Posted on 08/01/2006 7:06:01 AM PDT by LurkedLongEnough
NEWTOWN - The estate of a man electrocuted while painting the Newtown Meeting House is suing the town and the nonprofit group that controls the local landmark, claiming the work environment wasn't safe.
Virginia Martinez of Port Chester, N.Y., filed a lawsuit against Newtown and the Heritage Preservation Trust of Newtown Inc. on July 19. Martinez, a family friend, claims that the town and the trust were negligent in the July 26, 2004, death of Ivan Patricio Tenecela, a native of Ecuador who lived in Port Chester, N.Y.
Danbury Probate Court appointed Martinez as executrix of Tenecela's estate In April 2005."It was an unsatisfactory work environment we are studying," said the estate's lawyer, Philip Russell of Greenwich.
Martinez claims Newtown and the trust are responsible for Tenecela's death because they did not warn him about the power lines or "hire a competent painting company."
Tenecela, 25, was among a group of seven painters working on the outside of the 18th century Meeting House on Main Street when electricity from a power line shot through an aluminum ladder and shocked him and another man.
The second man, Victor Sesquisela, of Port Chester, N.Y., lived but was severely burned. He also came from Ecuador. He does not have a lawsuit on file in Superior Court, and Russell said he did not know if Sesquisela plans to file one.
Russell said Tenecela came here to work to support his wife, two children and extended family, who are still in Ecuador.
"It's a big blow. A lot of money had been invested in getting him here," Russell said. "He was a financial lifeline. His goal in life was to work hard in America and send money back to his family."
Russell declined to give more details about his client's background, including when his client came to America. When asked if Tenecela had a green card, Russell declined to comment.
Whether he was legally in the United States or not doesn't affect his right to sue, Russell said. "This is America. The rights of humans are the rights of everyone."
Tenecela's estate also filed a lawsuit against Campbell Quality Painting, which hired him and others to paint the house in 2005. John Chaffee of Westport, who is representing Campbell, declined comment Monday. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which investigates worker safety, fined Campbell $3,000, saying Tenecela was not properly trained.
OSHA cited Campbell for tying two ladders together to give them a longer reach, for using the wrong type of ladder near electrical equipment, and for failing to provide a training program for employees who would be using the ladders in a hazardous environment.
Russell said his client went to work that day ill-prepared to paint. He was wearing sneakers that had holes in them.
The Meeting House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is owned by the town, but a private trust maintains it.
Newtown's lawyer, David Grogins, said the case will be referred to CIRMA, or the Connecticut Interlocal Risk Management Agency."The town would be represented by the insurance carrier," said Grogins, of the firm Cohen and Wolf of Danbury.
Perhaps. But my way is a little less Gestapo.
My way simply withholds services that taxpayers and citizens pay for and the illegals don't.
Your way requires an active action (on-the-spot assassination or 'hunting').
Yeah, you do make a good point, though I'd argue that we have a system of Charity hospitals already in place to assist those who can't realistically pay for their service. Bankrupcy law (which is actually our replacement for the old debtor prison system, which I'd argue was more effective) also has it's place, though as a legal recourse, it is only really available to legal citizens, and therefore we'd still require some kind of recourse to take if an illegal alien breaches the hospital's trust...
The reasons for our high medical rates are obviously pertinent to the discussion, but probably not necessarily appropriate for this thread. I'd theorize that the fact that only 1 out of every 8 patients pay for their service has something to do with it... :)
Question: When your business grants credit, do you check the person's citizenship? Do you do anything to ensure that you're not putting yourself at risk for granting said credit? I'd theorize that hospitals should be able to do the same thing, if businesses routinely do it.
Regards,
~dt~
If you were in Israel right now, would you shoot anyone coming over your borders, without permission?
Why should we tolerate any differnt. An invasion is an invasion. WE can lose our livelihoods, or our lives! God canb made the distinction. He's pretty smart, you know!
Dear Lazamataz,
Yes, your way is cosmetically a bit better. However, my way is perhaps a little more honest, and has the added benefit of being a potential money-maker for the government.
Under your way, folks can kill, rape, maim, enslave illegal immigrants all day long, anyway.
Under my way, yeah, we're giving the government good housekeeping seal of approval to all the killing, raping, maiming, and enslaving, but we can SELL that government good housekeeping seal of approval!
I mean, heck, I know folks with illegal nannies, maids, gardeners. Some of these relationships already border on slavery. If we let the government issue a license to "own" an illegal, I'm sure folks will gladly cough up a thousand or two bucks for the initial license, and an annual renewal fee of another grand.
If we're going to freely permit folks to kill, rape, and maim these folks, why not issue expensive permits for these activities?
Your problem, Laz, is that you're just not thinking outside the box.
;-)
sitetest
I remember walking into a Walmart. All the help stocking the shelves couldn't speak English. They looked like Amerindians, the usual illegals. Big meat processing plants come to mind as using illegals. I suspect big agricultural businesses use them also. Small landscape and roofing business have no special clout with the senate and president. It's the big business that do. It's the big business that are using cheap labor. You don't have to be a union member to see this happening.
I don't have any special animus toward union labor. On most privately funded jobs they are productive. They do take advantage of public works projects but so do government officials and business owners. Union labor was steadfast in their support against Communism for most of the twentieth Century. The desired effect of bring in unlimited illegal is to kill unions and lower wages across the board. I see no one else to blame but the President and the Senate.
Ping to #40 :)
I reject the erroneous presumption that the two have any resemblence to one another. My way is a simple denial of services. Your way involves proactive action.
Dear detsaoT,
"Charity hospitals ..."
By law, any hospital that offers emergency services must accept patients and treat them without regard to ability to pay. Effectively, all hospitals with emergency rooms are at least in part, charity hospitals.
Bankruptcy as a replacement for debtors' prisons is at least in part an acknowledgement that the inability to pay a debt isn't usually the same as theft, and thus, forcing someone to work off that debt is a form of involuntary servitude not generally permitted by the 13th Amendment.
"Question: When your business grants credit, do you check the person's citizenship?"
We only grant credit to businesses, as we only do business-to-business work.
"Do you do anything to ensure that you're not putting yourself at risk for granting said credit?"
We generally rely on the good reputation of our clients. In our business, our clients aren't generally complete strangers. As well, there are other protections built into our processes.
"I'd theorize that hospitals should be able to do the same thing, if businesses routinely do it."
Hospitals DO check your ability to pay. If you need routine treatment of a non-emergent health problem, and you don't have health insurance or a Visa card with a really big limit, they aren't going to admit you.
However, the law doesn't permit hospitals to make these checks to provide emergency treatment (although if you walk into a hospital emergency room and you don't clearly need medical attention this very second, you will be first asked for your insurance/payment methods).
I'm not sure that practically, it'd be a good idea to permit them to do those checks before rendering emergency services.
Of course, the upshot of all this is that folks without insurance or a lot of money wind up getting most of their health care through emergency rooms, which is a very expensive way to do things.
sitetest
Good idea. I want my hospital, where I'm at risk for infection, to be cleaned by some simpleton from across the border rather than someone who knows what he is doing.
That's convincing evidence.
So now it's Bush, the Senate, Big Business in general, and Wal-Mart in particular that are all bad, and unions that are good?
Further, the "small landscapers and roofers" you defend aren't competing with big businesses (which you claim use illegal labor), so what forces them to hire illegals?
Dear Lazamataz,
"I reject the erroneous presumption that the two have any resemblence to one another. My way is a simple denial of services. Your way involves proactive action."
That's just hiding from reality.
If folks are permitted to aggress with complete legal impunity against a class of persons, many will commit acts of aggression. It is an invitation. In fact, it will become readily acceptable to work your own advantage against any person in this class.
On the other hand, my way, ironically, will likely REDUCE the incidence of aggression against this class of persons, because there will be some folks who don't want to pay for the permits.
AND, we still raise money for the Treasury.
It's the best of all possible worlds!! ;-)
sitetest
Dear xroadie,
I don't really know about such a policy. Could very well be.
However, my understanding is that most law enforcement will try to investigate and prosecute crimes against illegal immigrants without regard to their legal status, because to do otherwise is a violation of basic justice.
Unfortunately, many illegal immigrants don't realize that the risk of deportation is low if they report crimes against them, and thus, many crimes go unreported and thus, unpunished.
sitetest
Each of us can work the problem as we see fit.
Self interest. As I said before if your competitor cheats, you cheat or go out of business.
What would force them to not hire illegals? Enforcement of the present laws by the present President with the support of the present Senate.
Next time Bush tells you the "illegals are doing the work that Americans won't do" remember to finish the thought at half the wages to which Amerians are accoustomed.
Dear Lazamataz,
I never endorsed the general principle of leaving illegal immigrants to the predations of others. You're the one who advanced that idea.
As you've admitted, no one's going to implement your version of the idea, either.
I just extended your idea a little, to make it a little more... "cost effective," and perhaps a little more open and transparent.
sitetest
You didn't make it more transparent.
You simply changed windows.
Dear Lazamataz,
"You didn't make it more transparent.
"You simply changed windows."
LOL!
Nah. I just took off the window-dressings.
;-)
sitetest
LOL! No you didn't. You moved to a completely different building!
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