Saturday, March 14, 2009

Heartless

A fair number of readers have emailed me for some update on the various cases still "out there" awaiting some ruling. In particular, readers are interested in when Judge Henry Kantor will do something, anything by way of a ruling. Judge Kantor must be the slowest Judge in the history of the judiciary. The only case I am aware of awaiting a ruling is the White case, which argues against the settlement agreement in the City of Eugene case. Judge Kantor took written testimony in that case last summer and early fall and was scheduled to take oral arguments in early October. For reasons unclear, he decided that there was nothing relevant to be gained by oral argument and so he cancelled the oral testimony and reported that he would rule from the bench. It is now March 2009, some six months later and we've heard nothing, nada, zero, zip. Not a peep. Easter is April the 12th and perhaps the chickies will peep then, but I have no real hope that Judge Kantor will. I don't have any more of clue when Judge Kantor will declaim on White than anyone else. Whenever it comes, it will surely be anticlimactic as the loser will appeal the case to the Oregon Court of Appeals and ultimately to the Oregon Supreme Court. About the only thing about which I am certain is that the last of the litigation surrounding the City of Eugene case, and the 2003 legislative reforms will probably not come until 2012 or 2013. I find this utterly heartless as many PERS retirees may not live to see any form of justice in these cases. I wish I had more information, but nothing is seeping out of the cracks, the sewer, or anywhere else.

3 comments:

MollyNCharlie said...

I remember thinking when you originally said it might take until 2012 for these PERS cases to get finalized in the Oregon Supreme Court that you were being hard on the judicial system. I really though (way back then) the 2010 would be more likely. Now I'm thinking that we'll be lucky if everything gets resolved by the end of 2012! When the issue is the retirement income of some 40,000 people a decade is way too long to wait for resolution!

peg

GU said...

Do we have any idea what Kantor's motivation is in delaying this? I can't help but think that the current economic conditions give him more motivation to delay. And I wonder is there no one to appeal to when the judicial system fails to do its job...?! Time is of the essence here...! Okay, I'm venting but I'm really ticked off!

mrfearless47 said...

I confess that I don't have a clue about what motivates (or doesn't) Judge Kantor. One would like to think he is passionate and deliberate, but he has shown neither attribute in anything where I've observed him. He is simply slow. His rulings show no real intellect, a layman's understanding of the law, and a disappointing grasp of the consequences of everything he does for those 40,000 retirees hanging on his every move.