My husband and I incurred several different types of expenses and loss of income as a direct result of a wrongful termination lawsuit that took three years before the defendants finally agreed to a settlement. Out of the total settlement amount, the defendants deducted and then paid all of my attorney's fees. Then the defendants paid me the remainder in two separate payments, 10% of the remaining balance was paid to me to compensate me for lost back wages and the other 90% was paid to me for pain and suffering because they had severely and permanently injured my reputation by falsely claiming that I locked an employee in my office and held her captive against her will. (This was a bogus claim and accusation because in actuality, I was giving the employee a written warning for hiding customer checks (payments) in the drawers at her work station for months on end and never depositing these checks into the company's bank account).
However, during that three year time frame that my case was moving through the justice system, I had to pay travel expenses for attending court ordered conferences and appearances. We (my husband and I) also had to withdraw money from my husband's retirement accounts in order to make ends meet every month as it was impossible for me to find other employment due to the false information that was entered into and made a permanent part of my personnel record. Not only were we penalized for these withdrawals from my husband's retirement accounts but we also had to pay taxes on this money. As a result of withdrawing money from these investment accounts, these investment accounts did not earn as much income as they should have. I computed that we lost more than $20,000 in investment earnings on these accounts as a result of the legal shenanigans that the defendants and their attorneys perpetrated throughout the 3 year period. The defendants and their attorneys cost me an extra $35,000 in attorneys because they appealed a decision by the Superior Court judge that was assigned to my case. My case, then spent a whole year over in the Federal District Court of Appeals, which resulted in a decision of the Federal District Appeals Court to uphold the decision of the Superior Court Judge. In fact, it was considered a landmark decision by most of the professionals working in the Employment Law field across the country, not too mention the fact, that it was a unanimous by the panel of three distinguished Appeals Court Justices.
So, I would like to know how I would report all of the personal financial losses and expenses that we incurred as a result of my wrongful termination lawsuit? (Please note that nothing in my settlement agreement referenced that the money I was being paid was to compensate me or my husband for lost investment income and early withdrawal penalties that we had to pay, it was solely for the pain and suffering that I might experience in the future because it was discussed during the settlement conference that it would be very difficult for me to ever find suitable employment again after a 3 year period of no employment.)
