A stern judge presides as reparations fight begins

Boston Globe, MA ^ | 8/24/2003 | Lori Rotenberk

[schaketo]

CHICAGO -- The next chapter in the legal battle for slave reparations is unfolding away from the spotlight, on the 24th floor of a federal building downtown under the guidance of a veteran judge known as "No Nonsense Norgle."

Lawsuits brought by a dozen plaintiffs in six states alleging that 19 blue-chip businesses benefited from slave labor in the 19th century have been consolidated for a single trial before US District Judge Charles Norgle.

[MistrX]

Reparations = Blackmail. Whatever we do, it will never be enough for them.

[07055]

The contemporary reparations movement began in 2000 when Aetna Inc., of Hartford, issued an apology after a student at the New England School of Law uncovered the company's history of insuring the lives of slaves.

Real smart move to apologize, huh, Aetna?

[mhking]

I don't want any blood money. Loser pays would work wonders here.

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[07055]

"What is on trial here is whether Judge Charles Norgle has the courage to allow the facts to come out after 247 years of slavery and dehumanization,"

Gee, was there slavery in the United States once? I never knew anything about it until I heard about this lawsuit. I guess we better investigate further. Did this have anything to do with that "Civil War" I heard about once a long time ago?

[CIB-173RDABN]

The contemporary reparations movement began in 2000 when Aetna Inc., of Hartford, issued an apology after a student at the New England School of Law uncovered the company's history of insuring the lives of slaves.

---

Many companies have insurance policies on their employees (that pay the company in case of death), so why does it matter if slaves were insured?

(And I am not arguing for slavery, only pointing out that the fact that a slave was insured did nothing to harm them.)

[jonathanmo]

"The plaintiffs include a 72-year-old Chicago nurse who is the daughter of slaves"...

Let's see...born in 1931 or so....Amendment 13 in 1865...so the youngest one of her parents (assume father) could have been was 66 years old...that's quite a stretch..I wonder how many years they had to dig to find this person ONLY for the purpose of this lawsuit..

[Gringo1]

Reparations = Another money-for-nothing play.

[Thom Pain]

What exactly is the statute of limitations in this situation? Isn't there a statute of limitations even for murder?

[friendly]

Northern freedom loving Republicans fought and died battling Southern slave-owner Democrats to liberate the plantations (nothing's changed in 140 years).

Logic demands that the Democrat Party owes all the reparations, begining with the newly multi-millionaire Clintons and their DNC fiefdom.

ANTE UP BOYS!!!!!

[Brian Allen]

Peter Principle: : In any hierarchy every employee tends to rise to the level of his incompetence!

<< Real smart move to apologize, huh, Aetna? >>

Quod erat demonstrandum!

[PatrickHenry]

Isn't there a statute of limitations even for murder?

No, usually not. But when the perpetrator is long dead, the whole issue is moot. Unless you have a law that says you can punish his great-grandchildren for their ancestor's crime.

[Quix]

Her hideous heinous--Bwitch Shrillery Antoinette de Fosterizer de Marx de Kevorkian de Machiavelli de Sade et al will not be happy until they have torn every sub-atomic particle from every other sub-atomic particle formerly making up the goose that laid golden eggs.

Then they will blame the destruction on the goose and set about tearing each other's eyes and hearts out with hay hooks and their own claws.

[BenLurkin]

If this judge had ANY back-bone this case would have been thrown out on its ear long ago!

[SedVictaCatoni]

If this judge had ANY back-bone this case would have been thrown out on its ear long ago!

The defendants said that they had moved to dismiss, probably on statute of limitations and laches grounds. (I.e., it's just been too long, no matter what.)

It probably took the defendants a long time to put together their motion to dismiss, both because of coordination issues and because that's essentially their fundamental argument.

I'm willing to bet that the judge would be willing to dismiss in a heartbeat. But what he's doing is very carefully writing an opinion, which thoroughly demolishes the claims of the reparationists, and offers a model for other judges - because these people will refile and try this nonsense again in other courts - to use to dismiss these suits as well.

And opinions, especially large and important ones, take forever to write. So the judge probably wanted to throw the case out on its ear long ago, but these things take time.

[PatrickHenry]

Link to Aetna's website, which discusses the litigation and gives links to court documents. I think it's all here.
Slavery Reparations Litigation.

[1stFreedom]

The black community owes the Mexican - American community reparations for all the deportations of Mexicans in the 30's.

Beware of collective guilt. If they get reparations, I want an IMMEDIATE freezing of the reparation assets so that they can make reparations to those who were forced and fled from the US in the 1930's. If the assest aren't frozen they will be spent.

[Iscool]

Unless you have a law that says you can punish his great-grandchildren for their ancestor's crime.

And then, there has to be a crime...

[Sacajaweau]

You're correct...We are not reponsible for the debts of our ancestors.