Lawyers and Lawsuits

At one point in my life I worked in a law firm so my experience with the legal system is two-fold. There is a saying, The only people who benefit from a lawsuit are the lawyers. No matter which side wins, the lawyers win more. The reputation of a lawyer is well-deserved. I've never met one that resembled a TV lawyer... a righteous crusader with principles and integrity. There are no Perry Masons in the real world. They might not all be sleazy, but I've never met one who wasn't money-hungry to a fault. Billable hours is how their value in the firm is assessed. I remember while working at that law firm long ago one of the attorneys answered the phone early in the morning. He thought it was his client, but it wasn't. This took maybe five minutes of his time. He asked me for the case number so he could bill another attorney's client. HA!

Desperate to keep my job at the school of stink and then as a last ditch effort to keep my teaching career, I sought legal counseling on several levels. First, I spoke with union representatives, then got advice through government agencies, and finally through a private law firm. If you want to fight this way, first you need to ask yourself if you have the energy and do you want the stress? It can take up to two very long years for a lawsuit to go to court. IF it goes to court. You will be endlessly interrogated, required to disclose a lifetime of personal health information, your friends, family, co-workers, supervisors, and past employers may be questioned, and the opposing counsel will do everything in their power to discredit and humiliate you. They will lie, cheat and harass you within the law. And they know how to play the game. A lawsuit isn't for the weak at heart.

Still feeling brave?

Find a lawyer, preferably one who specializes in discrimination, employment, or civil rights and one who has experience with chemical sensitivity and accommodation. If they don't have expertise, they will be asking YOU for information and you'll wonder if they shouldn't pay you for your research time. But they won't pay you anything, in fact they will charge you for the time it took them to ask you the questions.

If you have lots of money, find a good lawyer. One with experience and education. You'll be paying for the lawyer's time, his secretary's time, his research assistant's time, his paralegal's time, all documentation, every piece of paper copied, postage and delivery fees, every phone call, travel time, court time, office time, every lunch meeting, and every one of their bathroom breaks. Every square of toilet paper will be on your monthly bill. Attorney fees can range from $200 to $1,000 per hour depending his or her experience, education and the size and reputation of the law firm. If they have an associate working with them, you may be paying their hourly rates, too. Ouch.

If you don't have a lot of money, find a lawyer who will take a pro-bono case. Pro-bono is short for the Latin phrase pro bono publico or "for the public good".  If your case is taken pro-bono, it means the lawyer's time is free. Just the time. All other expenses you pay and they add up quickly. It's basically charity work and lawyers are expected to donate so many hours a year toward pro-bono cases. In actuality, what pro-bono means to the lawyer: do a little as possible for as much money as possible.

Find a lawyer who won't charge you for the first consultation. (The expensive lawyers don't do anything free.) Prepare questions to ask and be prepared with information and documentation for review. Not only are you deciding if you want him or her to be your lawyer, but they will be deciding if you have a case and if they want to take it.

If you decide to hire this person and follow through with a lawsuit, you'll be signing a very lengthy contract with your obligations in detail. Bottom line, whatever monetary award you receive IF you win the case, they'll get a humongous chunk.

As the lawsuit progresses, you'll constantly feel like you are in the dark. It's not like it is on television where legal productivity is non-stop and everyone is working around the clock. It's a long, drawn out, very quiet process, and most of it is going on without your involvement. If it's pro-bono, your lawyer's contact with you will be minimal. If you call him, it's his goal to get you off the phone as soon as possible.

Behind the scenes, the lawyer and his/her staff will be responsible for filing documents, meeting deadlines, and getting things done. They will send you all kinds of paperwork, questionnaires, and documents to be signed from their office and the opposing counsel's office and they will request documents from you.  Not knowing what is happening feels very stressful. The quiet is enough to drive anyone crazy. My lawyer told me to forget about the lawsuit and just go about my life as if there wasn't one.

Why did my lawyer take my case?  By the time I saw him I had a least a large box of documentation and other research information to support my accommodation issues. I know at one point in a meeting someone asked him about legal precedent and he said, "Ask her," pointing at me, "I have no idea.  She's the one who has done the research." And I thought, So glad I'm not paying you to do nothing, you useless jerk. He did very little. I think his plan was to sit back, do nothing and reap the rewards. Or maybe he did have principles? Naw. Maybe he was behind in his pro-bono hours for the year and my office visit was good timing? Really, I have no idea why he agreed to take my case and I was absolutely shocked when he said he would. Maybe because I actually had a case?

Why did I go through with a lawsuit? I was constantly asked by friends are you sure you want to sue a school district? Yep, I was positive. I was angry. Because of their ignorance, not only was my health destroyed, but my career. If I quietly walked away, how many more teachers and students would they have swept under the rug causing unnecessary stress and illness? How many more will they fail to treat fairly and legally because they don't have to? My goal was to make sure no other teacher's career and health was ruined, and in order to do that, I needed to make their lives a legal living hell. Anything less, and they wouldn't care. Business as usual.

Although all has been said and done, my anger and cynicism persist to this day. Until I see enough educational reforms and changes in school policies to know that teachers and students are fragrance-free safe, I vote NO on school levies, too. I am opposed to public education.