Honour the public and end the lawsuit

Published Thursday July 2nd, 2009
A8
Stumble Upon
Digg It
Share on Facebook
Print this article
Email this article
11 Comment(s)

The Saint John pension board's defamation lawsuit against former councillor John Ferguson has never been popular, but new polling data reveals just how unpopular it is. The lawsuit now has five times more critics than it has supporters, representing a clear majority of those residents pollsters spoke to.

Click to Enlarge
Click to Enlarge

Council's representatives on the pension board must push for an end to the lawsuit. It is the politically responsible thing to do. From a pragmatic perspective, it is also the best way to protect the interests of city employees and pensioners.

The total costs of the suit to date are estimated at approximately $1 million, with some $500,000 in fees generated by the plaintiff pension board. The costs could escalate as the document discovery process continues, and the case has not even made its way to trial yet. If the pension board loses and costs are awarded to the defendant, the bill will most likely be sent to the pension fund, where any long-term deficits are charged to Saint John taxpayers. Residents are already inconvenienced by the additional demand placed on the city clerk's office by the discovery process.

If the plaintiff pension board had polled the employees and pensioners whose interests it represents, how many would have given approval to proceed with this costly gamble? How many approve of it now, knowing employees are being asked to adopt concessions to help the city pay down a pension deficit?

Mayor Ivan Court - the chairman of the current pension board - recently stated that if the city must absorb annual pension deficit payments of $16 million a year for 15 years, "we would have to declare the city bankrupt." Yet the mayor has been a stalwart defender of the plaintiff pension board's lawsuit - a lawsuit which could add $1 million or more to pension deficits in the future.

For the sake of the city, its taxpayers, employees and pensioners, bring this lawsuit to an end before the bill gets any bigger.

 

Disabled

Commenting has been disabled for this item. Existing comments appear below but you may not add a new comment at this time.

Comments (11)

All comments are subject to the site Terms of Use. For a full commenting tutorial click here.

Our editorial team relies on filtering technology and our visitor community to identify inappropriate comments. In the event that a site user has submitted offensive content that has evaded our filter, please select the option to Flag As Inappropriate presented within the comment. Thank you for helping to keep this site clean.

hey Snook/Sullivan where are you?
32
Thumbs Up
Thumbs Up
7
Thumbs Down
Thumbs Down
Nuff Said, Saint John on 02/07/09 07:09:17 AM AST
Time for some of you to start showing leadership or you'll be booted out as well next election.
34
Thumbs Up
Thumbs Up
6
Thumbs Down
Thumbs Down
Nuff Said, Saint John on 02/07/09 07:10:14 AM AST
So, the cost of the lawsuit is estimated, at $500,000 as of now, and the concern is that if the board loses, they may have to pay costs. My question is that where do they expect the costs to come from if they win? Will Ferguson be coughing up the purported $1 Million? I doubt it very much. Cut your losses, because you lose either way. It's an irresponsible pursuit, based on spite. Yet another example of poor management. Good managers estimate costs in either result, and decide based on cost/benefit. I see the cost, but what benefit is possible?
40
Thumbs Up
Thumbs Up
1
Thumbs Down
Thumbs Down
owen meaney, rothesay on 02/07/09 07:42:09 AM AST
The total costs of the suit to date are estimated at approximately $1 million, with some $500,000 in fees generated by the plaintiff pension board. The costs could escalate as the document discovery process continues, and the case has not even made its way to trial yet. If the pension board loses and costs are awarded to the defendant, the bill will most likely be sent to the pension fund, where any long-term deficits are charged to Saint John taxpayers. Residents are already inconvenienced by the additional demand placed on the city clerk's office by the discovery process.

I cut and pasted the costs associated with this lawsuit..and I am wondering why council would waste taxpayers money in this way. And as Owen stated above, how do they expect to recover these costs if they win. Does Titus have assets worth that amount thay could be seized and sold? This is a farce, and a waste. What is wrong with our Counsellors? Does the above not paint a clear enough picture?
30
Thumbs Up
Thumbs Up
1
Thumbs Down
Thumbs Down
Gimme abreak, saint john nb on 02/07/09 09:54:42 AM AST
Any smart business person undertaking a suit of this kind would estimate the costs beforehand, and the likelihood of recovery, and make a sensible decision to sue, or not to sue based on the possible outcome. I can only surmise that because the money wasn't coming out of his pocket, that it was animosity that prompted this waste, not good judgement.
29
Thumbs Up
Thumbs Up
1
Thumbs Down
Thumbs Down
Gimme abreak, saint john nb on 02/07/09 09:59:21 AM AST
As much as I agree with the animosity and pettiness and silencing the looking for information and accountability which was the basis of this lawsuit and since our council doesn't have the guts to buck Titus, the city solicitor and the ever-present hovering Totten, all of whom are looking out solely for themselves, in making a public inquiry take place, the only way we will ever find out what is going on with our pension fund is for the lawsuit to go to trial. Maybe what we citizens should be doing is investigating suing the pension board for the money they are spending on this lawsuit. That way our pensioners and our children won't have to continue paying the bills for their entitled, arrogant and unfounded lawsuit.
18
Thumbs Up
Thumbs Up
0
Thumbs Down
Thumbs Down
trust is earned, Saint John on 02/07/09 11:14:35 AM AST
That money could have filled a lot of pot holes...
24
Thumbs Up
Thumbs Up
0
Thumbs Down
Thumbs Down
Shawn Peterson, Saint John on 02/07/09 11:49:19 AM AST
I'd love to see the TJ publish the names and photos of the pension board members on the front page on a regular basis along with a running estimate of the lawsuit costs to date.

Common sense is obviously not at work here....maybe we can use public vilification!
17
Thumbs Up
Thumbs Up
1
Thumbs Down
Thumbs Down
Port City, Saint John on 02/07/09 02:29:36 PM AST
I love how John Ferguson is consistently portayed as an innocent victim in all this. He made slanderous statements that were based on absolutely nothing, and wouldn't stop his ridiculous "crusade" even when all his questions were answered. He's not a hero, he is delusional. Ferguson deserves to go to court and face the music.
0
Thumbs Up
Thumbs Up
2
Thumbs Down
Thumbs Down
R T, Saint John on 03/07/09 11:36:34 AM AST
Interesting how RT thinks looking for facts and tranparency on our obviously failing pension fund is a crusade in a negative sense. If more citizens were crusaders in this way, we just might be able to keep our city from being run into the ground by RT's heroes. The pension board members weren't slandered, they were held accountable and they responded as bullies do, bullying and persuading the sheep that it was justified.
1
Thumbs Up
Thumbs Up
0
Thumbs Down
Thumbs Down
trust is earned, Saint John on 03/07/09 02:18:08 PM AST
All comments are subject to these Terms of Use
Advertisement
Advertisement

Search Articles

More CE Network Sites & Partners: