Seeing the reaction in the courtroom, Hugo inwardly cried, This is bad!
Hobart had cleverly used Arnold's earlier publicity stunt to establish that Arnold had ulterior motives for blowing the matter up. That made it difficult to steer the issue toward class conflict again.
Hobart won another small victory in the second round of arguments. After two consecutive minor victories, the plaintiff's side had gained an enormous advantage.
Then the third round of debate began. Great Lawyer Hugo decisively adjusted his defense strategy again, once more using Arnold's lack of involvement in the specific management as a basis to separate him from responsibility in this matter.
Hobart's defense was equally simple: Since Arnold bore no responsibility, why had he made this matter known throughout all of Backlund? Clearly, he was trying to downplay his own responsibility and deliberately evade it.
By then, Arnold deeply regretted making this case known to everyone. He could not understand it either. Logically, this should have been his advantage, so why had it become irrefutable evidence of his guilt in Hobart's hands? During the fourth round of debate, Great Lawyer Hugo simply gave up on seeking exemption from liability. Instead, he began bargaining with Hobart over the compensation amount and did his utmost to prevent Arnold from bearing criminal responsibility.
Ordinarily, work injury compensation was a civil dispute. Legal responsibility would only be pursued if it caused adverse consequences or resulted in a major accident.
Therefore, Great Lawyer Hugo's defense to exempt Arnold from criminal responsibility achieved a certain degree of success.
At around eleven in the morning, after the lengthy arguments, the judge delivered his verdict: Bob had been injured and disabled due to Arnold's inaction. The defendant, Arnold, was required to pay Bob a lump-sum compensation of 860 pounds, as well as Hobart's