Your rant about Tracy’s dangerous stunt sent me to the FP (I know I shouldn’t have done it), where I saw this little gem by Westbrook.
In case you can’t be bothered, he tells how FCA gave $12M too much in unemployment benefits to workers and now wants it repaid. Then he goes on the predictable rant and skewers the company about how evil that is, and any decent corporation would let the workers keep the money. His rationale is that it’s just couch cushion money for a big company like FCA.
Westbrook is himself now getting skewered in the comments by people who have an inkling about how contracts work. I can’t work up any sympathy for him, because even a non-journalist blogger should at least research a little into a news item before passing personal judgement with an affectation of outraged moral superiority.
When I won the settlement from the suit over the accident that paralyzed me, I was about Westbrook’s age. I remember a couple months after the money was in my bank that my lawyer sent me a letter saying they had accidentally sent me too much, and asking me to payback what I owed (to the tune of about $30k). I seethed just like Justin for a few minutes (that’s a lot of money), and then remembered that I had signed a contract that had enabled this guy to get me a bunch of money that secured my medical expenses pretty much for life. Then I wrote out a check and mailed it.
Contracts protect everyone involved.