- As Jane (Brooke Elliott) represents Parker's (Josh Stamberg) ex-girlfriend (guest star Brandy Norwood) in a lawsuit against an intransigent life insurance company, Kim (Kate Levering) seeks to help a minister who is encouraging his parishioners to shoplift for charity.—Anonymous
- Even Fred's angelic patience wears thin when Stacy, whom he saw kissing her TV series star colleague Brian Pullman, takes forever to tell him, yet ponders whether and how to confront her. Kim is charmed by Yale-educated Baptist pastor Ben Logan but hard-pressed to defend his sermons encouraging poor parishioners to shoplift what they need from the monopolist store chain, or his brat daughter Ann, who simply stole for herself. Jane willfully accepts a case dodged by Parker, his vandal ex's claim against her father's insurance company. Judge Owen French keeps giving Jane mixed signals.—KGF Vissers
- "Drop Dead Diva" - "Ah, Men"- Sept. 4, 2011
Tonight's cases bring us old flames and news and the potential dying of the sparks between two current lovers.
In the first case single mom and RN Elisa comes to the firm because her father -- for whom she quit her job and cared for full time-- has died but the insurance company won't pay out his life insurance policy. The twist is she and Parker dated for a time eight years previously. (He slept with her roommate. Oops.)
Parker wants to brush her off but Jane takes the case, of course. At first the insurance company doesn't want to pay because Elisa's father didn't disclose a sprained ankle. It wasn't related to his death but you know, they're looking for a way out. When Jane notices the photo the company uses in court of Elisa's dad with an ankle brace is over a year old she realizes that since they've known about it for a year it's de facto approval that the sprain wasn't related and calls for a directed verdict from the judge. The judge gives the insurance company lawyer a day to come up with a counter strategy.
That counter-strategy turns out to be blackmail. They dig up the dirt that Elisa was smuggling in an imported trial drug from Canada to help her dad. They promise to keep it quiet if she drops the suit. She wants to because she needs her nursing license to make a living, but as always, Jane soldiers on. She figures if the insurance company is trying to blackmail Elisa, they're probably doing it to others so and Grayson pull some files and do some digging.
In the process, Jane goes to Elisa's house and meets her son Eric, who is 7 years old. Jane does the math and Elisa admits that Eric is Parker's son but he doesn't know it and she swears Jane to secrecy.
Grayson and Jane discover tht the company Elisa's father worked for also took out a life insurance policy and that it was paid. It's illegal when there are two identical policies for one to paid and the other not to. Jane and Parker take this to the insurance company and basically blackmail them: pay our client or will expose this illegality and all of the other policies like it since Elisa's father wasn't the only one. The company is willing to cave can't bear the idea of her father's fellow employees having to go through this same hardship. So, even though she knows it will mean losing her nursing license she doesn't take the settlement, she will however receive the life insurance money. Parker offers Elisa a temp job on the spot and she is grateful to him and Jane but still doesn't want Parker to know about Eric.
Meanwhile, as all the case is unfolding, Jane is also getting to know Judge Owen better including a great first date. When he calls and invites her to his chamber for a private party she gets excited until she arrives and realizes it's an actual party complete with lots of other "FOO"-- friends of Owen. Later when they're out to dinner he notices an old co-worker dining alone-- her husband just left her- and invites her and another friend over. They share a bunch of inside stories making Jane feel left out so she leaves. Owen realizes the error of his ways, however, and invites Jane out one more time. This time to an ultra-romantic dinner at which he's rented out the whole restaurant and he tells her she makes his heart race.
In the wake of seeing Stacy kiss her co-star Brian, Fred goes to both Grayson and Teri for advice. They both, essentially counsel him to talk to her. He is hurt and confused and avoiding her. Stacy meanwhile confesses to Jane she kissed Brian-- not knowing that Fred saw it all-- and she feels terrible but is also confused. She loves Fred but...she likes Brian. Jane tells her to tell Fred and talk about it. But before she can Fred comes to the set, overhears Brian ask Stacy out on a date and hears her accept. He confronts her and says he loves her but can't do this. When Stacy arrives home-- after stopping by Jane's office under the mistaken impression that Jane told him-- Fred has moved out. She is sad, but she's also excited about her date with Brian. Grayson and Teri take Fred out for drinks to nurse his wounded heart.
In the night's other legal case, Kim takes up the case of a pastor named Ben. He ministers to a poor community and in his sermons he has essentially preached that it's okay to steal from the local Wal-Mart-type mega-store. His reasoning is that store put out of business mom and pop grocery shops that contributed to a soup kitchen for the church and didn't replace it with a likewise charitable contribution for the neighborhood needy.
The store, after seeing a spike in shoplifting. sues the pastor. In the midst of a late night prepping him for trial Kim discovers that she's attracted to the pastor and they share a kiss. (This is after Parker -- as a courtesy-- had warned Kim that his old flame Elisa was coming in. He figured since they were "together" Kim should know. Kim replied that they were only having fun and he could see whoever he wanted.)
When the pastor's daughter is picked up for shoplifting, he changes his tune. He was saying to his congregation to take essentials like food or toilet paper and she stole a cellphone and an MP3 player, saying all her friends have them and compared to them SHE is needy. And she wonders why only he gets to decide who can do what. He realizes the error of his ways and gives a sermon to that effect and the big box store drops the charges against both him and his daughter. He goes to thank Kim with a kiss but she rebuffs him saying that, in fact, that there is someone else she's seeing. He understands.
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