If there’s anything we’ve learned in the last year, it is that life isn’t fair. Some people, usually rich or connected ones, can get away with things that others can not. Different people get different results.
We see that every day in Illinois law in various ways. Just about every day someone asks me a question, gets the answer, and then is pissed because they don’t think that someone should be able to do something. I often say something along the lines of, “It’s not my job to tell you what the law should be, it’s to tell you what it is.”
There are other times that you might be in the right, but it doesn’t make financial sense to bring a case forward. In other words, you’d spend more money than it’s worth. A recent example is an accountant who cost their client a $10,000 penalty. We’d likely spend more than that in expert fees to try and bring a case forward.
Another example that shows that yes, they can do that, even when it’s BS that came from a Lyft driver who called me the other day. He has driven for a while and got a notification that he was no longer allowed to drive for them. Basically a passenger claimed he sexually harassed her, so they ended his access to the platform.
He wanted to sue for defamation as he has no idea what they could be talking about. He says he’d never harass anyone and can’t think of who could have possibly said that as his interactions have all been positive. Lyft won’t tell him either.
He wants to sue the passenger for defamation because he’s lost his job. To do that, he’d likely have to sue Lyft to get the name. Then he’d have to sue the person who allegedly made this up.
Now let’s assume this person is a liar. If they lied for some reason to Lyft, they’d likely lie in court when defending a lawsuit. So you have a he said/they said situation. Unless that person can somehow be proven to not be credible, it’s likely you lose. If they say they felt uncomfortable when you made a generic comment, you likely lose. And of course if they have a witness you’ll almost certainly lose.
So you are out a job and have an uphill battle to win a case. And to bring a case forward, you’ll probably spend thousands out of pocket win or lose. And even if you win, you have to hope the person you are suing actually has money to pay off a judgment.
Is any of this fair if you’ve done nothing wrong? No, but Illinois law and certainly life isn’t always fair. Do people get away with BS? Absolutely. I have no idea if this is a BS case or a mistake or a legit complaint. The point is that in order to pursue “justice” you often have to be willing to spend money with the knowledge you may not get anywhere.
My job as a lawyer is to make sure you understand your options. I don’t want to steal your money by encouraging you to pursue a case that is probably not a winner. If you do that you get screwed over twice or at least feel that way.
