Every city gets sued a lot. But few, we suspect, get sued more than Atlantic City.

And a shocking number of the plaintiffs suing Atlantic City are current or former employees of the resort. It verges on sport, a local tradition as popular as strolling the Boardwalk.

Slips and falls, sexual harassment, discrimination, reverse discrimination, wrongful termination ... it never stops. Some lawyers have based their entire careers on winning judgments against the city or settling cases for big bucks.

One former city solicitor sued the city twice and was awarded substantial settlements each time. Police officers and firefighters are always suing the city that pays them. The police union has sued the city.

Former Police Chief John J. Mooney III has a suit pending against the city. Fire Chief Dennis Brooks just settled his suit. The Yellow Cab company has sued the city over alleged lax enforcement of the city's taxi ordinance.

Former firefighter Ricky Williams settled a suit with the city after claiming he had been the subject of racist threats by his supervisor. The city then fired the supervisor, Capt. Edmund Mawhinney, who subsequently sued for wrongful termination and got a six-figure settlement.

It would almost be comical - if these lawsuits and settlements weren't taking money out of taxpayers' pockets.

Why is the city sued so often? Hard to say. The resort has a long history of not carefully following its own policies and procedures - that has certainly led to plenty of lawsuits from disgruntled employees.

And, of course, plenty of plaintiffs sue the city simply because it appears to work.

But that may now be changing.

City Solicitor Bruce Ward took over the resort's Legal Division in January 2010 vowing to attack this litigious culture in the city by taking every lawsuit to trial - by pushing back, in other words.

"There's nothing on the table - in fact, there is no table," Ward said the other day.

It appears to be working. The city was averaging $2.5 million in annual lawsuit payouts when Ward took over. But so far this year, the city has paid out just slightly more than $600,000. And earlier this month, in what is apparently a first for the resort, Atlantic City was awarded almost $50,000 after successfully claiming that a suit was frivolous (the plaintiff's lawyer disagrees and is appealing, but the ruling stands at the moment).

Of course, the fact that the city is paying out substantially less in lawsuit judgments and settlements this year could just be random, a matter of luck. But we like Ward's tough-guy approach. It certainly isn't hurting. And it may be the start of a cultural change in the city.