Some of you probably thought I was crazy when, in a recent post about two Best Buy employees fired for stopping an armed shoplifter, I speculated that “if the criminal had suffered serious injury, a lawsuit would have been quickly forthcoming.”

This story (via Overlawyered) illustrates why you should not doubt me.

Zeilinski is serving an 8-22 year sentence for the robbery that happened in November of 2007. According to police and court records, Zeilinski came in wearing a mask and carrying a knife that he put to the throats of several employees, threatening to kill them before stealing cigarettes and cash. As he was leaving–reportedly still making threats–one of the young clerks grabbed a gun and shot him in the arm and back. Zeilinski’s lawyer says his client is asking in excess of $125,000 for pain and suffering and emotional distress.

It doesn’t matter that he’ll likely get nothing (we hope), as the store will still have to waste time and money defending against this frivolous suit.  If there were any sanity in the world, the lawyer who filed it would be disbarred.

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