You remember Paul Napoli? He's the compassionate chap who explained to us that having our community be a judicial hellhole is a cause for celebration, not lamentation.
It seems we'd been looking at things the wrong way – backwards, in fact – and Napoli straightened us out.
Several months ago, to set our minds at ease with a proper perspective, he wrote to the Record to explain how last year's dramatic rise in the number of asbestos case filings in Madison County is “anything but detrimental to the Court and the community. The community and its residents benefit from the increased business, jobs and tax revenues generated by new satellite law offices opening locally from large, out-of-state firms, as well as the increased business travel of out-of-state attorneys appearing before the Court,” he affirmed.
“Revenues are increased for the court system in terms of filing fees and for the community in terms of restaurants, hotels, other businesses and vendors (court reporters, shippers, document management, office supplies, to name but a few) serving the local and transient legal community and the court system,” Napoli continued.
Coincidentally a senior partner in the New York-based law firm of Napoli Bern Ripka Shkolnik, which last year accounted for one third of the record 1,678 cases filed in Madison County, Napoli has put his money where his mouth is and turned his own life into a legal hellhole.
In so doing, he's demonstrated that adultery-related lawsuits can also create economic opportunities for the communities in which they're litigated, as well as for plaintiffs.
Napoli's formerly-estranged-but-now-reconciled wife has filed suit in Cook County Circuit Court against his former mistress for invasion of privacy, criminal conversation, and violating the Illinois Alienation of Affections Act. She is seeking $1 million in reparations on each count.
The residents of Cook County will no doubt be grateful for the business that Mr. and Mrs. Napoli have brought them.