{"id":349,"date":"2010-10-15T10:10:24","date_gmt":"2010-10-15T14:10:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sidebarforplaintiffs.naomifein.net\/?p=349"},"modified":"2012-03-19T15:23:00","modified_gmt":"2012-03-19T19:23:00","slug":"who-else-sues-part-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sidebarforplaintiffs.naomifein.net\/?p=349","title":{"rendered":"Who sues? Journalists, employees and musicians"},"content":{"rendered":"

We don\u2019t want to fight, but, by jingo, if we do,
\nWe\u2019ve got the ships, we\u2019ve got the men, we\u2019ve got the money, too. \u2013 G.W. Hunt, Song<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Arm yourselves for more reality-based lawsuit stories.<\/p>\n

Clarabelle Cobb<\/strong>, a part-time journalist for a major news network, was fired from her job because she went on air to report a story she had gathered and written, but the network had rules restricting part-time women employees from going on-air to report their stories. And all their women reporters were part-time. Interesting…<\/p>\n

And then the network claimed it fired Clarabelle \u201cfor cause,\u201d a nasty phrase that denied her unemployment insurance, so she had to sue. She won.<\/p>\n

Clarabelle is now involved in another lawsuit as trustee for a relative\u2019s estate which had been suspiciously diminished. I love serial-litigating folk. They have stamina.<\/p>\n

Hortense Hathaway<\/strong> sued an employer for a combo of harassment and comments that suggested a prejudice toward women. Although one of her female supervisors was at that time a good friend, the woman did not support Hortense and would not testify on her behalf. Hortense persisted anyway and achieved a nice financial package.
\n
\nLong George McCormack<\/strong> and his ever-loving wife Mazie<\/strong> n\u00e9e Mitz<\/strong> sued their co-op upstairs neighbor for all the usual co-op upstairs neighbor problems.<\/p>\n

When Feet Samuels<\/strong>, a musician, played a gig for contractor Scoodles Shea, he hadn\u2019t been warned by his union that Scoodles made it his practice to run out on his debts. (Which is why Feet got involved in union politics but that\u2019s another story.) So Feet sued Scoodles for the 90 bucks he was owed for the gig. Feet reasoned that retaining a lawyer to go after $90 was perhaps overkill and sued pro se<\/em> (handled everything by himself).<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the creative way Feet served Scoodles: Feet\u2019s fianc\u00e9e and her father, Frankie Ferocious (his persona, not his reality), phoned Scoodles, told him they were thinking of booking his combo for her wedding so could they come to a gig he was playing just to sample his combo\u2019s wares? They showed up at the wedding, nibbled at the buffet, and then served Scoodles with Feet\u2019s lawsuit. (Since I was at the wedding, I can attest to the fact that Feet did not hire Scoodles.)<\/p>\n

The lawsuit proceeded. Scoodles never showed up for anything so Feet won, by default. The deciding judge looked down upon the head of Feet and pronounced, \u201cYou know you\u2019re wasting your time with this guy \u2013 you shouldn\u2019t bother,\u201d but Feet replied, \u201cNo, it\u2019s fine, it\u2019s kind of my hobby,\u201d and the judge said \u201cOkay,\u201d and signed whatever she had to sign to get Feet out of there.<\/p>\n

By this time Scoodles had made himself totally, legally invisible. He couldn\u2019t be found and he\u2019d handed all his assets over to his wife. Feet, however, was determined to serve Scoodles with the judgment, so tied on his running shoes and jogged over to Scoodles\u2019s house. Scoodles himself opened the door. Feet served him. Scoodles look embarrassed and said, \u201cOh, you shouldn\u2019t have to do this\u201d but wasn\u2019t embarrassed enough to pay up. Feet got otherwise musically occupied, but that was the last time he let anybody off the legal hook.<\/p>\n

And these are just my friends and relatives who have entered or been dragged into the legal system to solve serious problems.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure you can envision yourself in one or more of those situations.<\/p>\n

Summation<\/strong><\/p>\n