I'm 100% certain Russ has "won" using this basic playbook, in things that never went to court (or if they did we've not found them). His weird fixation with settlement means that at least once he obtained a settlement of some sort, somewhere.
Remember, he nearly walked away with $20k we never would have known about, on the basis of just 1 emailed threat. If he hadn't jacked up his demands 10x that amount, ViaTRON wouldn't have pushed back so hard. His boss may have caved for $30k or lower, and the only clue we'd get is a vague Instagram post about "justice for disabled people prevailed today".
Then Russ would show up in Winnemucca again with a new car and a new campaign, trying to buy or bribe someone to house a whore for him.
This had to have worked at least once for him, right?
Otherwise I don't understand his fixation on this avenue of getting him what he wants.
It probably worked once, yeah. But I think his real fixation is on the law as an "equalizer" force to get what he wants out of life. He probably got the romantic David and Goliath narrative when he did the paralegal program, that "you can force the powerful to face justice" and whatever. All you have to do is learn the secret magic language of the courts, and invoke the right words, and suddenly
you have all the power, noble lawyer!
It fits perfectly into his personality. He thinks the world is unfair and he's the underdog, so he's always the good guy filing a suit against the more powerful villain. He thinks employers control him and women control him his penis, so the courts can flip who has control.
And in a way, legal argument is a form of intellectual self-flattery; it's power based solely on your knowledge and intellect, not your personality or physicality. If you can't woo women or impress employers, you can flex your intellect and argue your way into the position you want.
Russ can't concede his legal acumen is bad, because that kicks out the final leg of his self-image: that deep down he's
really a smart and attractive guy, despite all outward appearances or actions which are mere accidents. If his purest intellectual skill is
also worthless, then he's got nothing going on inside either.