2012年ESL之商务英语 08 Being Sued

 

Being Sued 

Ally: Hello, Ally McNeal. 

Jerry: Ally, this is Jerry Mason. I need to talk to you right away. We’re being sued and we’ve just been served. This is one of those times I wish we had in-house counsel. 

Ally: Jerry, you know that our firm will do its best to represent you, as we’ve done in the past. You can count on me and all of the attorneys in this office. How about if I come to your office this afternoon and we can discuss it? 

Jerry: Okay, that’s great. 

Ally: In the meantime, can you give me a brief rundown? 

Jerry: Yeah, we’re being sued for negligence¹. In fact, it’s a class action suit against our company 

Ally: All right. Can you fax or email me the papers so I can see what they’re alleging²? 

Jerry: Yes, I can do that. We really need your help with this, Ally. A lawsuit³ like this could ruin a company like ours. 

Ally: Don’t panic. We’ll take a look at it and see if there’s any merit in the case. It might just be a frivolous⁴ lawsuit. 

Jerry: If they have a case, you’ll have to find a loophole to get us out of this, or negotiate a settlement. The last thing I want is to go to court. 

Ally: Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We’ll discuss it this afternoon. And Jerry? 

Jerry: Yeah? 

Ally: In the meantime, try to lay off the coffee. 

 

Script by Dr. Lucy Tse 

1 negligence   

n.疏忽，玩忽，粗心大意

参考例句：

• They charged him with negligence of duty.他们指责他玩忽职守。
• The traffic accident was allegedly due to negligence.这次车祸据说是由于疏忽造成的。

2 alleging   

断言，宣称，辩解( allege的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• His reputation was blemished by a newspaper article alleging he'd evaded his taxes. 由于报上一篇文章声称他曾逃税，他的名誉受到损害。
• This our Peeress declined as unnecessary, alleging that her cousin Thornhill's recommendation would be sufficient. 那位贵人不肯，还说不必，只要有她老表唐希尔保荐就够了。

3 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

4 frivolous   

adj.轻薄的；轻率的

参考例句：

• This is a frivolous way of attacking the problem.这是一种轻率敷衍的处理问题的方式。
• He spent a lot of his money on frivolous things.他在一些无聊的事上花了好多钱。