October 20, 2009
Family wins lottery, I mean lawsuit.

Posted at 11:25 am, in: Crime
Tags: ArizonaBetsy Gotbaum, Carol Ann Gotbaum, Phoenix, Tucson

Woman breaks law, police arrest her and place her in custody, she accidentally kills herself and her family gets paid:

More than two years after her death, Carol Anne Gotbaum’s children are expected to receive a $250,000 settlement from an insurance company on behalf of the city of Phoenix, Arizona, and its police department.

The 45-year-old Gotbaum accidentally strangled herself while in police custody after behaving erratically in a terminal at Phoenix’s Sky Harbor airport when she missed her connecting flight, according to both family and police accounts.

Gotbaum, the stepdaughter-in-law of New York City Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum, was traveling alone and unescorted on her way to an alcohol rehabilitation center in Tucson, Arizona.

Gotbaum’s family had originally sought $8 million but subsequently reduced that to $5.5 million. They accused the city and its police department of negligence in leaving Gotbaum chained and unattended in an airport police cell.

It’s like I said last week, filing a lawsuit is like playing the lottery, except you’re more likely to win a lawsuit. I really don’t understand how getting arrested has turned into a payday. It is sad this woman died, but the police did nothing wrong. She was out of control drunk and while throwing a temper tantrum in her cell she accidentally choked herself. As sad as that may be for her family, that doesn’t mean they deserve to profit from her death at the expense of their fellow taxpayers.

Unfortunately, it is cheaper to settle most lawsuits than to actually fight them, which is what happened here. Pay out the $250,000 or risk some jury awarding the family millions. That’s not a bet most towns can afford to take. It’s disgusting. These people should be ashamed of themselves. Let’s just hope her kids don’t follow in her footsteps and drink the money away once they’re old enough.