Lawsuit Verdict for LLC
 

this is from the Orlando paper in their Lake County section this morning. This was from an Commentary piece written by Lauren Ritchie.

"Whack! An Orlando jury ruled that the college, run by The Villages Charter School, had to provide interpreters for the deaf in a trial that “probably cost millions” to defend, according to one of the winning lawyers.

Jurors awarded 21 of the 30 plaintiffs a total of $212,000, a different amount for each person who deliberately was denied help U.S. law requires schools to provide when accepting federal funds, as the charter school does. The jury wisely didn’t buy the poor-mouth whining that The Villages couldn’t afford it. That’s pretty much a joke in a place where the owners are fabulously wealthy."

Didn't see anything about this in the Daily Sun....go figure.

Actually it was in the local page of the Sun the day after the ruling weeks ago. And was discussed in the main learning college thread.

The fact that the owners are "fabulously wealthy" has little or nothing to do with the legitimacy of the plaintiffs' claims.

No joke IMHO.

You are right as usual and for the record.........

I am NOT a Lauren Ritchie fan.

Is the writer of this commentary at all familiar with The Villages? The statement that the "owners are fabulously wealthy" is uninformed, naive or purposefully deceitful. Sure, like any community, there are wealthy people here in TV. That is hardly the case for everyone that lives here.

Using the writers point of view, everyone who lives in TV is wealthy. The plaintiffs, I believe, live in TV. Ergo, the fabulously wealthy plaintiffs could have brought interpreters with them whenever and wherever they wanted. Right?

We are fabulously wealthy, maybe not all in a monitory way. We are wealthy in the fact that we live in this fabulous community. We are happy to explain how great this community is, how our family and friends who come to visit are in awe of how active our life is. Sometimes when someone has negative comments our TV, I just have to wonder if they are just a little jealous

The question I have is who will be responsible to pay the $212,000? The homes owners? The Charter School? Others?

Perhaps the more important question is who pays the lawyers? My guess is the $212k pales compared with legal fees. I'd assume the Charter School is on the hook. Very sad.

I think by "the villages" they meant the developers are wealthy....not the actual residents. My opinion anyway.

Agree.

While I am by no means a legal expert, as I recall there was no allowance for 'legal fees', so I would guess the original plaintiffs are on the hook, or the lawyers just ate the cost. I will leave this to others to analyze and provide additional comments.
If this is true, yes the plaintiffs won, but they essentially won nothing, yes, going forward the new LLLC will need to be more careful to stay within the law, but IMHO this was a good outcome, unless I am missing something......

Oh, but the plaintiffs did win something...the right to hear what presenters of the courses are saying to the others in the class that can hear. It's a long-established right under USA law.
Adhering to law is not like eating in a cafeteria. You don't get to pick and choose the laws to follow. The laws apply to everyone all of the time. Thank heaven for the courts and the judicial process. Now everyone has access to the classes.
And those attorneys are to be credited for their work...how much they earn is irrelevant to the discrimination they were able to block.

Too many residents favor The Villages of Lake-Sumter Inc (TVLSI) (Developer) to their detriment. They are a corporation and while some may love a corporation, a corporation is incapable of loving back.

I explained in another LLC thread that the LLC violated federal law and the LLC lawyers should have settled this case immediately. Instead they foolishly spent our money defending this case. I'll wager the lawsuit expenses paid by the plaintiffs was paltry compared to what our lawyers charged us.

TVLSI has a nasty habit of creating legal issues but has the capacity and power to shift the monetary burden onto residents.

Just because people like me taking unpopular positions, it doesn't mean we are wrong. I know Randy McDaniel head of the Charter Schools. he is a great guy but he has his marching orders too and I believe he was told to march

At least these who received a settlement, wil be able to afford the latest enhanced hearing aids. :thumbup:

A hollow victory, as the classes are still cancelled!

True. Just as it doesn't mean you are right.

This is a very common fallacy: all deafies are the same. There are late-deafened, hard-of-hearing (severely, moderately, and mildly), and profoundly deaf. It is the last group that usually cannot benefit from any mechanical or listening aid and must depend on sign language interpreters who provide fully visual services.

We won't offer crutches to the quadriplegics, would we?

"[D]eafies" - isn't this pejorative slang? Is it something like the N word - only acceptable to be said by some?

Oh yeah, this is great - lets just screw everyone because a few can't get what they want. Typical Socialist, leftist attitude. These people should have gotten nothing. They ruined a wonderful institution. They should be ashamed.

It did not hurt the developer, it hurt the residents.

The Charter School may, in point of fact, accept federal funds however the Life Long Learning College did NOT! And that was the rub.

I fact checked this with someone who worked with the Life Long Learning College. They only leased space from the Charter School and did not receive funds from the Charter School.

Totally disgusting and selfish people looking for deep pockets.

Yes, that came out in depositions in the Ocala Court. The LLC was totally supported by course fees. They paid a small rent from the course fees to the Charter School and I suppose that's how they were made vulnerable to the law suit.

I suppose if they paid a SMALL rent, ie: less than the going rate, the case could be made that the Charter School was subsidizing the LLC and hence using Federal funds. Very weak in my mind, but remember, you don't get justice in a court of law, you get law in a court of law

Trust me, TV and the Morses have insurance that covers them in the event they are sued that paid most of, if not all, of their legal fees associated with this case. The plaintiffs won $212000 which I am fairly certain is not enough to cover the fees charged to them by their 5 high priced NYC attorneys.

But in the end....

the hearing impaired got their point across....that
"they needed help hearing in some of the classes offered"

and I would hope that this fact was their ultimate goal.

If the deaf had to bring their own interpreters whenever and wherever they wanted, then the physically disabled brings own ramps, elevators, and bigger bathroom stalls whenever and wherever they wanted. Right?

Attorneys' fees and court costs are not part of the awards issued to the plaintiffs in this case. This is being treated separately and have yet to be settled.

Yes, both Carla B and Golfing Eagles are correct. The lawyers blew it; they should have scrutinized such laws more closely.

This is one problem with ADA; we are conditioned to think of the physically disabled but forget the other groups such as the deaf, the blind, the mentally retarded, etc.

What makes you think that they will benefit from enhanced hearing aids? Doesn't it ever occur to you that there are some who are 100% deaf?

To analogize, we know that not all physically disabled benefit from crutches or canes.

Whatever they wanted we will never know because nothing offered was enough!