Re: Insurance....yes or no

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On 9/22/05, Guess Who wrote:
>
> Dear Mr. Know-It-All
>
"> Why are you posting this information if you have it
> ALL-Figured-Out? If you think you know the system that
well,
> then good for you! Think your nuts? No, but you might be
> crying one day because you have lot it all."

Here is my reply and why I think insurance my be a waste of
money:

AP Wire:

MADISON, Wis. - A Wisconsin judge has criticized a Dallas
company that is a leading arbitrator nationwide in disputes
over home construction projects, saying the company cannot be
considered a fair judge.

Dane County Circuit Court Judge Michael Nowakowski last week
laid out a trove of information that he said calls into
question the impartiality of Construction Arbitration
Services, a Dallas company often used to resolve disputes over
contracts and buildings.

Hoping to avoid expensive litigation, building companies and
contractors often add provisions in contracts that disputes
will be handled by a third-party arbitrator such as
Construction Arbitration Services.

Consumer advocates say the system is stacked against consumers
who sign away their rights to sue and instead get unfavorable
rulings from biased arbitrators whose awards cannot be
appealed.

In a ruling Friday, Nowakowski disqualified Construction
Arbitration Services from arbitrating a hearing set for Monday
between a Wisconsin building company and landscaper.

He ruled that the company gave favorable rulings to
construction companies, not consumers, in order to get repeat
work; the company did not disclose that its co-owner and
general counsel had been disbarred for lying and stealing; and
that it had misrepresented the credentials of an arbitrator.

Because of those factors, the arbitration would be tainted, he
said.

Craig Olson, senior vice president of arbitration with
Construction Arbitration Services, which handles about 60 home
arbitrations per month across the country, said the company is
not biased. He said company officials do not tell their
arbitrators how to rule and insist they follow ethical
guidelines.

Arbitration is a quicker way to settle disputes than going to
courts, Olson said.

Consumer groups have been increasingly critical of the
Construction Arbitration Services and its ties to construction
companies. They hailed the ruling from Nowakowski, saying he
is one of the first judges in the nation to raise questions
about the company's perceived bias.

"It's good news," said Samantha Coulombe of Public Citizen, a
consumer advocacy group in Washington, D.C. "As CAS is a prime
example, it's rife with impartiality and there's a lot of
danger for it being a biased system that isn't going to lead
to fair adjudications of disputes."

Nowakowski also said the company's impartiality could be
questioned by a reasonable person because:

_ It had misrepresented the credentials of Norman Hintz, of
Franklin, Wis., who was going to be the arbitrator in Monday's
hearing. The judge said Hintz, a former city alderman, did not
have a degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee nor
was he licensed as a state building inspector as the company
claimed.

Hintz, 71, on Wednesday defended his credentials, saying he
earned a two-year certificate, not a degree, from the school
and that he had a long career as a municipal building
inspector before retiring.

"I'm using my expertise in a fashion that's going to unclog
the courts," he said. "Arbitration is a lower cost and faster
method of resolving differences."

_ The company's co-owner and general counsel, Marshall
Lippman, was disbarred in New York and Washington, D.C., in
1997 for stealing client funds, neglecting clients, lying
under oath, and obstructing an investigation.

Lippman was admonished by a judge in Oregon last year for
claiming he was still licensed to practice law. State
investigators in New Jersey also said he had lied about being
a dean of the New York University Law School and serving on a
national board of arbitrators.

Nowakowski called Lippman "a person whose ethical obligations
apparently were not very important to him and his devotion to
the interests of furthering his business allowed him to lie to
a court."

Lippman did not return a phone message left at the company.
Olson said Lippman has divested his ownership in the company
and has not been general counsel for one year.END

Hey know it all.....forgive me for having a brain and looking
up some facts. Construction Arbitration Services was the arb.
service my insurance company used. Looks like my 3,000 dollar
policy may not have been much good anyway. Do a google search
on CAS....there is a lot more like the above info.

What do you have to say now.....know .....it.....all?????????