OUTRAGE READER GETS RICH!

Outraged readers cover the whole economic range, from just-scraping-by to wealthy entrepreneurs. A new entrant to the big money group among our readers is - no, not another software developer, not an entertainer - a US marshal.

How, you might wonder, did a US marshal join the ranks of the don't-have-to-work class? The All-American way of course, a jury verdict in a discrimination case! Yes indeed, we're embarrassed to say that Matthew Fogg, who not only reads the Outrage but has donated money to our worthy cause, hit the jackpot with a four million dollar judgement against the US government. You, as a taxpayer, get to transfer some of your wealth to Mr. Fogg.

This is a rather bizarre case - even by Outrage standards. Here's the story. Back in early March we received an email from Fogg, asking us to consider a certain Outrage. (He thought it was Outrageous that the movie "US Marshall" showed a white marshal chasing a black fugitive.) His suggestion didn't seem that Outrageous to us, but we noticed that he was a member and, like all non-profits, we go out of our way to be accommodating to members. So we promised to look into it.

In the ensuing correspondence Fogg mentioned that "My title seven race discrimination trial starts Monday March 23 in U.S. District Court here in Washington." Now, we thought this was a little strange. Outrage readers, and certainly donors, tend to be the last people on earth who would sue their employers. (Not only has Fogg sued his employers, but he has been doing so for the last 13 years. In addition to his personal suit, he is also leading the charge on a similar class action suit. This man is determined to get rich, one way or the other.) But we put the matter out of our minds. After all, this is America, where everyone is suing everyone else.

On Wednesday we were scanning the news for the latest Outrages when we found a New York Post headline announcing that a US marshal has been awarded $4 million in a bias suit. Sure enough, our faithful reader Matthew Fogg had emerged from Court with a $4 million dollar judgement.

When we wrote Fogg to ask about this matter, he responded by, of course, accusing us of being racists. (See his entire verbatim response below.) In 1990s America anyone who doesn't believe that any "victim" is automatically entitled to become a multi-millionaire is, obviously, an insensitive oppressor. The only thing in the note that surprised us was that he didn't ask for his $25 dollars back, but hey, he's a rich man now.

It's quite possible that the US Marshal's Service is, in fact, permeated with racism. The charges against the Marshals Service range from the serious to the frivolous. On the serious side, white deputies have been accused of not providing backup for black deputies making dangerous arrests. White deputies have also been accused of setting up black deputies for beatings by prison inmates. On the hardly-life-threatening side, white deputies have been accused of using Martin Luther King Jr.'s picture for target practice. A white deputy was accused of running through an agency office dressed as a Ku Klux Klan member.

There's no question that there are brutal and corrupt law enforcement officers in the United States, as there are elsewhere. We've done stories about the brutal beating of Abner Louima in New York City, as well as police shakedowns elsewhere. We also told you about the prison guard who killed a prisoner, was fired, sued the government, and received a $40,000 settlement.

But somehow we have the feeling that the driving force behind most of this litigation is not moral outrage but, well, greed. Civil cases were originally designed to make victims whole again, to compensate a victim for his or her real loss. But the modern American jury doesn't seek to make victims whole, it seeks to make them rich. Those who have been wronged in some away, and those who haven't, emerge from court far and away better off than if they had never been victimized in the first place. Huge judgements in favor of "victims" have sparked a whole industry of victimization, where plaintiffs, and the lawyers who represent them, end up with much greater wealth than they could ever have achieved outside of a courtroom.

Examples of suits by blacks alleging discrimination and seeking huge damages are endless - the $176 million dollar settlement in the Texaco class action case, the current suit by black employees against Boeing, the discrimination suit against Washington DC's Metro System, just to name a few.

Sometimes you don't even have to actually sue; just make the threat. Los Angeles police chief Willie Williams was fired for incompetence, but he threatened to sue the city, so they paid him $375,000 to leave quietly. It's so much more profitable to sue than to work. That's why over 23,000 federal employment discrimination suits were filed in 1996.

The gender play can work well too. Vickie Dugan was a college softball coach with an 0-24 record. An all-woman jury found her employer guilty of gender discrimination and awarded coach Dugan $1,090,000. Four female cashiers at a Hardees were searched by their female supervisor in an attempt to locate some stolen money; the women were awarded $901,900.

But you don't have to have a job to get rich in court - just go shopping. A young black man, Alonzo Jackson, was awarded $850,000 when an Eddie Bauer security guard forced him to remove his shirt. Paula Hampton, also black, was awarded $1,156,000 when security guards at Dilliards department store wrongly accused her of shoplifting.

Of course the judgements above are small potatoes compared to the $262,500,000 awarded to the Jiminez family. Their six year old son, Sergio Jiminez, was killed in a car accident. The parents didn't bother to put their son in a seat belt, and they may have caused the accident by running a red light. No matter - juries love victims and hate businesses - it's Chrysler's fault.

Even the Jiminez judgement pales in comparison to the $15 billionwhich the state of Texas was able to extort from the tobacco companies. The lawyers will make $2,300,000,000 in that case - yes, over two billion dollars in legal fees.

Even middle-aged white men can get in on the sue-and-get-rich act. Sidney Blumenthal was known as a very biased reporter who wouldn't write anything but pro-Clinton stories when he was a journalist. He later took his current job, as Director of Communications at the White House. (If you write enough flattering stories about Bill and Hillary they'll eventually hire you.) When Internet gossip monger Matt Drudge incorrectly accused Blumenthal of being a wife beater, the presidential aide filed suit - for the absurd sum of $30,000,000.

Sometimes a miracle happens and lawsuits are recognized for what most of them really are - legalized extortion. Michael Zanakis threatened McDonalds that he would tell the world about the rat's tail he found in his son's Happy Meal, unless he was paid $5 million. It turned out that the tail actually came from the lab where Zanakis works. Zanakis was found guilty of extortion, but only after he had gotten away with another scam.

However, in most of these cases the plaintiffs are, to some degree, in the right. Matt Drudge's accusation that Sidney Blumenthal was a wife beater was false, although Blumenthal's suit gave the accusation far more circulation than it would have gotten otherwise. Alonzo Jackson really had bought the shirt he was accused of stealing. Matthew Fogg could well have been the victim of discrimination. (Of course he could also, at any time, have left the marshal's office and found other employment, but God forbid an American should run rather than litigate.)

The driving force behind these suits is simple greed; big money, without having to produce anything. How long would Fogg have to draw a salary as a US marshal before he would have a $4 million nest egg? How many people work all their lives without accumulating that kind of money?

Criminal prosecutors operate within certain restraints. A prosecutor can't seek the death penalty for shoplifting. But those who file civil complaints are free to seek the monetary equivalent of the death penalty, no matter how frivolous the "crime".

It's interesting that so many of those in "tough-guy" professions select the courtroom as the battlefield of choice. Naval aviator Paula Coughlin may not have shot down any enemy planes, but she managed to nail Hilton Hotels for a five million dollar sexual harassment judgement, upheld on appeal. Many of the "soldiers" involved in the recent army scandals have also filed civil suits.

Law enforcement agents seem to have a particular proclivity for the courtroom. Not only are Fogg and his fellow marshals all suing, but they may run into quite a few FBI agents on the way to court. One FBI agent was found to have embezzled money from the agency. He was fired, but sued the agency under the Americans With Disabilities Act on the grounds that he had been "forced" to steal the money to support his gambling "addiction". A judge forced the FBI to put him back on the job. Another FBI agent was struck by a car in an accident. When the driver of the other car asked him if he was okay he replied "I'm fine, for now." He then proceeded to sue the driver, enriching himself by approximately $700,000.

When the jury verdict was announced, Mr. Fogg said "I was crying, I couldn't stop, I was just so happy." Money has that effect on some people. Fogg thinks America is a great country, and no wonder - where else could you sustain no physical injury and emerge from court four million dollars richer?

Don't fool yourself - you're paying for Fogg's champagne. In his case American taxpayers will foot the bill, but you also pay for all these huge judgements as higher costs are included in the price of just about every product you buy. Be sure to read Fogg's response below, and you may want to congratulate him on his good fortune. He can be reached via email at "u.s.marshal@writeme.com".

Fogg Responds

Dear John,

Your Outrage opinion below is not only outrageous but reaps with continued support for racism in America. I was amazed you found a 4-Million-$ verdict against the wealthiest government on earth unfair but, you shrugged off the blatant and often life threatening, career destruction, property loss and emotional damage from racism as not more important or worth the verdict.

We'll John let me say this. Your attitude and perception is what keeps good African Americans on the battlefield of America's ageless and institutionalized racism problem. "Kill the messenger and spare the perpetrator". That jury could not have awarded me enough to cover the pain & suffering I endured over the past 13 years and especially the last five. I can only say from my training and experience in studying the writing patterns of individuals and what you wrote here, if you were in my shoes you would have gone ‘Postal' a long time ago.

Racism has to stop because it not only destroyed my hard earned career beginning with my 1976 B/S in Criminal Justice Administration but, it destroyed the lives of many astute African Americans that joined the U.S.Marshal Service with outrageous dreams they would be treated as equal to there white counterparts. This same racism has not only affected the officers wearing a badge but many subjects who are now serving time on the outrageous testimonial lies of those who saw the perpetrators race before they observed the crime.

I disagree with you four million percent when you state the taxpayers are not directly responsible for the racial injustice that I personally suffered. American taxpayers are clearly responsible because they are the ones who elect the politicians and law makers who continue to carry out these hate crimes against society under the ‘Color of Law' and our great Constitution. As a matter of fact it was those seven taxpaying jury members who were trying to make a statement and take a stand that it's time for "Big Momma"(U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno) to take heed of the atrocities in the failure of justice right in her own back yard (the District of Columbia).

No!!, verdicts like this don't decrease or increase racism any more than the Ecola Bacteria will cause meat eaters to stop eating meat. This great nation was founded and built on mass racism and African Americans were only allowed to be citizens less than 50 years ago and too many whites in control today had established there all white power base in America long before the ‘Civil Rights Act'. It's that head start you guys have on African Americans, Indians, women etc.. that will always increase racism in America and all aspects of her Justice system.

I feel bad that I could retire and know that according to the jury verdict that my fellow African Americans all across the USA who are employed by the U.S. Marshal Service are now working in a "Racially Charged Hostile Environment for African Americans". These are not my words but what the jury found and stated on the verdict form after hearing four weeks of outrageous testimony from the Director, Deputy Director and many other high ranking government officials responsible for policies in the U.S. Marshal Service. And remember Janet Reno hand picked Eduardo Gonzalez to be the director of the U.S. Marshal Service.

The government will "most likely" appeal that four million verdict and now documented racism will continue from the highest levels of law enforcement as "business as usual" and American taxpayers such as yourself will use forums like this to continue to inflate racism by not understanding or knowing the facts. Feel free to post this as an OUTRAGE!!!!!

Matthew Fogg

Editor's Note:
We're received a number of complaints from readers who have been spammed by Fogg regarding this issue. He refuses to remove them from his mailing list despite repeated requests. Apparently the issue of harassment does not apply to his abuse of the Internet.

READ MORE ABOUT IT

Read more about at the Fogg case in the New York Post article.

You can also visit Fogg's web site.