Archive for March 26th, 2012

Hope and the law.

Monday, March 26th, 2012

In May of 2009, a man named Robert Carroll Gillham set a fire at a Gallery Furniture store and warehouse in Houston. The fire did $20 million worth of damage; fortunately, nobody died.

(For those of you outside of Houston: Gallery Furniture is run by a colorful local character named Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale, and is somewhat famous for their commercials. Especially the tag line: “Gallery Furniture SAVES. YOU. MONEY!” Their YouTube channel is here.)

Gillham began working at the store in 1989 and was fired in 2007, for allegedly running a de facto loan sharking business.

What, pray tell, is a “de facto loan sharking business”?

But that’s not what I wanted to talk about. You see, Mr. Gillham’s trial has been delayed, and he’s being sent to a state mental hospital.

Why? Is he crazy?

No. He has a brain tumor.

“He’s got a growth between his brain and his skull that’s pushing down into his brain that’s causing significant cognitive defects,” said Gillham’s attorney, Brett Podolsky.

Well, okay. If he’s having cognitive problems, well, part of the foundation of a fair trial is that you be able to effectively participate in your own defense.

So what’s the problem?

Podolsky said he hopes doctors at the state hospital where Gillham is transferred will remove the non-malignant tumor, which is just smaller than a golf ball.

He hopes? He freaking hopes that the doctors are going to remove the tumor, rather than letting Mr. Gillham continue to suffer from cognitive issues? Hopes?

What. The. F–k. Dude. I see this kind of thing a lot; as a matter of fact, I was discussing it with some coworkers this morning.

Hope is not a strategy.

It is nice to hope things go well. It is nice to hope everything works properly. But it is much better to plan and prepare and make sure, whether you’re jumping out of a helicopter with jet engines and a kitchen table strapped to your back, or defending a client with a brain tumor. Hope is never a substitute for planning and preparation. Hope is not an effective backup plan. Nor, for that matter, is it an effective plan for much else.

I understand, of course, that Podolsky isn’t going to be doing the operation himself. But…

Podolsky said he does not know why it has not been removed.

Yeah, well, if I were you, dude, I’d be asking some pretty hard questions, especially since Gillham has already been in the hospital several times because of this.

Hookers. No blow.

Monday, March 26th, 2012

“A Canadian appeals court in Ontario ruled Monday that banning brothels is unconstitutional and could put prostitutes in danger by not allowing them to work in a safe location.”

Kleptocracy.

Monday, March 26th, 2012

I can’t honestly recommend that you use your limited number of free NYT stories this month to go over and read this article. After all, it is about an obscure non-profit hospital in the Bushwick area of Brooklyn; unless you live in that area, why should you care?

What piques my interest about this story, though, is the chain of…shall we say, questionable management decisions by the hospital. For example:

  • The hospital’s former president was hired in spite of the fact that he’d never managed a hospital before.
  • He drove a Bentley Continental GT to work. (Yes, he has the right to drive whatever he wants, but that’s a $160,000 car for an administrator at a non-profit hospital. As a side note, why would anyone in NYC drive a nice car? I know I’d be worried about mine getting trashed. I’d get a cheap beater; if I really wanted a nice car, I’d garage it outside the city and drive the beater in and out.)
  • The operative word there is “drove”. He had his license pulled, under circumstances he’s not forthcoming about, in 2009.
  • At that point, he parked the Bentley at the hospital and had the hospital take over the multi-thousand dollar insurance payment. (He says that he reimbursed the hospital, but I’m not clear if that has been confirmed yet.)
  • Then he started using the hospital’s vehicles, a Lincoln Town Car and a Cadillac Escalade, for his personal use. He used two security guards, who were being paid overtime pay, as drivers.
  • “…he suspected that the drivers of the Town Car and the Escalade were eavesdropping on his conversations. So he had the hospital purchase a used stretch limousine for about $33,000. “
  • “One member of the hospital’s board obtained for the pharmacy that he owned the exclusive right to market prescription drugs to hospital patients.” (Is it just me, or is that a really badly written sentence? I know: glass houses, stones.)
  • “Another board member lent $2.4 million to the ailing Wyckoff at 12 percent interest, with the hospital required to put up several of its buildings as security.”
  • “13 of the hospital’s 22 board members declared at least one conflict of interest.”
  • Various politicians have managed to get friends of theirs hired into high level positions. For example, one councilman’s wife is the PR director.
  • “The hospital all but defaulted on its $109 million in state-secured bonds, forcing the taxpayers to cover $10 million due to bondholders before the state agreed in May to defer the hospital’s overdue payments.”
  • “Wyckoff no longer even carries malpractice insurance. ” Holy. Crap.
  • I haven’t even mentioned the disbarred lawyer who graduated from a Caribbean medical school and got a residency at Wyckoff, even though the hospital didn’t have any openings for residents. (Can you say “John L. Sampson of Brooklyn, the Senate Democratic leader”?)

Side note: “The hospital recently sold the stretch limousine for $18,000; it had cost $33,000 eight months ago. It sold the Lincoln Town Car for $9,000 and hopes to get $18,000 for the Escalade.”

I’d really like to know what year that Escalade is. You have to go back to 2006 to find one in the $18K range around here (at least on cars.com). If we’re talking 2008 – 2009 or later, I’d seriously consider flying up to NYC and driving back.