Would you hire someone who was suing another business similar to your own? Although not legally condoned under federal law, there are not many business owners who would knowingly hire a person who is actively bringing litigation against another business, but that is exactly what we see more and more frequently.
Whether a municipal employee, elected official or contract worker, it is more common every day for the unmotivated to be looking for a deep-pockets entity against which to bring a lawsuit, especially in these times when it is much cheaper to settle a suit than to fight it.
Is litigation against ‘deep pockets’ organizations, corporations and municipalities a hedge against inflation and possibly an alternative to getting up to go to work in the morning?
If recent lawsuits in which citizens are hitting the jackpot by suing state, county and municipal governments is any indication, the new ‘unemployment’ insurance of bringing suit via a contingency lawyer is bearing fruit for those who choose not to work.
Apparently simply receiving unemployment compensation, or being rewarded for not getting a job, is no longer enough to satisfy the unmotivated, and this new form of piracy is quickly gaining popularity for those savvy enough to embrace the scam.
In a Florida county that some allege has become synonymous with creative lawsuits against governmental agencies as an alternative to getting a job, the Washington County, Florida Board of County Commissioners recently settled a suit that carried a hefty price tag in the tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars.
It might even be considered cynically humorous that most of these individuals probably don’t actually pay taxes but will most likely be taxed on these cash awards.
This suit comes following several other such lawsuits, and precedes even more, against Washington County, Florida and its municipalities, filed by current and former City and County employees and even elected officials.
Allegations have included incorrectly sized pants, loss of elections, lack of walkie talkies, bathroom cleaning chores, unsolicited hugging and pretty much anything to which anyone might take offense, including actually (gasp) being expected to work.
Possibly stemming from, or at least exacerbated by the ‘safe space’ generation, the ‘me too’ movement and the ‘everybody gets a trophy’ syndrome, we have successfully bred a gaggle of soft, spoiled, entitled and mostly incompetent self-declared victims, many of whom are not satisfied to simply increase their worth by becoming proficient at a craft or career, or to live by the fruits of their own labor.
It could be argued that the actual litigation is simply an extension of the individual’s quest for attention, but the really interesting part of the equation is that many of these folks strived- no, fought- to ‘serve’ as public representatives, at admittedly low or no pay (in the case of volunteers) and as soon as things got rocky, or they became disenfranchised, or their feelings were hurt, they grew fangs and bit their respective sponsoring agencies.
And, alas, it is true that ‘hell hath no fury like a (fill in the blank- there are now too many choices to include all of them) scorned’.
Accompanied by a healthy dose of ‘what’s in it for me?’ and the ‘free money’ syndrome, the scam is locally referred to by some as winning the ‘County Powerball’, and other successful suits against government bodies in the area include all manner of infractions, including hurt feelings and other perceived mistreatment.
‘Hey, it’s better than working’, quipped one citizen when informed of the recent suit disposition.
Another pointed out that this is probably a viable way to hedge against rising gasoline prices.
Hey- it’s free money- who’s next?
