CAPE ATTORNEY HAS DEALINGS WITH AUTHOR JOHN GRISHAM

A routine 1988 dispute between construction companies linked Cape Girardeau attorney Mike Richey with attorney turned best-selling author John Grisham.

Grisham is author of four best sellers including "The Firm" and "Pelican Brief." But six years ago, he worked at a two-man Mississippi law firm.

Richey and his client, Earl Simpson of A.E. Simpson Construction Company of Scott City, made the connection just over a month ago. Since then Richey has been reviewing letters and documents from Grisham.

"I found one letter with three grammatical errors," Richey said. "Just for fun I think I'll circle the errors and send it to him with a note saying if he doesn't improve his writing style he'll never make it.

"He has a good sense of humor. I think he would enjoy it."

Richey recalled the case. "My client, A.E. Simpson Construction Company of Scott City, was in a dispute with a construction company out of Mississippi. It had to do with some dredging operations and leased equipment," he said.

The two companies had resolved the situation except for a difference of about $125,000.

Grisham, attorney for the Mississippi construction company, contacted the Scott City company.

"He began the attack on my client and that's where I got in on it," Richey recalled.

"We had correspondence and phone calls and ended up negotiating a settlement. It took about a year," Richey said. "That was the end of it in 1988."

Or so he thought.

"About a month ago my client, Earl Simpson, called me about 10:30 in the evening and said he had something very important to tell me. For a client to call a home at night, I thought it must be big," Richey said.

Then Simpson asked the attorney if he had read that morning's Southeast Missourian. "I thought, oh no it's really bad and it's already in the newspaper," Richey said.

On page 2 of the Missourian an article appeared about John Grisham's work on his next title, "The Chamber." It included the fact that Universal Studios had already paid $3.75 million for the film rights to the book.

Simpson was sure that this Grisham was the same Grisham they had dealt with years ago. He was right.

"We've got a couple of originally signed documents that we had framed. I have one and Earl has the best one," Richey said.

Grisham's literary style was evident in the writing he did as a lawyer, Richey said.

"He really was verbose. To say `send a check' took a page and a half. But the writing style was good.

"I remember visiting on the phone and talking about the law with him," Richey said. "He said he had some dissatisfaction with the law and was looking for something different. He was very pleasant and very civil."