Why Yes, Steve (Schmidly), Damages ARE Taxable!

After three years of legal hell (and, prior-to-that, three years of hard work), down the tubes, the way that local-legal-eagle-with-the-Jack-in-his-drawer, Steve Schmidly, got me to accept the paltry $125,000 settlement Randolph Hospital offered to settle both my lawsuit against Randolph Medical Associates and their despicable SLAPP-suit (well, besides Bob & Steve and their laying lawyers telling me that the practice was "almost bankrupt", and my acceptance of what they offered would be a service to the community that would be rewarded with the hospital's future cooperation in getting a new practice off the ground) was to tell me that the "award" was not taxable.

Alas, I was pretty much locked in a room until the i's were dotted and the t's crossed, and was not able to check-out that "fact" with my accountant - who later informed me otherwise.

I made the mistake of trusting a lawyer - you know the guy who was supposed to put my best interests FIRST.

Schmidly had lied to me.  After taxes and paying Schmidly his final cut (which we all know was the most important thing of all), I didn't have much to show for the medico-legal HELL I'd been put through because I refused to give into threats, hang up on a nurse, roll over, go back to sleep and let a newborn baby die.

As a point-of-reference, I had paid Schmidly out-of-pocket as we went along.  Bob and Steve's dirty tricks and legal fees were all covered by the taxpayer.  NOTHING came out of their own pockets.

One of the nasties Bob & his gang of non-profiteers used to spread about town was Mary Johnson was trying to shake them down, and that "it was all about money".  The myth they propagated was that Mary was a greedy, disruptive bitch who just did not "fit in" (in the hometown where she was raised).  None of the unethical/ugly/ultimately illegal stuff they did to her was subject to anyone's scrutiny . . . no one cared .  . . not the hospital BOD, not the Medical Board, and most certainly not DHHS.

My Father went to his grave believing (as do I) that Schmidly sold me out (and kept all the embarrassing-ugly-for-the-hospital out of an open Courtroom) in order to serve other small-town masters . . . to keep a bar-stool warm at the Country Club . . .  and to "fit in".

Of course, these days, the sneers and spits I endured/still endure for the sin of fighting back are kind of hard to take from the $700,000 man and his friends on the Board - you know, like the one whose "stewardship" of FNB saw 250 MILLION dollars go bye-bye in 3 years.

Nothing remotely about money there.

Anyway, the Duke boys are back in the news.  And why yes, Steve, damages ARE taxable (just like the loan repayment that so many of the doctors in town begrudged me was taxable)  And it's one of the reasons I'm in this blogosphere dogging your treacherous, lying ass.