Welcome back to another episode of the corporate gossip podcast. Before we get started, I get to do my

favorite thing. Shout out the people who bought us coffees. This week we have Wilson from Van and at

Manager Method, aka Ashley. Manager Method, if you follow her on TikTok, she also has a podcast

coming out with HR Manifesto and humorous resources.

It's going to be so funny and educational and informational. And I cannot wait. I think it drops

next week on October 16th, if I remember correctly. You can support the podcast and get a shout out by clicking the

Biasa coffee link in the show notes. And one more note. This episode has a lot of characters

and two of them have the same name. So I put a handy family tree in the show notes and an

expanded character description with pictures in the substacks so you can follow along. Enjoy the show.

Kaufman is a classic rural North Texas town. Driving down South Washington Street, the city's

main drag, you'll pass a mix of small businesses, Donut Palace, a few auto parts shops,

and even a video store, still in service today.

Sprinkled along the street are modest single-floor homes that make up Kaufman's tight-knit

community of 7,000. And on October 22, 1999, a jury selected from this community reached a

verdict in a massive wrongful death lawsuit against a powerful corporation.

The plaintiff was David Smalley, a 43-year-old mechanic from an unincorporated town called Lively,

15 miles south of the courtroom, whose unimaginable suffering was being contemplated by the court.

Three years prior, Smalley's daughter, Danielle, and her friend, Jason Stone, were killed

when leaking liquid butane from a nearby pipeline exploded as the two teens started their

car's ignition. The explosion was mammoth, sending pillars of flames 200 feet in the air.

Reverberations could be felt several miles away.

When the fire was extinguished, Danielle and Jason lay unrecognizable, completely incinerated

...