Overlawyered features an Iowa "stella award" candidate:



According to the Creston News Advertiser Vernon Fick was a senior sergeant for the Cherokee police department. In August of 2003 budget cuts forced the city to eliminate his position. He's now suing:



"A federal lawsuit claims the actions of officials in the northwestern Iowa town of Cherokee forced the fired police officer to join the Army and risk his life in Iraq. . . Fick, who was fired last year, claims he couldn't get a job anywhere else and was forced to join the military, which sent him to Iraq, according to the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Sioux City. . . The lawsuit said the Army became his only "employment alternative" because the city falsely told other potential employers in the area that he had committed misconduct. That's why he deserves damages for ending up in a war zone, Fick's attorney, Stephen Avery of Spencer, said Thursday. "It would be stressful to you and it would be stressful to me to be in Iraq right now," he said. . .The lawsuit, which names the city, Police Chief Steve Schuck and Mayor Dennis Henrich as defendants, also seeks compensation for lost benefits and wages."