What's upsetting you today?

[Clodfobble]

W...T...F?!

No offense to lawyers here, but I freaking hate the intricacies of the legal system.

Background: In August of 2004 my employer imploded. When all was said and done, we were ultimately never paid for the last 3.5 weeks of work. We dutifully filed our claims with the bankruptcy court and were told that we should not expect anything to come of it for many years, if ever. Meanwhile, some of the more bitter/pro-active employees determined that aside from not paying us our actual salaries, the company had violated the WARN Act: a law (in Texas only maybe?) which basically says you must either pay 2 months' severance or give 60 days' warning when massive layoffs (say, the whole company) happen. So we all shrugged and let them file a class action suit to claim that money as well, thinking we'd never see a dime either way, and moved on with our lives.

About 6 months ago we were informed that the class-action law firm had stuck with it over the years, and the judge had partially ruled in our favor. So IF there were any money to be had at all (still a dubious possibility,) we were all now entitled to an additional $1750, minus one third for the lawyers. Great, whatever.

Today, several days after the deadline to opt-out of the class action lawsuit, somebody goes through the fine print (in the paperwork that most of us never received because neither these lawyers nor the bankruptcy court in NY give half a shit about keeping their mailing lists up-to-date) and determines that, as far as us non-lawyers can tell, being part of this class-action thing (which we all are by default, unless we opted-out) means we waive any other money claims, including our unpaid wages, which are in most cases much higher than $1750-minus-one-third. And it's looking like there will be money to pay us after all... so essentially, we have just let some class action lawyers lower our payouts while taking a third of it. I refuse to believe that they didn't damn well know this was what they were doing; they had all our salary information as part of their "severance pay" calculations.

Maybe we're wrong. Maybe we still have both the wage claim and the class-action claim. But I'm pretty pissed off about how complicated and slow the whole fucking process is. I was happier back when I had assumed we were getting nothing and forgotten about it.

[Griff]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

we have just let some class action lawyers lower our payouts while taking a third of it.

Are you skipping the Edwards rally then?

[xoxoxoBruce]

Ah, Edwards. The lawyer that made millions screwing Doctors for things that weren't their fault, using junk science on unwitting juries.

[lookout123]

you two are just jealous because he is the the only hope for the future of america.

sorry, i just went back and re-read that. you guys aren't talking about the guy who talks to your dead relatives? He's much more ethical and trustworthy than that douchebag politician.

[LabRat]

This was in my inbox this morning from the Iowa Bicycle Coalition. (bolding mine) GRRRRRR!!!! Please read the first link, it is very interesting. Although the report was for the Victoria Transport Policy Institute, it's still something to think about.

I will be investigating this further, and will post subsequent commentary in the bicycling thread.

Today, Senator Putney has filed SF2006. This bill requires all persons who operate or ride a bicycle on a primary or secondary road to have a bicyclist's license. A nonresident bicyclist is not required to obtain a license. A license is not required to ride on a municipal street or designated bicycle path. A license is also not required to ride a bicycle while participating in a race or event of more than 30 participants where one of the primary activities is riding a bicycle. A person who violates the new requirement is guilty of a simple misdemeanor and must pay a scheduled fine of $10.

At a time when we should be encouraging more bicycling, the legislature is proposing another barrier. What is most troublesome is as many as 250,000 cyclists will just hang up their bikes - adding to traffic congestion, air pollution, and more damage to our roads. On the surface, it seems like a means to generate revenue, but if you take a look at http://www.vtpi.org/whoserd.pdf you may think differently. No other state in the US requires a license to drive a bicycle.

Do we really need to ask our third graders to cough up $10 so they can ride their bikes to school rather than suffer from obesity related health issues?

What can you do? 1. Join the Iowa Bicycle Coalition. 2. Come to the Bicyclists Day on the Hill on Thursday. 3. Attend Bike Night on Saturday at the Capitol Room in Des Moines. 4. Come to the Iowa Bicycle Summit on Friday or Saturday or both days. More on this and more at http://www.iowabicyclecoalition.org

[ZenGum]

* Rolls eyes, shakes head sadly *

Labrat, you wanna borrow my slapping-up-the-back-of-the-head gloves?

True, I've seen cyclists do some dumb moves from time to time. Demanding licenses seems silly - if you must, just bust and fine the ones that do the wrong thing.

[glatt]

Wow, a license to ride a bike? Sounds like Iowa State Senator John Putney is a moron.

He probably wants to ban bikes outright, and is working at it one step at a time. I just Googled his name and see that he has pushed legislation in the past to ban bikes from some streets. His web page says that he commutes 75 miles each way to work from his rural farm. I bet he hates getting stuck behind a bike on a rural road for a few seconds until it's clear to pass. If you look at his pictures, it's clear he isn't someone who rides bikes.

Glad I don't live in this jerk's jurisdiction.

[lookout123]

It's Iowa. A near sighted sheep saw a guy on a bike and misunderstood what he was seeing. In a fit of jealousy the sheep told the rest of the herd. You've played the game "telephone" right? Now imagine it in a herd of sheep. Somewhere in the middle of the herd the message changed to "our humans are mating with bicycles which are obviously easier to catch than we are. This could lead to our extinction".

Sheep may not be smart but they do gossip freely, and soon neighboring herds heard the story as well. In nearby Henry County the news finally reached a very civic minded sheep. He called an attorney and told him the story. The attorney, of course, could only say, "hello? hello? Is anyone there? It sounds like a herd of sheep there. Hello?" So the civic minded sheep kept calling attorneys but found no success. No success at all. Zip. Zero.

Until that fateful morning when he called his congressman. The congressman, fortunately for the sheep, was a career politician. He was fluent in many languages including, but not limited to Legalese, Bullshit, Misdirect, Douchebag, and backstabbery. He had a limited knowledge of English, but had extensive experience in speaking with sheep. This congressman listened to the sheep's plight and nearly jumped with joy at the opportunity before him. "WOWeeZOWee, you mean I get to put my name on a bill, raise revenue, screw over those upperclass bike owners, AND I'll get some sheep to vote for me???"

And that is how a bill is born.

[ZenGum]

...and he gets to fleece the masses ...

[aimeecc]

My son has had diarrhea for a week now... first from a stomach bug, then from the antibiotics for his ear infection. And his ears still hurt. I feel so sorry for him and hate for him to be sick. And now my hubby is feeling sick...

[monster]

Labrat, that article only says the fine is $10. Is there actually a fee for obtaining the license?

[classicman]

I couldn't find a fee amount either. It seems this all stemmed from someone getting killed on a bike and his widow winning a lawsuit.

cyclists' suits

ATLANTIC, Iowa — More than 20 county boards in Iowa have passed resolutions urging the Legislature to protect counties from lawsuits stemming from injuries suffered by bicyclists on county roads.

On Wednesday, Cass County became the latest.

"These roads are built for large vehicles and cars," Cass County Board member Duane McFadden said. "We definitely don't want to discourage people from biking, but there's definitely a liability concern."

The list of counties seeking protection from the lawsuits is expected to grow. The proposal had nearly unanimous support among members of county boards from around the state at their fall meeting.

The resolution grew out of a lawsuit filed against Crawford County by the family of Kirk Ullrich, who died in the 2004 RAGBRAI cycling event.

[DanaC]

Ouch aimee that really sucks

[monster]

I'm a cyclist and a motorist and there are some complete pillocks who bike on the main roads and who have no traffic sense whatsoever. Whilst they can get away with that crap on slower roads, it's a nightmare in 40 mph traffic. If they had to get a licence that forced them to acquire/demonstrate some traffic sense, I'd be all for it. If it was just a source of revenue and any dipshit could get one, I'd not be so impressed.

examples of dipshit bike behaviour:

no lights at night
cycling on the wrong side of the street
combining the above
ignoring traffic signals and apparently assuming traffic in the other direction should give way as if to a pedestrian
swerving round potholes etc without first looking behind

Not saying that the motorists aren't equally dangerous/stupid, but at least in theory they should know how to drive near cyclists. A little theory would be a step in the right direction for the stupid cyclists.

oops, ranting again.

[aimeecc]

Thanks Dana. My little one's getting over the diarrhea... but his ears still hurt. Wish I could make it go away. Hubby's feeling a little better...

I'm a motorist and cyclist... but I just stick to roads with little traffic when I bike, and wear bright clothes, and I'm not stupid enough to cycle at night... It annoys me when cyclists ignore traffic signs as if they have the right of way. Its almost asking to get accidentally hit.