New York City as Trial Lawyer Cash Cow

PointofLaw.com has a link today on their blog to a Staten Island Advance story about lawsuits against New York City in which it is revealed that New York City taxpayers lose over $500 million a year to lawsuits.  "Call it 'Sue York' as City loses over $500 million in lawsuits" points out that this is a lot of money out of the budget:

That's more than double the lawsuit outlay the city paid 15 years ago and 20 times what it was 30 years ago. It's more than the city spends on parks, transportation, and on all of Staten Island's police and firefighting services combined.

I'm sure the taxpayers of NYC can think of better uses for this money.