by John Hoff
Click here to view the recent court ruling.
Today JNS blog has learned of a disheartening development in the civil lawsuit spinning out of the mortgage fraud which happened at 1564 Hillside Ave. N., a case readers of JNS blog know well and which involves a cast of characters like Larry "Maximum" Maxwell, who went to prison over the identity theft at the heart of the mortgage fraud.
Pictured above is Jerome KingRussell, a petty criminal with a drug history who impersonated John Foster (a mild-mannered suburbanite, a productive and moral person all his life with sterling credit history) to accomplish the infamous mortgage fraud in the heart of North Minneapolis.
BUT ENOUGH BACKGROUND. Regular readers know all about this case and JNS bog has reported on every development for years, sometimes seemingly the ONLY media that cared.
So here is the latest shocking twist...
A new ruling by the lower court appears to let the insurance company off the hook. This might effectively render the monetary judgment of more than $800,000 MEANINGLESS and UNCOLLECTIBLE.
What is the defense of the insurance company? According to plaintiff Melony Michaels, wife of John Foster, the underlying basis of the insurance company's defense is whatever happened in the case (be it error, omission, and/or deliberate wrongdoing) wasn't reported to the insurance company in a timely way.
The argument against this, as forwarded by Michaels, is apparently as follows:
(A)n insurance company cannot and should not be allowed to rely on illegal means and methods to deny a claim and then avoid responsibility for the same.
Johnny Northside says: Here's my dollar. I will buy into that.
Oh, speaking of dollars!
Michaels also reports she recently received what is only the SECOND restitution check from Larry Maxwell, and she provided the following image:
Apparently, these little checks produce a flurry of manic excitement for this family with 24 carat gold credit which has been reduced to a credit rating approximately equivalent to the salvage value of aluminum tinfoil. There is always the question of WHAT WILL WE DO WITH THIS WINDFALL OF WEALTH? And by windfall I mean, well, if you found that much money laying on the street you'd get moderately excited, wouldn't you? So what to do with this WINDFALL?
If I have a vote, well, you know it's going to be the bottomless bowl of soup at Eddington's restaurant in the Minneapolis skyway. OH YES. Quite near the hallowed halls of power and the busy courts there is a moment to relax and (on a budget) fortify oneself with such soups as chicken tortilla, Wisconsin cheddar, some kind of really good soup with a touch of curry but I forget what it's called...
There have been so many times when this case took maddening twists and turns and the moment came to sit down at Eddington's, to talk about what's happening, to exchange thoughts and views and take a deep breath and then dive back in. There has been soup at Eddington's in the past and there will be soup in the future. It may seem this case never ends and so much is in vain. But JNS blog is oddly excited about the fact an appeal looks necessary in this dark and depressing moment and has been promised by the tenacious never-say-die plaintiff.
Consider those words again:
(A)n insurance company cannot and should not be allowed to rely on illegal means and methods to deny a claim and then avoid responsibility for the same.
I don't think wrongdoing should be covered up, and then an insurance company can say, in effect, "We don't have to pay a covered event, simply because a coverup occurred of the wrongdoing."
And so it sounds like an appeal will be filed. In a fight of good versus evil, when a fighter for good gets drafted by destiny sometimes the enlistment gets extended and extended. Seemingly the battles are endless.
That is what I told Michaels some moments ago when I spoke to her on the phone. What I see here is just another appeal, another court battle, and Michaels has been here before like she has been at the soup bar at Eddington's before. This is simply as case of "here we go again" and so...
Here we go again. Dish up a bowl of destiny. This is going to be good.
Eddingtons is a Mormon operation, FYI. The jambalaya is their best offering. Where the hell have you been, Johnny? Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweeping down the plains? Any least one murder has transpired in NoMi in recent weeks, but all we're getting from you is perverts and property crimes.
ReplyDeleteBe glad you get anything from me sometimes. Remember when I was in Afghanistan and couldn't write for months at a time? I go through periods of time where I get busy. But the historical pattern is I will become prolific again when I have some time to dedicate to blogging.
ReplyDeleteIf you have good information to share, I suggest you find a blog post with a topic related to the subject matter (Prince Kibbie, for example, if you're talking about THAT incident) and leave your information in comments.
'Eddingtons is a Mormon operation, FYI." Good for you, you Nazi BASTARD! You know the owners religion.
ReplyDeleteThe insurance company states that the "insured" shall be the one to notify them. So if the insured defiantly refuses to notify them of a lawsuit and the injured party and/or their counsel notify the insurance company of the pending suit the insurance company can claim that since the insured was not the one to notify them they have the right to deny responsibility to the claim that was in fact a covered claim.
ReplyDeleteIt's crazy because no-one would want to notify the insurance company and they can be "partners in crime" so to speak that so long as the insured isn't the one to notify them, the insurance company wins by withholding actual payments to the injured parties and the insured doesn't fear losing their insurance coverage or having their rates soar.
This is one more dark corner of the everyday business hidden in the miniature sentence or two included in the voluminous paperwork of insurance companies.
Our claim is clear, honest and a covered event during the time of coverage. Their reason for attempting to withhold the fair payment assessed in a trial that the insured decided not to bother to even show up to (but then appealed the ruling), was simply that they were notified by us and not notified directly from their insured.
The second fact that was a kick in the stomach was that First USA Title conveniently changed their name very quickly after being named in the lawsuit. They kept the same officers, phone number, address, website (with dates from when First USA opened, not the newly name of Triad) (the new name formed with intent to avoid liability for this suit) and absolutely fit all the factors for a company changing name and liquidating assets only to be used for the new company name they form as a blatant way to try to avoid certain liability. We felt sure that during the trial, where we spoke on the stand, that the Judge could see this as clearly as we did.
The purpose or spirit of the law should in inherently be to make things right and that protections are afforded to the victim within and abilities of the law. In this case the owners of First USA Title were lawyers themselves. Their blatant disregard for the system by not showing up to trial and then their arrogance to appeal the trial they didn't show up at is truly disgusting to us.
Fortunately the Appeals court didn't allow them the rights to appeal trial decisions they didn't bother to show up to, however the trial Judge is now acting as though it wasn't pointed out several times that Triad was merely a devious maneuver for one reason only...to avoid responsibility to the monies they owed for the negligent behavior of the company First USA Title, now being called Triad.
If insurance companies can use ridiculous perimeters, aka loopholes to keep from paying legitimate claims it's time for people to expose these tactics and demand not only change but responsibilities to pay legitimate claims that have been formerly denied.
These things can occur because it's very difficult to find a person, who is most likely a victim with little money, to stand up to them. They have millions of dollars and entire divisions of paid employees who's job it is is to find a way not to pay claims.
The longer this case goes on, the more light shines in the dark, dirty corners an everyday person never thinks of and hopefully will never have to see. More and more layers of the onion that make you cry but still you have to fight back again, and again, and again until the justice is where it belongs and not simply awarded to the person with the most money.
To the "Nazi bastard" comment, whoa, way harsh there, dude. Did the original commenter say anything NEGATIVE about Mormons?
ReplyDeleteYou can lift your jack boot off my throat now. The Nazi bastard comment was to make a point. What it was escapes me right now, but don't you see how this little "by the way" comment could be an affront to a Mormon? Religion is personal.
ReplyDeleteI want to point that out to the commenter.
MORmON?
ReplyDeleteReport the insurance company's actions to the Department of Commerce. Get them involved and ask for assistance in resolving this claim.
ReplyDeleteCORRECTION:
ReplyDeleteThe restitution check in question is apparently from Larry Maxwell, not KingRussell. The first check from KingRussell was recently received by the victims of this mortgage fraud.
Upon learning this information today, the blog post has been corrected to reflect the origin of the check. JNS blog strives for accuracy and leaps to make correction when error is pointed out which, thankfully, ain't that often.