ON LAWSUITS AND INSURANCE

We live in a sue-happy age, and it grieves me. There is a time and a place for lawyers and for legal action, but to my way of thinking it should be a rarity, not something everyday. And yet it is everyday in our country, and we are the poorer for it, morally and literally—literally, because it is the lawyers and the insurance companies who make the money from these suits.

There is a certain crowd in this Village who seem to be sue-happy. They want to sue over everything. If they are not the initiators of a suit, they are behind it, for it, and urging it on us. When Dave Israel became UCO president, one of the first things he did was to take a strong stand against what he called “frivolous lawsuits.” Thank God.

Now we have those bringing “class action” suits against UCO or certain individuals in UCO. It is claimed we will all benefit if the latest class action suit is successful. Why? Because––IF the class action suit is allowed to go through, and IF they win––we will all get a few dollars. Who then will end up paying?––for rest assured, someone will be paying the tab. The lawyers don’t work for free. They gobble up HUGE chunks of the proceeds. If I understand Esther Sutofsky correctly, she says the insurance company will pay. That’s all very nice, but insurance companies are mighty smart about not losing money. Best case scenario, I expect they will raise our premium rates––and NOT by PENNIES, as Esther argues. Worst case scenario, as Dave Israel cautions, they may DROP US. That would be disastrous, because as Dave rightly says, if UCO became uninsurable, it would be financially foolhardy for any UCO volunteer to work for UCO. That is a chilling thought.

Esther disassociates herself from the latest lawsuit, but she doesn’t speak out against it. Instead she insists it is a small potatoes matter. It is similar to the way in which she disassociates herself from the overload of vile language and wild charges on the blog that supports her and calls her the “President Select.”

To my mind, Esther’s position on the class action lawsuit is IRRESPONSIBLE AND VERY DANGEROUS—and she isn’t even in office yet! Think of the consequences should she––and others on her “slate”—be elected. Even now, with the lawsuit having been served, we have had to notify the insurance company of the impending lawsuit, and that alone could jeopardize our insurance! Thank you, those who brought this lawsuit, and you claim to love this Village?

A word to the wise should be sufficient. Vote for the tried and true on Friday. Vote for a RESPONSIBLE slate. Vote OUT the disrupters. Vote out those who are suing, or defend it, or fail to speak out when they should against the sue-happy. And vote only for those you know will be responsible, cooperative officers and Executive Board members.