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Class action lawsuit

Big Sky RedneckBig Sky Redneck Member Posts: 19,752 ✭✭✭
edited March 2002 in General Discussion
This may be old news but I just heard on Fox News about a lawsuit against some life insurance companies for over 1 TRILLION dollars. It is a group suing on behalf of their ancestors for slavery! Did I hear that right? Can this really happen? Can somebody sue a company for something that happened over a hundred years ago? They claim that in the near future that the suit will include several major corporations. Sad part is somebody will feel sorry and award them goofballs some buku cash.
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  • badboybobbadboybob Member Posts: 1,658 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    It just goes to prove that idiocy and greed are alive and well.
    PC=BS
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  • GreenLanternGreenLantern Member Posts: 1,647 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    You heard right. Don't know if any company will settle though. If so much as one does, it opens the flood gates. With that I'll refrain from voicing my honest opinion so as to not cause an issue as my choice of words would probably not be appreciated by some people.
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  • Big Sky RedneckBig Sky Redneck Member Posts: 19,752 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Here is the story,, HA HA beat you to it Josey!!Tuesday, March 26, 2002By Kelley Vlahos Beaucar WASHINGTON - A prayer on a Brooklyn street preceded the filing of an unprecedented $1.4 trillion lawsuit against eight major corporations alleged to have profited from their historical ties to the slave trade more than 137 years ago.Claiming to represent all of the United States' 35 million African-Americans, New York slave reparations activist Deadria Farmer-Paellmann named Aetna Inc., CSX Corp. and FleetBoston Financial Corp., among others, as unjustly profiting from the slave trade before the Civil War ended in 1865. "We are going to finally hold corporations accountable for the crimes against humanity that they've committed against my ancestors," Farmer-Paellmann told reporters Tuesday."This is a case that targets corporate America. It targets those companies that we can prove were built on the backs of African slaves, that were built on the sweat and labor of African slaves that was never paid for, and we say 150 years later pay for it," said Bruce Nagel, an attorney representing Farmer-Paellmann."I don't think that it will prevail," said Fox News senior judicial analyst Andrew Napolitano. "It's inconceivable that someone alive or enjoying this wealth today had anything to do with it 150 years ago."The suit was prepared by some of the same lawyers behind the Holocaust lawsuits that ended up winning $8 billion from Swiss banks that held Nazi assets taken from Jews before and during World War II. The lawyers for Farmer-Paellmann say they plan to file more suits and hope to identify as many as 1,000 corporations that benefited from slavery.Attorney Ed Fagen of Fagen and Associates, one of the firms working for Farmer-Paellmann, said three complaints were filed Tuesday in New York and New Jersey implicating eight companies. Hartford-based Aetna has already had a run-in with Farmer-Paellmann in the past. Two years ago, the company, which has given more than $36 million to the black community and hosts an annual symposium on race at its corporate offices, admitted that it insured slaves for slave owners and apologized."Aetna has long acknowledged that for several years shortly after its founding in 1853, that the company may have insured the lives of slaves," the firm said in March 2000. "We express our deep regret over any participation at all in this deplorable practice."On Monday, Aetna responded to the news of the pending lawsuit. "We do not believe a court would permit a lawsuit over events which - however regrettable - occurred hundreds of years ago," a statement released by the company said. "These issues in no way reflect Aetna today."CSX also issued a statement late Monday."The claimants named CSX because slave labor was used to construct portions of some U.S. rail lines under the political and legal system in place more than a century before CSX was formed in 1980. The lawsuit to be filed in federal court in New York City against CSX and other corporations demanding financial reparations is wholly without merit and should be dismissed," it said. A spokeswoman for FleetBoston said the company would not comment until it has seen the lawsuit. Though Farmer-Paellmann's suit is the first of its kind, it's unlikely to be the last. According to reports, a Washington-based group that includes O.J. Simpson attorney Johnnie Cochran, Harvard University professor Cornel West, and Columbia scholar Manning Marable, has already developed a list of targeted corporations.Those include New York Life, AIG, J.P. Morgan Chase Manhattan Bank, as well as Aetna and FleetBoston. Media publishers who once printed ads for slave owners have also been fingered by reparations advocates, as have major colleges and universities - including Harvard and Yale - whose many early benefactors were documented slave owners."It's safe to assume that these are the first steps and ongoing research as we speak is being done on a variety of institutions, public and private," said Marable, who said blacks continue to suffer in the private sector by experiencing higher insurance and mortgage rates from companies whose equity was raised on the backs of slaves."To me it's not fundamentally about the money, it is about the truth of history and bringing the truth to light, which will promote a frank and honest discussion across the racial divide," he said.Critics say the companies being targeted look nothing like they did almost a century and a half ago and that shareholders today weren't even alive when the slave trade took place so they shouldn't be held responsible for past evils."The real problem is they are publicly-traded companies, and they cannot afford the publicity. It's a form of shakedown, extortion. The companies today are completely different from the companies they are talking about in the past; the people who will get the money are people who aren't slaves," said scholar David Horowitz, who recently released Uncivil Wars: The Controversy over Reparations for Slavery. But Joyce A. Ladner, a senior fellow with the Brookings Institute and author of The New Urban Leaders, said even if they don't succeed, the suit will have made its point. "This case does two things, it educates the larger public about the role that institutions played in slavery," she said, and it "redresses old grievances" by tying specific harm to companies and the government."These lawyers - and they are some of the finest legal minds in America - know that this is basically a frivolous lawsuit that will not succeed, but to the extent that they can stir the pot and get us to talk about this and maybe create this fund for scholarships and maybe get an apology from Congress, they will have accomplished their purpose," Napolitano said.Fox News' Eric Shawn contributed to this report.
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  • RugerNinerRugerNiner Member Posts: 12,636 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    THis is a poll taken by my local T.V. station:Slavery LawsuitJacksonville-based C-S-X Transportation is among seven companies being named in lawsuits accusing them of profiting from slavery. The suit is on behalf of all blacks who decend from slaves, seeking a share share of profits made from slavery by the company. Aetna and two others corporations are being named in a lawsuit which alleges they profited from slavery. The lawsuit -- to be filed Tuesday -- seeks unspecified damages for abuses suffered by slaves and their descendants. That could be most of the country's 36 (m) million blacks. U-S-A Today reports that financial services firm FleetBoston and railroad company C-S-X are also being sued. Aetna officials have said the practice of insuring slaves to their owners 150 years ago was wrong, but that it is no longer liable. Fleet can be traced back to a bank founded by John Brown, a notorious Rhode Island slave trader. A C-S-X spokeswoman says there is no legal basis for the lawsuit.Send your opinion to FOX 30 News Are African-Americans due payment from slavery? No 96.83 % Yes 3.17 % This Poll was taken 03/26/02
    Remember...Terrorist are attacking Civilians; Not the Government. Protect Yourself![This message has been edited by RugerNiner (edited 03-27-2002).]
    Keep your Powder dry and your Musket well oiled.
    NRA Lifetime Benefactor Member.
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  • kimberkidkimberkid Member Posts: 8,858 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I'm aginst it too ... but Geees, aren't we still paying the Indians for their suffering ... whats the difference?
    Sometimes the most obvious, IS the most elusive!kimberkid@gunbroker.zzn.com
    If you really desire something, you'll find a way ?
    ? otherwise, you'll find an excuse.
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  • Big Sky RedneckBig Sky Redneck Member Posts: 19,752 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    They built casinos and are getting even with us!!
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  • concealedG36concealedG36 Member Posts: 3,566 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Isn't there a statute of limitations? I mean, I think I'll sue Greece because somewhere back in time the Greeks killed somebody in my family tree and stole their property!Puh-Leeeeeeeease!!
    Gun Control Disarms Victims, NOT Criminals
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  • SawzSawz Member Posts: 6,049
    edited November -1
    Can you imagine if a bunch of attornies get two thirds of over 1 trillion dollars that would give em capital to further pursue insanity. whats next sue God for the damages from the great flood,or the parting of the red sea, not to mention Babylon or Lotts wife. The list just gets bigger and bigger and oh yeah who would be responsible for all of those damages? all the religions of course.
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  • DonldDonld Member Posts: 741 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Cigarettes cut my mother's life short by several years, and I've decided that it would be justifiable to sue the American Indians for compensation since they were the ones who introduced tobacco to Europe 500 years ago. Had they not blatently encouraged Columbus, by deed if not by word, to take the weed back to Europe, my siblings and I would still be enjoying the company of our mother. Now that the tribes are becoming wealthy by promoting another vice, casino gambling, they should be forced to pay us for our loss and suffering.Don't even get me started on that three dollars I lost to the slots in an Indian casino in South Dakota five years ago.
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  • idsman75idsman75 Member Posts: 13,398 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    You beat me to the punch on the tobacco bit. I'm addicted and I can't afford Nicorette. I think we need to sue the casinos (being fecetious). I heard that one of the big-shot lawyers was financed through law school specifically for the purpose of spearheading this lawsuit. I'm cool with the TRILLION as long as we can subtract all of the welfare paid out to those that just can't seem to make it because of the color of their skin and for the difference in income for those that were not blessed with an alternative skin color when they walked into the office to interview for a position that was withheld due to affirmative action. I think we'd at least break even.
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  • LightningLightning Member Posts: 945 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Kimberkid
    The difference is that we took the American Indians land from them. The majority of slaves were sold to the traders by thier own tribes. If they want retribution let them go to Africa to get it.
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  • idsman75idsman75 Member Posts: 13,398 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Last time I checked slavery still exists on that side of the ocean. It may not be safe to go back to Africa to get the job done. American ethnic minorities are the freest ethnic minorities in the entire world and they have more opportunities for success and achievement here in America than anywhere else. How many jobs will they destroy with these lawsuits? When you can't get the job in Congress, take it to the courts. What a horrid abuse. Reparation = Rape-a-Nation
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  • bartobarto Member Posts: 4,734 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    sounds to me like the lawyers are chasing bigger and richer ambulances nowadays.no fees from it, my *!did anyone watch o'rielly last night? very illuminating.
    the hard stuff we do right away - the impossible takes a little longer
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  • competentonecompetentone Member Posts: 4,696 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Lighting,Nobody really "took" any land from the Indians.Most Indians were living in tribal cultures where the concept of "ownership of real estate" really did not exist.Additionally, when "reparations" (land parcels) were initially given to the American Indians, many of them were the actual people who had been displaced by the European settlers.
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  • BullzeyeBullzeye Member Posts: 3,560
    edited November -1
    Justice is in the eye of the judge and the 12 jurors.If a team of multi-million dollar lawyers can wrangle a judge and jury that's black and liberal enough, you can just as well kiss the money goodbye.I dont suppose it matters to these people at all whether they bankrupt any important companies in their tireless pursuit of baseless, factless retribution and the great American dollar.I should sue God for exposing me to all the bad things in this world. We'll take the $72.6 billion I'm suing for out of the World Christian Missionary Fund. Close enough, right? Someone's gotta pay!You complain about the future, and whine about the past, I'd like to find your inner child and kick it's little *.Get over it.
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  • mudgemudge Member Posts: 4,225 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Too PI$$ED to post.Mudge the REALLY ANGRY
    I can't come to work today. The voices said, STAY HOME AND CLEAN THE GUNS!
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  • daddodaddo Member Posts: 3,408
    edited November -1
    Some people just can't let it go. I'll bet they will be bringing this up a 150 years from now. No wonder some can't get ahead- they are to busy worrying about the past!
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  • bartobarto Member Posts: 4,734 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    im gonna sue this city for building these sidewalks to close to my *!maybe i could get one of them liberal juries.
    the hard stuff we do right away - the impossible takes a little longer
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  • royc38royc38 Member Posts: 2,235 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Its a shame. If they really want to get to who profitted, they need to sue the tribes over in Africa that sold them in the first place. But then again who needs a mud hut.
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  • timberbeasttimberbeast Member Posts: 1,738 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    The main problem is juries. Most juries figure "Hey it's a rich company, they can afford it!" and take some kind of thrill in punishing "the rich". For ANYTHING. That's why all these huge lawsuits are against rich corporations instead of the general public.People fail to realize that every penny a corporation pays in taxes, penalties, etc., is actually paid by the public. If the money actually came from the rich guys, they would shut down.If I was Atlas, I think I would shrug.
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  • dheffleydheffley Member Posts: 25,000 ✭
    edited November -1
    Shouldn't there be a statute of limitations on this kind of stuff? Sounds like someones learning Jesse Jackson's "shake down" technique's.
    Save, research, then buy the best.Join the NRA, NOW!Teach them young, teach them safe, teach them forever, but most of all, teach them to VOTE!
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  • O'ReillyO'Reilly Member Posts: 36 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Watch my reports everynight on Fox News!
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  • Big Sky RedneckBig Sky Redneck Member Posts: 19,752 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Somebody is trying to be funny.
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  • He DogHe Dog Member Posts: 51,593 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    As far as I can tell there are no statutes of limitation on "crimes against humanity." Slavery is certainly reprehensible, but does it qualify as a crime against humanity? It was legal at the time and insurance companies that insured the lives of slaves were operating within the business and legal climate prevailing then. Distasteful, sure, actionable, I will bet not.As far as those Native Americans go, nearly all of the treaties made have no ending date. And most have already been violated, rewritten, or set aside many times.The same thing is happening today in Australia with the Aboriginals (Native Owners). Every time two cultures with vastly differing technologies clash this happens, and a lot of people fall in the crack between the two cultures. To the victor go the spoils, but this is a lot like beating up children given the difference in technology. 'Course there are always some who profit by selling weapons to the underdog.
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