journalist," he says, "No blood on my hands." But Mr. Reeve crossed the line. Not only of responsible journalism but of human decency and the law. Why? Violence sells. Now, Bill Collins may have thought that he was dying for a purpose, but the only purpose that Mr. Reeve and his station had in mind was winning higher ratings. If you think that their actions were a substantial cause of Mr. Collins' self-immolation, then you must find Mr. Reeve and KINX responsible for contributing to his suicide. Thank you.

  [Ms. Paros heads back to her seat. And the opposing counsel Ms. Wodjack's turn to prepare for closing] 

  Phyllis Wodjack : That video... is excruciating to watch. But it happened. And it was news. And every station in this town, every network ran that tape. It's estimated 20 million people saw the footage. Now, maybe you think that Gordon Reeve is an awful person because he didn't stop somebody from killing himself. But under the law, he had no duty to rescue Bill Collins from himself. His duty as a journalist was to photograph the event. And to say Bill Collins wouldn't have killed himself if my client had capped his lens is rank speculation. And believe me, if Gordon Reeve had refused to run his camera, Bill Collins would have found another reporter who would have gladly covered the story.

  [Ms. Wodjack turned to plaintiff Belinda Collins] 

  Phyllis Wodjack : This is tragic news. Yes, I grant you that. But don't make the mistake of blaming the messenger.

  [Ms. Wodjack is finished with the closing and head back to her seat] 

• [Here at the courthouse] 

  Melina Paros : And when did your late husband go into his depression?

  Belinda Collins : Last year. After Trademark Tools moved their manufacturing plant to Taiwan. After 23 years as a die-maker, he was on the street, along with 50 other machinists.

  Melina Paros : Please go on.

  Belinda Collins : He felt tremendous guilt. As a worker's rep, he helped management to keep Trademark non-union in return for the assurance that their jobs would be secure. And after the shutdown, he... he became obsessed with how he'd been lied to. He wrote letters constantly to congressman, magazines, "60 Minutes." He believed that what happened to Trademark was symbolic of what's wrong in this country, with companies selling out their workers and shipping jobs overseas. He wanted his story to be heard. No one was interested.

  Phyllis Wodjack : Objection. We don't know the state of the decedent's mind. This is sure speculation.

  Judge Richard Lobel : I'll allow it.

  Belinda Collins : By staging this, uh... spectacle, my late husband was crying out for help. But he never would have gone through with it had it not been for the cooperation of Gordon Reeve.

  Phyllis Wodjack : Your Honor...

  Judge Richard Lobel : Mrs. Collins, while you're on the witness stand, you will limit your comments to questions posed by the attorneys, understood?

  [Belinda nodded] 

  Judge Richard Lobel : The jury will disregard Mrs. Collins' outburst.

  Melina Paros : Nothing further. Thank you.

• Phyllis Wodjack : Mrs. Collins, were you aware in advance of your husband's preoccupation with his suicide?

  Belinda Collins : I knew he was troubled.

  Phyllis Wodjack : On November 2nd, 3 days before his suicide, didn't you tell a county mental health worker that you were afraid your husband might harm himself?

  Belinda Collins : Yes, I called Social Services.

  Phyllis Wodjack : Do you wish you'd done more to prevent your husband's death?

  Belinda Collins : Of course. But I didn't know what he was planning.

  Phyllis Wodjack : And you honestly believe that my client's photographing of your husband's suicide influenced his decision to go through with it?

  Belinda Collins : Bill told your client that he wanted to send a message. Your client was the messenger. If he'd refused, he would not have done it.

  Phyllis Wodjack : Well, you may feel that way, Mrs. Collins, but isn't it possible that your husband would have killed anyway even if my client had never turned his camera on?

  Belinda Collins : Gordon Reeve should have done something. He was only 6 ft. away? Filming? When my husband doused himself with gasoline...

  Phyllis Wodjack : Mrs. Collins.

  Belinda Collins : ...and then lit a match!

  Phyllis Wodjack : Your Honor.

  Belinda Collins : And then he burned!

  [Sobbing] 

  Belinda Collins : And he burned!

  Judge Richard Lobel : Mrs. Collins.

  Belinda Collins : ...until... How could you?

  Judge Richard Lobel : Mrs. Collins, please.

  Belinda Collins : How could you stand there and not do something? I...

  Judge Richard Lobel : Mrs. Collins, that's enough.

  Belinda Collins : [Belinda speaks quietly]  How could you.

  Phyllis Wodjack : Nothing further.

• Phyllis Wodjack : Your Honor, I renew my objection. This tape is prejudicial...

  Judge Richard Lobel : I've made my ruling, Miss Wodjack. Proceed, Ms. Paros.

  Bill Collins : [Bill Collins making messages, seen on the videotape footage]  The board of directors at Trademark treat the American worker like slave labor. When are the CEO's of this country gonna learn? Sending American jobs to a Third World is creating a Third World right here in the United States! Did you hear that?

  Gordon Reeve : Got it!

  [But pause the videotape] 

  Melina Paros : Mr. Reeve, do you think that by affirming that Mr. Collins' message was heard, you encouraged his suicide?

  Gordon Reeve : He asked me a question, I replied. I didn't encourage him.

  [Continue playing videotape footage. Bill pours a can of gas all over by himself. Belinda watched her late husband on the screen. Miss Paros watched. Ms. Wodjack is watching] 

  Bill Collins : You ready?

  Gordon Reeve : I'm rolling!

  [pause the videotape] 

  Melina Paros : Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't you just green light a suicide?

  Gordon Reeve : No. I didn't tell him to do anything.

  Melina Paros : A man drenched in gasoline, holding a match, asks you if you're ready, and you answer affirmatively. You don't call that encouragement?

  Gordon Reeve : I just told him I was rolling. What he did was up to him.

  [Continues playing a footage, Bill lights the match and throws it to the ground and Bill Collins was burned himself to death. Belinda was sobbing and lost her husband. Bill screaming. Members of the Jury find out. Bill continues screaming to his death of immolation on fire]