"Whose side are you on"
This week in the newspaper a story appeared to the effect that the Putnam County Fair Board had asked the County Commission for help in meeting its liability insurance premuim payments needed to insure the operation of this year's County Fair. It seems that despite the promises of the insurance industry during the 2005 legislative session to lower rates in exchange for the surrender by West Virginians of significant legal rights, the cost of insurance for the fair has actually gone up dramatically. One would expect this news to be greeted with outrage at the deceit and greed of the insurance industry and calls for an investigation into the claims history of the Putnam fair and other similar events around the state to see if there is any legitimate basis for these increases or if we are just seeing price gouging.
Well, with the predicatability that comes with slavish devotion to the interests of the vested interests, the Charleston Daily Mail on May 4, 2006 blamed the people of West Virginia themselves for insurance company greed. You see, if we get hurt we may bring a lawsuit. We have lawyers who are not afraid to take and prosecute claims for innocent people who are injured by the negligence or even criminal conduct of others. Have any of these calims involved West Virginia county fairs? Apparently not or we would have been given specifics by the fearless editorial staff of the Mail. Instead all we get are the same old generalities and platitudes--give up more rights and we will make things cheaper. How much cheaper? Well, we won't tell you that until you give up your part; then we will give you what we think is fair, if anything. This is the most shockingly shallow response possible to news of possible price gouging of our non-profit organizations. As the words of the great labor anthem of the nineteen thirties asked "Whose side are your on?" I think we can all figure that out from the Mail's disgraceful response.
Well, with the predicatability that comes with slavish devotion to the interests of the vested interests, the Charleston Daily Mail on May 4, 2006 blamed the people of West Virginia themselves for insurance company greed. You see, if we get hurt we may bring a lawsuit. We have lawyers who are not afraid to take and prosecute claims for innocent people who are injured by the negligence or even criminal conduct of others. Have any of these calims involved West Virginia county fairs? Apparently not or we would have been given specifics by the fearless editorial staff of the Mail. Instead all we get are the same old generalities and platitudes--give up more rights and we will make things cheaper. How much cheaper? Well, we won't tell you that until you give up your part; then we will give you what we think is fair, if anything. This is the most shockingly shallow response possible to news of possible price gouging of our non-profit organizations. As the words of the great labor anthem of the nineteen thirties asked "Whose side are your on?" I think we can all figure that out from the Mail's disgraceful response.
posted by Harvey Peyton at 2:14 PM
4 Comments:
Bless you for telling it like it should be told! Thank God for lawyers who protected our rights, the conscientious judge and dutiful jurors who upheld the law and brought forth the verdict in the gas royalty case, Tawney vs CNR. Now Chesapeake Appalachian, LLC, is trying to threaten and bully us to feel ashamed for asking for punitive damages to try to deter them from doing this again. (I am one of the 8,000+ plaintiffs in this class action suit.) If big companies would conduct their business honestly, they would not be sued. We need to hold onto our right to be represented in front of a jury of our peers by lawyers who will stand up for our Constitutional rights. We can't allow the Chamber of Commerce and dishonest businesses to take this right away from us. Thanks to you and Harvey Peyton for your comments!
I like you bow tie. Its cute when an old man wears a bow tie.
Sorry to interrupt the harvey peyton/trial lawyer lovefest, but the reason the insurance rates are high in this state is because the insurance companies spend billions of dollars each year in this state defending extortion-like nearly fraudulent lawsuits. Not every plaintiff's lawyer in this state is as ethical and scrupulous as Harv. Many of them file half assed suits because they know they can get a few grand as a settlement at some point just to get them off the insurance company's backs. The state legislature and supreme court have supported this garbage for years because they are controlled by the trial lawyer lobby. Once Starcher gets off the bench and if he gets replaced by someone with some integrity, things might start to change in this state.
Truly yours,
until you delete my post,
DoL
How did your trial in Columbus turn out? Sounding like an interesting case. I thought you used to have a Blog about it on this site? Am I mistaken or was it deleted? (Maybe I heard you talking about it on the radio)
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