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The Rainmaker
Recent Memphis State University Law School grad Rudy Baylor has no high-paying work prospects lined up. He takes a job at a Memphis bar where he meets the bar's owner, J. Lyman "Bruiser" Stone, who is also a ruthless but successful ambulance chaser. He hires Rudy as an associate.
Bruiser's associates only get paid by finding cases and working them up for trial. Rudy says he has cases, including an insurance bad faith matter he boasts could be worth several million in damages. Interested, Bruiser introduces Rudy to office paralegal Deck Shifflet, a former insurance adjuster of questionable ethics who has a law degree but has failed the bar exam six times. Bruiser employs him because he is resourceful, finds cases, is adept at gathering information, and has useful knowledge of the insurance industry.
Rudy has passed the Tennessee bar exam, but is not yet properly licensed to stand as an attorney. When Bruiser fails to show up for court, Rudy attempts to argue the case, but Judge Harvey Hale scolds Rudy and tells him to first get his license. Defense attorney Leo F. Drummond offers to stand for Rudy as Rudy is sworn in before the judge. Afterwards, Rudy discovers that the FBI has raided Bruiser's office, and Bruiser has disappeared.
Before fleeing, Bruiser gave Rudy and Deck $5500 each, as payment for a successful case. They pool their money to open a practice. They file suit for middle-aged couple Dot and Buddy Black, whose 22-year-old son, Donny Ray, is terminally ill with leukemia but could have been saved with a bone marrow transplant that their insurance carrier, Great Benefit, denied.
Rudy, having never argued a case in court before, now faces experienced lawyers led by Drummond from the prestigious firm Tinley Britt. In chambers, Hale tells Rudy and Drummond that he is set to dismiss the case, seeing it as a "lottery" case that slows down the judicial process. However, Hale suffers a fatal heart attack before he grants the petition for dismissal. A more sympathetic Judge Tyrone Kipler, a former civil rights attorney, replaces Hale. Kipler, known by Deck as disliking Tinley Britt, immediately denies Great Benefit's petition for dismissal. He agrees to fast-track the case so Donny Ray Black's testimony can be recorded before he dies.
While seeking new clients at the hospital, Rudy meets Kelly Riker, a victim of domestic violence, whose husband Cliff has beaten her numerous times causing her to require hospitalization. Rudy and Kelly become romantically involved. Rudy persuades Kelly to file for divorce. This eventually leads to a bloody confrontation with Cliff, resulting in Rudy nearly beating him to death. To keep Rudy from being implicated, Kelly orders Rudy to leave the house. She then kills Cliff herself, telling the police it was self-defense. Based on Cliff's long history of domestic abuse, the district attorney declines to prosecute Kelly.
Donny Ray dies days after giving a video deposition. The case goes to trial, where Drummond gets the vital testimony of Rudy's key witness, Jackie Lemanczyk, stricken from the record as it is based on a stolen manual disallowed as evidence. Nevertheless, thanks to Rudy's determination and some clandestine reference help from now Caribbean-based fugitive Bruiser (with whom Deck is connected by intermediaries), Jackie's testimony and the Great Benefit Employee Manual are finally admitted into evidence, to Drummond's dismay.
Rudy skillfully cross-examines Great Benefit's CEO, Wilfred Keeley. As part of his closing argument, he plays an emotional excerpt from Donny Ray's deposition. The jury finds for Donny Ray's family for both actual damages and enormous punitive damages that Great Benefit cannot pay. It is a great triumph for Rudy and Deck, with Keeley being arrested by the FBI and investigation proceedings into Great Benefit launched in multiple jurisdictions. The insurance company declares bankruptcy, allowing it to avoid paying punitive damages. There is no payout for the grieving parents and no fee for Rudy or Drummond. Dot expresses satisfaction at putting Great Benefit out of business, leaving the company unable to victimize other families.
As this success will create unrealistic expectations for future clients, Rudy decides to abandon his new practice and become a law teacher. He and Kelly leave town together.