GULFPORT Miss.
Anne Jordan waited nine years for her lawsuit against the University
of Southern Mississippi to be tried
in state court.
When the jury found in her favor, she thought at last her
ordeal was near at its end. She would receive $300,000 in pay and pension funds
because, the jury found, USM had wrongly
fired her less than one year short of retirement.
Circuit Judge Robert Helfrich signed the final judgment a
day later, Oct. 8, 2004.
Jordan,
71, still hasn’t received a dime.
“When I finally got into the courts, I really expected
to be treated fairly,” said the part-time secretary to a federal judge.
“I think it’s USM’s strategy to just
put it off and put if off and the court is complying with that.
“What is that old saying? ‘Justice delayed is justice
denied.'”
