When a sweatshop burns down with its employees inside, Martin pushes Stark to prosecute on grounds of slavery.
When a fire breaks out in a fabric sweatshop in a Latino neighborhood in downtown Los Angeles, the workers are trapped inside. Devlin and Stark confront Mayor Delgado. Somebody has told the press that the city is bringing charges on behalf of the victims, with Stark prosecuting. Stark doesn’t want the case; they can’t win, and the LAPD has already ruled the fire an accident. Delgado has political reasons for it, and he insists, though he says he’s not the one who leaked the story. It turns out it was Martin; he leaked the story to reporter Laura Montez, who he had been dating. Stark tries to pass the case off to Martin. When he sees that Martin is truly passionate about the case, he grudgingly agrees to help.
The team goes over the case: the fire was caused by faulty electric wiring. Can they prove negligence? Casey and Poe visit the sweatshop with an OSHA inspector, who deduces that the hottest, most charred spot in the room was a stack of fabric piled against the door… leaving no way out. Raina interviews two of the survivors: Victoria Reyes and her daughter, Claudia. Claudia says the other survivors are too scared to testify. There was too much smoke for them to confirm whether the doors were blocked. They got out by smashing through a window with their bare hands. Victoria, to Claudia and Raina’s horror, wants to know if she should pay for the broken window.
Martin and Stark meet with the sweatshop’s owner, Benny Hong, and his lawyer. Martin refuses to accept a deal, to Stark’s annoyance. Instead Martin gives Hong immunity for identifying the client who pushed him to fill a huge order or risk losing their business: Pruitt Fashions. Stark tells Martin he’s fired if he loses this case. Mayor Delgado is annoyed too: Z. Pruitt is a major contributor. When Stark learns that Pruitt has hired Elliott Dasher’s firm, he suddenly has a stake in winning. He throws himself into the case, getting a Grand Jury subpoena.
The subpoena results in a roomful of boxes and boxes of Pruitt’s records. Dasher is trying to bury them in paperwork so they can’t find what they’re looking for. Stark and Poe have Martin call reporter Laura Montez, who reports that Hong has identified a Pruitt employee as a “person of interest.” In truth, Hong’s not talking. Julie and Stark watch the report at home. Stark tells Julie they had to “shade the truth.” He then coaches Julie on what to do at her disciplinary hearing regarding her plagiarism. Julie is uncomfortable.
After the TV report runs, a Pruitt employee is transferred away from LA. The team finds his files, which include an e-mail exchange that clearly shows that Hong told them that buying extra machines to fill the order would overtax the building’s capacity… and that Pruitt himself responded that the order must be met, no excuses. Pruitt is arrested. Dasher gets the e-mails ruled inadmissible when he reveals that they were blind-CC:ed to Pruitt’s attorney, thus making their use a violation of attorney-client privilege. The judge gives Stark 24 hours to come up with something they can bring to a jury, or she’ll dismiss the case.
Raina asks Martin why he’s so passionate about this case. Martin says that as a child his mother owned a mercado downtown. He used to spend most of his free time with her employees. They worked so hard, and their lives were never going to get any better. Raina mentions Victoria offering to pay for the broken window; it’s a slave mentality. Martin gets an idea. Martin wants to bring a slavery charge; sure they were free to quit, but if they did they’d starve. Their free will was intentionally and systematically broken. Stark is incredulous. He tells Martin to argue the complaint’s amendment. Martin is nervous about public speaking, but Stark tells him to suck it up. He does, and with a little help from Stark, the judge accepts the amendment.
Raina and Stark interview Claudia and Victoria again. Victoria says she won’t go to court, and keeps making excuses for Hong about their work conditions. Claudia implores her mother not to defend him, and tells them they were worked nearly to death. That night Julie tells Stark she’s been let off with a warning. She said everything he told her to say. She’s relieved, but she’s not proud. Their conversation is interrupted when Martin and Raina knock on the door. Stark tries to get rid of them, but Julie sighs that it’s fine, and goes to her room. Martin and Raina tell Stark that Victoria and Claudia have left for Mexico. Word got out that they were going to testify, and they could no longer get work.
In court Martin puts Prof. Emily Chambers on the stand, an African-American woman who has written several books on the working poor. She testifies that the survivors of the fire she’s spoken to have all exhibited symptoms of slave psychosis: limited self-awareness, subservience, and absence of free will. Dasher establishes that she never visited the sweatshop itself, and only interviewed two people. Next, Z. Pruitt testifies that he had no idea about the conditions at the sweatshop. Stark tells the jury that Pruitt made $30 million last year. If he had used even just $5 million of that to help his workers, he could have doubled all their salaries and improved working conditions.
That night Martin arrives, and takes Stark out to the best burger place in town: in downtown LA, near where he grew up. While they eat they see what Martin wanted Stark to see: the shift change at a sweatshop across the street… legions of exhausted women, filing in and out. In court the next day, Stark makes an emotional plea: this case is about honoring the people who are treated with less respect than the objects they help make. The jury is visibly moved.
The next morning Julie is upset; she hates herself for lying and cheating. Stark apologizes that he treated her situation like he was her lawyer, rather than her father. Julie sobs that she was afraid to disappoint him. Stark says everyone makes mistakes, but that no matter how much he lies in court, he’s never lied to her. He’s mad at her, but he’s not going anywhere. They hug… and then he grounds her for a month.
Later that day Laura Montez reports that as the jury deliberates, massive protests by workers’ rights groups are being organized. Dasher arrives with his new client: Greg Alderson, a majority stockholder in Pruitt Fashions, is unhappy with how the trial has affected their stock’s worth. They’re ready to sell Z. Pruitt out. Stark says that whatever the jury’s verdict, he’s going to set up a labor-violation enforcement unit, and start it out by filing hundreds of cases against Pruitt Fashions. They’ll be in the news every day, and the stock price will stay depressed. Alderson tells Dasher to take the deal Martin offered: Pruitt and the company plead guilty; Z. Pruitt goes to jail for 18 months; the company takes out a full-page apology ad in every major paper; the families get a million; and wages are increased 50%. To celebrate their victory, Stark has Martin take them out to the burger place.
26th April 10pm On Five
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