From judydoc@the-spa.com Sat Feb  6 17:51:29 1999
Date: Sat, 06 Feb 1999 14:31:03 -0500
From: Judy Morris 
To: bhammel@graham.main.nc.us, nienalb@abc.com
Subject: News/Case Diary update 2.6.99


1.  The Court has set a date for Oral Arguments (whatever that means) on
all the Motions to Dismiss and their Oppositions.  Hopefully this will
include a ruling on my Order to Show cause, the Addendum to it, and my
Motion to Disqualify Pat Peard.  I'm actually hoping the judge will rule
on the latter 3 motions prior to the hearing so we will know (assuming
the decision is in my favor) if UNUM plans to send me a check.  The
hearing is set for 10:00am, February 19, 1999 before Judge Frank H.
Freedman in Springfield Federal District Court in Springfield, MA.  I
have literally NO IDEA what might go on in this hearing, what to expect
or how to prepare, but I'm doing my best.

2.  There was one defendant who did not submit a Motion to Dismiss.
This is Jack Taylor, the agent who sold the UNUM ERISA policy to my
hospital.  To his credit, Mr. Taylor did write UNUM a letter a long time
ago analyzing my contracts, claims and medical information as well as
UNUM's denials and Dr. Pringle's ridiculous opinion and stating that he
thought this claim should be paid.  UNUM responded with a letter
attempting to argue with him.  I asked him to respond to it, but he
didn't.  He continued to offer to "help me" but then refused to 1)write
or call UNUM, 2)help me sue UNUM, 3) report UNUM to the AG or DOI, or
4)loan me money if I should need it until UNUM was forced to pay.

First of all, he was one of the FEW people who did not answer the Waiver
of Service and for whom I was forced to have the lawsuit served in
person.  His excuse was that he gave it to the head of his company
(McGrath Insurance of Southbridge, MA) and didn't bother to follow up.
However, I decided (against stupidly) to give him more benefit of the
doubt and gave his attorney Carolyn Sullivan an extension to the time
she must respond to the lawsuit.  Then my friend Jack  A. and I arranged
a meeting with Ms. Sullivan and Mr. Taylor at his office in
Southbridge.  It was snowing that day and the drive was almost an hour
in slippery conditions.  I offered to THINK about dropping my charges
against Mr. Taylor if he would fill out a notarized affidavit attesting
to what he'd been claiming all along - that I should be paid my
benefits.  His attorney actually, to her credit, showed up with an
affidavit containing statements VERY SIMILAR to the one I had prepared.
However she said  the signing of this affidavit predicated on my
releasing her client, and I wouldn't agree to that.

I asked her and Mr. Taylor to 1) speak with another insurance agent
about what his responsibilities are( I'm in touch with other insurance
agents who think an agent DOES have responsibilities to his customers,
be they first party or third party); and 2) for Ms. Sullivan to talk to
the other attorneys for the independent broker, (Betty Rae Poppo) and
the Hospital about also giving me these notarized affidavits.  Both Ms.
Sullivan's and Mr. Taylor's responses to these requests were less than
enthusiastic but finally they agreed.  I did recieve letters from the
attorneys for the other people stating that Ms. Sullivan had called
them, but they also wanted to hold the affidavits over my head ONLY if I
would release all claims against their clients.  Now since it is my
contention that these affidavits should have been offered long before I
was forced to sue these people I found this extremely disturbing that
they would not make ONE SMALL EFFORT or show of good faith to back up
their convictions that I should be paid even though they had said it, in
other ways and other times, even in writing.

So I told Ms. Sullivan I needed a month to do some research and I did.
It turns out there are responsibilities of these agents and brokers and
that Ms. Sullivan, as sweet as she was acting, was blowing smoke in my
face.  Since the deadline for the decision was approaching, I called her
yesterday with Jack A. on the extension.  As soon as she realized that I
was not going to drop her client as a CONDITION of getting this
affidavit, she became outright hostile.  I, in particular, resented her
contention, that she has "done" something more than she is required to.
In a previous conversation, she wanted me to sympathize with her because
she drove out to Southbridge from Boston to meet with me, even though it
was snowing.  Well, Jack Artale and I drove in the SAME conditions and
we weren't getting paid $200 per hour to do it.  Also at that meeting. I
again said all I wanted was an assurance of some kind that her employer
(an insurance company, of course) or Mr. Taylor himself,  would loan me
money to pursue my lawsuit against UNUM, IF I NEEDED IT.  As soon as we
brought up the subject of money, she became hostile and o insisted her
employer would refuse all monetary settlements because her client had no
responsibilities to me and he had already done enough.

SO, PLEASE FOLKS, HEED MY ADVICE:  Don't give these attorneys an inch,
just because they "seem" to be nice or claim they are exceeding their
duties.
I'm telling you, they are not.  They will say or do anything to get
their clients off the hook.  So I will probably shortly be responding to
my SIXTH motion to dismiss, but meanwhile I have send Mr. Taylor and his
attorney they following letter:

----------------------------------------------------------------------

       Judy Morris, MD
       261 Bumstead Rd.
       Monson, MA  01057
       February 6, 1999

Carolyn G. Sullivan
Melick & Porter, LLP
28 State Street
Boston, MA  02109

Dear Ms. Sullivan and Mr. Taylor,

I am truly sorry that this could not have been resolved on a friendly
basis
However I told you I was going to do some research and I did.  Mr.
Taylor has duties to the ERISA plan and to me that he failed to live up
to.  I think I am far more disappointed by Mr. Taylor's betrayal and
failure to follow up on his offers to help, which now sound like UNUM's
hollow offers of service, than I am about merely being deprived of the
benefits.

This letter is per your request in our telephone conversation of
February 5, 1999 that I send you a monetary demand by which I would
release your client Jack Taylor from this lawsuit.  This would spare Mr.
Taylor and his company of the emotional trauma that I am being subjected
to.  Additionally this will spare your firm the substantial costs of
being involved in this litigation.

I did not come to this value lightly.  In a last ditch effort to resolve
this matter out of court, I am asking for the sum of $100,000.  This is
the amount which I feel will adequately compensate me for my emotional
damages with regards to Mr. Jack Taylor's negligence and betrayal, as
well as removing from him the possibility of not only having to share in
the payment of my disability benefits which his company UNUM failed to
pay, but the treble damage possibilities of RICO.

If this offer is acceptable to you, kindly advise me as soon as
possible.  If not we will regrettably have to leave it up to a court of
law to resolve this issue.


Sincerely,
Judy Morris, MD


cc: Jack Taylor

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The URL for this document is:


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Created: February 6, 1999


Last Updated: May 28, 2000