Tuesday, March 29, 2011

BRIARCRIER 3/25/11 - by Sy & Elinor Yuter and Rachel Leihbacher

BRIARCRIER
March 25th,2011,Friday 12:15, Recreation Building, Briarcliff Manor NY ROTARY CUB

TODAY IN HISTORY
1911 - Tragic fire at the Triangle Shirt Co. in NYC

MEETING LEADER Dean Dykeman

PLEDGE Sy Yuter PATRIOTIC SONG Sy Yuter PRAYER Paul Rosen

HAPPY THOUGHTS: Shelley - pregnant dog; Zen - Bishop John is not purchasing ticket; Ken- Sy promoting aide to Japan; Dean - for recent training session for Rotary President

ANNOUNCEMENTS - Elinor and Rachel have started doing the Briarcrier. Shelley - an estate planning seminar will be held at The Club. Flyers were distributed. The Briarcliff Booster Club will be sponsoring a golf outing at Trump National Golf Club on May 2nd at 1:00. Cost is $150.00 which includes golf, cart, green fee and barbecue.

SPEAKER AND SUBJECT - Dr. Krishnan Chittur, Esq., regarding consumer fraud



SUMMARY OF TALK

Dr. Krishnan Chittur, Esq., detailed two examples of consumer fraud: (1) where an insurance company wrongfully retroactively cancelled medical coverage and (2) where a bank promised a credit card interest rate of 8.9 % for life but, after a few months, constantly increased the monthly interest rate. In the first case a pregnant woman required a c-section and was denied coverage the last minute, with the doctor demanding a $5000 payment in advance. Both required a class action suit (where the plaintiffs include people with the same situation). Both cases required years of work but the plaintiffs eventually prevailed. Krishnan then discussed the problem of an arbitration clause in the small print of an agreement which was against the best interests of the customer because the arbitrator was selectable only from a group in favor of the corporation. In that case, he was able to get a jury trial and prevailed.

Elinor Yuter, Reporter
Rachel Leihbacher, E-xpediter

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