Her Honor vs. Chicago

What does a judge do when she falls down in her own courtroom? She sues, of course, like everyone else. And in the case of Circuit Court Judge Margaret O'Malley, 61, she sues Chicago's public building commission for $150,000.

Judge O'Malley was hearing divorce cases last April when she stepped down to get some papers. Unfortunately, the step did not extend all the way around the raised platform and she walked off into midair. She had to undergo surgery for a fractured elbow, remained in the hospital for two weeks, ran up $4,800 in medical bills and missed work for eight weeks.

Never mind that Workmen's Compensation paid all bills plus her salary during her absence. The building code requires two steps, not one, and a handrail as well, her lawyer claims. He says Judge O'Malley will never again have full use of her left arm. The city's lawyers aren't surprised that the plaintiff is a judge. "Every time someone falls, we get sued," says one. "It's all part of the inflation thing. It's a great little windfall for everyone."

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