Former assistant State's Attorney Donna "Chris" Lindamood has been "floating the past couple of days," she says, because of a ruling Friday in her legal battle with Orange-Osceola State's Attorney Lawson Lamar. The 5th District Court of Appeals said Lamar must rehire Lindamood in her old position, from which he dismissed her without cause last January.
Lamar's attorney has no comment; Bill Vose, Lamar's right-hand man, comments only on Lindamood's hiring of a publicist for her case: "Sounds like she thinks there's some money in there, eh?"
Lindamood, now working for the state comptroller, says she was fired for blowing the whistle on pay inequity and favoritism `Firing Back, Sept. 3, 1998`. The judges agree that her firing violated the whistle-blowing statute; their ruling calls for her reinstatement while the merits of the other complaints are decided.