Stankoski and Stout Should Take the AG Office’s Offer (and then fire their lawyer)

So I read today that Cindy Stankoski and Vanessa Stout turned down a 200K settlement in their harassment lawsuit against the AG’s office. Their lawyer thinks they deserve something closer to a million dollars.

I spent the day trying to come up with a reasoned and balanced response to this information but I’m having a really hard time. My brain tells me Cindy and Vanessa are two victims who totally deserve the maximum settlement they can negotiate – but my gut tells me Stankoski and Stout are a couple of undereducated, overly-lawyered bimbos trying to defraud Ohio’s taxpayers.

On the one hand they do have an obvious sexual harassment claim. And sexual harassment is a serious crime that should never be tolerated. The people who committed this crime, and let me be clear here: it IS a crime, should be punished. Dann, Jennings and Gutierrez should suffer for being complete sexist assholes. And they should be held personally (read: financially) responsible for their actions.

On the other hand, I’m having a really hard time feeling bad for either of these women.

It’s one thing to file a lawsuit because you are being treated unfairly at work. But it really is a whole different thing to pose for the cover of Columbus Monthly Magazine in a skin-tight body suit after you’ve been made famous for getting your boss fired.

Cindy and Vanessa never should have been hired to begin with. And both should have been fired at the same time as the rest of Marc Dann’s unqualified and overpaid friends.

Having them on the state payroll is a waste of taxpayer dollars given that neither of these women is qualified for a job with the AG’s office. Hell, they aren’t even qualified for a job with KFC. With an 11th grade education and multiple drug arrests, you aren’t going to find a lot of employers returning your phone calls.

This doesn’t mean they don’t have a valid sexual harassment claim that needs to be resolved. Certainly they do. But it isn’t your typical claim.

There is no way these women can claim any actual damages in a lawsuit. They have no lost wages, etc. resulting from this harassment claim. The most they can hope for is punitive damages. Which isn’t something their lawyer – or any lawyer – really wants to pursue at trial unless they really, really have to.

Cindy and Vanessa need to settle.

The AG’s office needs to settle.

So why the hell is this still going on?

Listen up ladies: tell your lawyer to fuck off and accept the settlement with the AG’s office. You don’t need his approval.

Or at the very least present them with a counter offer. Something reasonable. e.g. 200K plus a year’s salary and medical benefits so you have time to find another job.

Then hire someone else to sue Dann, et al directly.