This time, it’s a man-made disaster: lawsuits.
The best odds in Atlantic City may be in the Courtroom – not its casinos. The Press of Atlantic City reports that until very recently, the City paid out an average of $2.5 million annually in legal settlements.
“…a shocking number of the plaintiffs suing Atlantic City are current or former employees of the resort. It verges on sport, a local tradition as popular as strolling the Boardwalk.” – Press of Atlantic City, 11/20/11
NJCJI has underscored the amount of money the Atlantic City school district must budget each year for lawsuits in previous posts. But the Press of Atlantic City’s editorial in Sunday’s paper draws attention to the high price of slip-and-falls – for the city’s taxpayers.
“Former firefighter Ricky Williams settled a suit with the city after claiming he had been the subject of racist threats by his supervisor. The city then fired the supervisor, Capt. Edmund Mawhinney, who subsequently sued for wrongful termination and got a six-figure settlement.
It would almost be comical – if these lawsuits and settlements weren’t taking money out of taxpayers’ pockets.
Why is the city sued so often? Hard to say. The resort has a long history of not carefully following its own policies and procedures – that has certainly led to plenty of lawsuits from disgruntled employees.
And, of course, plenty of plaintiffs sue the city simply because it appears to work.”
One thing is for certain: wasting precious taxpayer dollars on excessive litigation in an era of budget cuts and economic downturn is no laughing matter- except, perhaps, to the lawyers and plaintiffs they represent.
Click here to read the editorial.
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