| In the Book |
In the Movie |
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Rudy has a good job with a sizeable law firm, Brodnax and Speer, lined up after he graduates. Unfortunately the firm is bought out by Tinley and Britt. They have no place for Rudy. He continues working for Bruiser Stone at the bar. |
Rudy does not have law firm job waiting for him after graduation. |
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Ruby's fiancee left him for another man. She failed the bar exam while preparing for her wedding. Rudy's apartment was robbed and the engagement ring he had bought was stolen. Rudy applies for Bankruptcy. |
This does not happen in the film.
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Rudy broke a window with a bust at the offices of the Jonathon Lake law firm. It was later burned down. The police speak to Rudy about it once. He is not a suspect. |
This does not happen in the film. |
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Rudy is hired by the Landcaster law firm as a paralegal; he brings the Black lawsuit with him to give to the firm as an enticement to hire him. He is later let go as the person who hired him was not allowed to hire lawyers as paralegals. |
This does not happen in the film.
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Rudy is hired into the J. Lyman Stone (Bruiser) law firm. They are ambulance chasers for the most part. |
Rudy gets a job with Bruiser after graduation. |
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Rudy and Deck set up their own small law firm in the cheap part of town. Rudy handles several small cases while getting ready to represent the Black family in court for the bad faith insurance lawsuit. |
Rudy and Deck have nothing else to do other than prepare for the Black lawsuit.
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Rudy is in court for a hearing in front of Judge Hale. When asked if he is licensed to practice law in Tennessee, he says he is not, but has passed the bar exam. Leo Drummond (Trinley Britt lawyer for the Great Benefit Insurance Company) insults Rudy by saying "big deal!". Rudy say it is a big deal and mentions the name of a young lawyer that Leo recently hired who failed the bar exam. |
When Rudy say he is not licensed, he is mocked a bit in the court room, but then Leo vouches for him. |
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Rudy has a good friend named Booker Kane. Booker is a classmate, black, married and has a job right out of law school with a well known civil rights firm. Booker fails the bar exam, but passes upon appeal. Booker sends collections cases to Rudy and Deck. They are not worth much, but Rudy will take anything he can get. |
Booker Kane and his wife are not in the film.
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While working for Bruiser Stone and looking for accident victims to sign up at the local hospital, Rudy meets a young married woman (Kelly) who is routinely beaten by her husband, They become friends and meet up at times, but Rudy eventually says he will not see her anymore unless she files for divorce |
Rudy meets Kelly at the hospital, but does not keep in touch much until she files for divorce. |
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Judge Kipler hates insurance companies and loved to sue them when he was a lawyer. He is very supportive of Rudy when it comes to dealing with Tinley and Britt. |
Judge Kipler is fair and unbiased. He is not as biased towards Rudy as shown in the book.
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Rudy obtains a list of lawyers who are also suing Great Benefit. He visits a lawyer named Cooper Jackson who supplies him with lots of information about Great Benefit and gives him a copy of his case file. The file includes claims and underwriting manuals. They are identical to the ones Great Benefit submitted to Rudy during discovery, but the manuals Rudy got from Jackson have a Section U. The manuals that Rudy was supplied with during discovery do not have Section U. |
This does not happen in the film. |
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Rudy meets with an experienced lawyer named Max Leuberg. He reviews the case right before Rudy is set to go to trial and tells him it is one of the best bad faith insurance cases he has ever seen. Up until this happens, the case has been a David vs Goliath with Rudy the underdog. But now Rudy is the one with the strong case and Leo Dummond is the tiny David who is destined to lose big. |
This does not happen in the film. Rudy is portrayed as the weak lawyer who is destined to lose in court until near the end of the film.
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Donny Ray Black has a twin brother who was a perfect match for the bone marrow transplant that probably would have saved his life if Great Benefit had paid the medical bills per the policy. |
Donny Ray does not have a twin, but a bone marrow transplant was planned for. |
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Prior to the trial, Rudy discovers that his office phone is bugged. Based upon negotiations for a settlement, Rudy and Deck determine that Leo Dummond knows about it and receives transcripts of their phone conversations. Rudy and Deck pretend to have very illegal conversations with the jury pool to throw suspicion upon the people they do not want on the jury. When Leo Dummond questions the integrity of one of the jury pool members, he is attacked in court. After things settle down and the man is dismissed, Rudy ends up with a jury he likes and thinks he will win with. He thinks he might tell Leo that he knew about the phone taps long after the trial is over. |
Leo is attacked in court for insulting one of the jury pool members by accusing him of talking to Ruby and Deck. After things settle down, Rudy looks over at Leo, smiles and makes a phone hand signal to him. Leo is upset but can't say anything about the phone taps that Rudy discovered.
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Dr. Walter Kord is very upset about how great Benefit treated Donny Ray Black. He let Rudy depose him for free and gives Rudy a list of oncologists will will testify at the trial to ensure the jury knows that bone marrow transplants would have been an effective cure for Donny Ray. Rudy shows the list of doctors to Leo Dummond and says he has ten doctors who will rebut the testimony of Leo's "quack" if he puts him on the stand to say bone marrow transplants are not effective. |
Dr. Kord and Dr. Jiffy are not in the film. When the president of Great Benefit is on the stand, Rudy hands him an internal memo he obtained that says Great Benefit was planning on investing in bone marrow transplant technology. This invalidates their claim that the treatment was not effective. |
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When various Great Benefit employees are on the stand, Rudy completely defeats them and exposes their lies when he shows them the Section U part of their claims and underwriting manuals that describe the scheme to deny every claim for a year to make more money. This destroys their case for the most part. Rudy never had any contact with Bruiser after he fled the country. |
The claims and underwriting manuals are supplied by Jackie Lemanczyk. The defense tries to get them thrown out as stolen documents. Rudy asks for a recess and gets it. Rudy calls Bruiser Stone and is told that under such and such legal code, stolen documents can be used to rebut a claim.
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During the trial when Cliff Riker (Kelly's abusive husband) is served divorce papers by a server friend of Rudy, he beats her again. Rudy brings her to a woman's shelter after she can leave the hospital. A few days later Rudy and Kelly go to her house to get her clothes and other property. Cliff arrives home drunk and attacks them with a bat. Rudy takes the bat away and fractures Cliff's skull with it. Kelly tells Rudy to leave. The she calls the police and is arrested for killing her husband. |
After Rudy knocks out Cliff with the bat, Kelly tells him to leave. As soon as Rudy leaves, Kelly resumes beating Cliff to death with the bat. She is arrested. |
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Cliff Riker's family makes threat towards Kelly and Rudy. The local prosecuting attorney say the threats are illegal and could result in arrest of the family members. Rudy's office is shot at during a driveby shooting. Charges against Kelly are eventually dropped; even the county's attorney felt bad for Kelly. |
The charges are dropped when Cliff's past history of abuse is revealed.
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Prior to closing statements in the trial, Rudy tells Leo that the Black family will settle for 1.2 million dollars; he is jerking Leo around as the Blacks will never settle. Great Benefit had previously offered the cost of the defense ($75,000) and cost of the treatment ($200,000). Leo refuses the offer immediately. |
Rudy never offers to settle for any amount as the Black family wanted a verdict in their favor. |
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The jury finds in favor of the Black family and awards 50.2 million dollars in damages. Other lawsuits are filed all over the country against Great Benefit. The parent company transfer all of Great Benefit's holdings overseas forcing them out of business. The Blacks get nothing. The Great Benefit CEO is arrested at the airport while trying to flee the country. |
Great Benefit files for bankruptcy. Rudy tells Dot Black that even though she will get no settlement, she destroyed Great Benefit and they will not rip anyone else off.
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Tinley Brit is sued by Great Benefit for damages because Leo Dummond did not communicate Rudy's offer to settle for 1.2 million dollars. Great Benefits bankruptcy ensures they will not be able to sue Tinley Brit. |
This does not happen in the film. |
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When Rudy gets ready to leave Memphis, he has emptied his back account and hides the money and his handgun under the driver's seat when he goes to pick up Kelly. Rudy will find a college to teach at, never register to vote so he can avoid jury duty and does not plan on practicing law again. Kelly wants to go to college. |
Rudy never walks around armed. Rudy and Kelly leave town after the trial and when she is ready to travel. Rudy plans to abandon his practice of law.
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