From judydoc@the-spa.comThu Aug 13 16:04:43 1998
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1998 14:26:03 -0400
Subject: Information for Newcomers (legal research summary)

judy morris wrote:
 
 1) I have a couple of promising things coming up in September.  If all
 goes well I'll have good news to share with people at the conference.  I
 don't want to talk about them yet and jinx things.  I am hoping some of
 you will attend this meeting and let me know so I can arrange for us to
 meet.  If you need cheap accomodations try contacting either the
 Massachusetts CFIDS Association or the National CFIDS Foundation.  Both
 have Websites. Both are near Boston.  I live too far away to offer
 accomodations.

 ------------------------------
 2) I just want to summarize my legal research.  I'm hoping some of you
 will follow through on some of my suggestions.  I'm not going to give
 case citations or laws right now (I've given them before and there will
 be more coming).  But to make a long story short:
 
  a) Contract Law holds that ambiguities in a contract MUST against the
 writer of the contract (especially if it's a take-it or leave it deal,
 an adhesionary contract).
  b) Ambiguities in insurance contracts must be interpreted IN FAVOR of
 finding coverage.
  c) If you and your doctors feel you are disabled according to the
 contract provisions but the insurance company says you are not, there is
 an obvious ambiguity in the definition of the term disabled.
  d) The laws against extortion hold that:
 
    1. The element of 'fear' required by the Act can be satisfied by
 putting the victim in fear of economic loss
    2  Fear of economic loss is viewed from the perspective of the victim
    3. Extortion by wrongful use of fear encompasses threats of economic
 loss...Furthermore the fear need not be the product of the defendant's
 actions.  It is enough that fear exists and the defendant intentionally
 exploits it.
    4. It is enough to sustain a conviction if ...fear exists and the
 defendant intentionally exploited it
    5. As representative Hobbs noted, the words robbery and extortion
 'have been construed a thousand times by the courts.  EVERYBODY KNOWS
 WHAT THEY MEAN."
 
   e) Every time you are threatened with loss or denial of legitimate
 benefits unless you comply with some unreasonable demand, or your
 benefits are actually denied or terminated and you are forced to sue, or
 you sue and take a settlement for one penny less than what you are
 entitled to by that contract, the money they did not pay you was gained
 by the insurance company BY EXTORTION.
 
    f) Gag orders in settlement contracts are obstruction of justice and
 threatened retalatiation against witness to extortion.
 
 I'm hoping you will take this short synopsis, go to you local DA, your
 state Attorney General, and any Lawyers or politicians you can find.
 
 I'll be typing up the precidents and exact language in the near future,
 but EVERYTHING I'm saying is backed up BY LAW.
 
 All we need is to find ONE DA, AG, or lawyer to file for racketeering
 and extortion to get the whole ball rolling.  I can't do it alone
 people.  When there is a pattern of two or more acts of extortion being
 committed within a legitimate business, that constitutes RACKETEERING.
 If you find me a DA, AG or lawyer, I can provide the evidence.
 -----------------------------------
 3) A suggestion for people who have CFS and are being harrassed.  Get a
 copy of the Conference Bulletin for the CFS Conference in Boston October
 10-13 and send a copy to the Insurance Whores who keep telling you it's
 "somatization" disorder.  You can remind them that they can even get
 Continuing Education Credit for this conference AND  maybe UNUM will pay
 to send them.  They should, shouldn't they.
 
 Someone remind me to ask Peter Manu this question.  Since it is his
 contention that psychiatric problems CAUSE the immunologic, blood
 pressure, blood volume, cognitive and other problems in CFS,  I would
 like him to explain to me EXACTLY HOW THIS HAPPENS.  How can your "mind"
 cause physical abnormalities and not vice versa.  Doesn't it make more
 sense, since we know for certain  that there are certain drugs that can
 alter mood in perfectly normal people (reserpine, amphetamines, cocaine,
 etc.) that something is damaging the immune system and the resultant
 abnormal chemical milieu is the cause of not only the blood pressure
 problems, flu symptoms, etc. but also the CAUSE of the mood
 abnormalities?  I realize we all know this but I'd love to hear what
 kind of "nonanswer" he will give to get out of a direct question.
 
 OK, here's the conference information.  You can probably also get it
 from the Chronic Fatigue Association of America (CAA) or or any of those
 other organizations.

 Annual CFIDS Conference in Boston
 
 Judydoc