Teaser

A normal lunch time at a high school. Folks are sitting, dining and chatting. Suddenly, gun shots ring out in the distance. It’s followed by a scream. As the gunshots get closer and the screams get louder, the students slowly lose their grip. One child runs out into the hallway, and we see the shooters—two teenagers dressed all in black, carrying high-caliber weaponry. A shot rings out and the child we’ve been following falls to the floor, dead. As more shots ring out, we smash cut to credits

Act 1

Amanda’s office at the DCFS—Amanda and Alice are sitting, watching television coverage of the shooting. The newscaster announces that they’ve now identified the shooter as Michael Garabal, 16, a student at the school, who ended the rampage by taking his own life. Amanda panics. She recognizes the name and frantically punches it in to her computer. She curses under her breath as the computer pulls up his name —the case was assigned to her. As Amanda franticly.

A few days later--The main reception area of the DCFS. A young man walks in to the building and asks who will accept service of process on behalf of the DCFS. The receptionist calls Terrence, who comes out, signs some papers and the camera follows him back to the office. He calls Jack and says “we’ve got a problem.”

Meeting in Jack’s office. Terrence explains that the DCFS has been named as a defendant in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the parents of Pamela Norton, a teenage who was killed in the school shooting. They’re claiming that the DCFS owes a duty of care to the people of the city, as established in its charter, and that by failing to investigate and terminate custody of Michael Garabal, there was a breach of that duty, causing harm to their child. In preparation for the next stage of litigation, Terrence says that he wants to have Amanda and Alice deposed by the parents’ attorney, so that the DCFS can rely on their testimony. Amanda and Alice both agree to be deposed.

Act 2

Amanda’s deposition, in an anonymous conference room at a law firm a few weeks later. The parents’ attorney begins to query her. Amanda, under pressure, claims that she’s never seen the Garabal file, but admits it was assigned to her. The parents’ attorney notes that he has asked Amanda and the DCFS to look for the Garabal file. Amanda admits she couldn’t find it when they were looking for it. The attorney gets Amanda to admit that she feels overburdened and has sometimes disagreed with Jack’s orders, and closes the deposition. Terrence and Amanda walk out of the office building and Terrence clams down Amanda—he notes that she told the truth—and that’s what she was supposed to do.

Alice’s deposition—the same conference room, a few days later. At first, Alice steadfastly refuses to give her opinion about Michael Garabal, noting that she never had any opportunity to examine him. The parents’ attorney then begins to couch his questions as hypotheticals about a clearly deeply troubled boy that are taken from Michael’s own life. Terrence objects to the hypothetical questions, but doesn’t instruct Alice not to answer the questions. The parents’ attorney gets Alice to admit that in a hypothetical situation similar to Michael’s, she would have found there were psychological problems involved, and would probably have suggested termination of custody and institutionalization.

Act 3

A courtroom—the judge is hearing arguments on the motion to dismiss—the courtroom is a media circus. The bailiff calls the case and notes he’ll now hear oral argument on the motion to dismiss. Terrence says he’ll waive his right to make initial argument and will only respond to the arguments made opposing their motion. The parents’ attorney gets up as the flashbulbs in the courtroom flicker and snap. He projects on the screen in the courtroom a giant picture of the young girl who we watched die in the opening credits—this is Pamela Norton. He delivers a heartfelt argument full of rage, pointing out that no one can challenge that the DCFS made a mistake—they lost the file, and their own psychologist admits that had she known about the situation, she would have moved to terminate custody. A mistake was made and it caused Pamela Norton to die—someone should pay that mistake, and the DCFS can and should. He sits down

Terrence calmly approaches the podium, clears his throat, and begins to speak.

TERRENCE

I’m not going to question anything Mr. Peatron just said. Nor could I. He’s completely right. What happened that day was an outrage and I’m offended by it. The the DCFS make mistakes? I work there every day, and I know we did, and we still do on a daily basis. And that’s why there’s law called state immunity. The DCFS is filled with people who are doing the best they can, and state immunity protects them. You’ll notice Mr. Peatron didn’t say anything about the law. There’s a reason for that. The law is indisputably against him on this point. Perhaps he’s right as a matter of morality. But the law doesn’t enforce morality. Nor can it. There’s a saying: “When the law is on your side, pound the law. When the facts are on your side, pound the facts. When neither is on your side, pound the table.” Mr. Peatron’s done an exemplary job of pounding the facts and pounding the table. He just doesn’t have the law. And he knows it. That’s enough to grant the motion.

At the end of Terrence’s argument, he sits down, and the judge says she’ll issue her ruling shortly.

Act 4

The courtroom—the judge is about to render her decision on the state’s motion to dismiss the counts levied against the DCFS. The court begins by noting that it find the actions of the killers repugnant, as does everyone else. The court notes that someone should compensate the families for their losses and that requiring the DCFS to compensate the families is an appealing option—there’s no question that the DCFS did not do all it could to prevent this horrendous event. Had the DCFS focused on the reports that they had received concerning these children rather than on the DCFS’s cause of the week, this tragedy might have been prevented. Unfortunately, it wasn’t. The judge goes on to explain that even though the parents have made out a straight case for the DCFS’s liability, the doctrine of sovereign immunity serves as a complete bar to the action against the DCFS and orders the action dismissed. The courtroom erupts in chaos as the media runs out to report the verdict.

Terrence returns to the office and comes to Jack’s office.

TERRENCE

We won.

JACK

I heard.

TERRENCE

You know there’s going to be pressure.

JACK

I know. I’m ready. There’s a press conference at three. I’d watch.

Terrence drops by Amanda’s office carrying a file. He drops it on her desk, saying he found it in a conference room a few minutes ago. Amanda takes a look at it—it’s the Michael Garabal file that was lost.

AMANDA

You had it?

TERRENCE

I said I found it in a conference room. (dryly) Don’t know what it was doing there.

AMANDA

Had that file been found, it might have proved that someone here was paying attention.

TERRENCE

Or it might not have. Let’s not ask questions that we don’t know the answer to.

An awkward pause.

TERRENCE (cont’d)

There’s a press conference at three. I’d watch.

In front of the DCFS office, Jack is reading a statement. Standing behind him is Terrence.

JACK

Today’s decision is correct under the law. The DCFS cannot be held liable for acts such as this—I can only imagine what the result would be if people could sue the government willy-nilly for whatever they thought it did wrong. However, something did go wrong at the DCFS. I was brought in here to guarantee accountability. I’ve failed. For that reason, I am resigning as director of the DCFS, effective immediately. I would not do this if I weren’t confident in the person who will serve as my interim replacement. Ladies and gentlemen, Terrence McKittridge has made a career of protecting this city’s children and youth. He has spent nearly 30 years at the DCFS, first as a caseworker, now as senior investigatory counsel. To his great credit, he has agreed to take on this position on an interim basis. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Terrence McKittridge

Applause from the press. Terrence agrees to take questions, and as he calls on the first reporter, slyly smiling, we

FADE TO CREDITS—END OF SEASON