As with scandals, each new lawsuit erodes old inhibitions against filing new ones: the target of one suit seizes the opportunity to file another suit himself, in order to get even.

ECONOMIST: The Paula Jones ratchet

Martin Luther King's principal lieutenants during the civil rights movement, Abernathy became the target of an investigation after a state worker alleged that he had instructed her to file for expenses he was not entitled to receive.

CNN: Georgia legislator, son of civil rights leader, indicted