Whether you were part of the litigation group or are still enjoying your time at the resort there has been a lot of things decided that people will have to live with from these proceedings. If you ever draw that line in the sand in deciding it is time to part ways with your timeshare, ask yourself:
1. Will you actually be able to get out
2. If you can exit, how costly will it be
3. Remember the resort management plays the legal game to win (kind of like World of Warcraft – have a comprehensive plan, play strategically, and look for an opponent’s weakness and manipulate it)
4. The presiding judges interpret legal arguments and their decisions made have been done around the ability to reach a conclusion based on legal president, evidence, and facts – present a case the way that is expected and leave the surprises at the door, emotion and poor case presentation doesn’t = winning (a judge is not there to do a lawyers job)
The contracts have:
· no exit provision other than the term and Legacy of Life is in perpetuity (for ever and ever)
· the resort management can change the contract or do another assessment at any time – it doesn’t take much to validate this and most of the rebels will be culled shortly
· the timeshare is worthless so no one is going to ever buy or want to inherit it so how much will it cost to have the resort management buy it – from what I read the going figure to dump it today is about $16,000 for someone who is all paid up. Good luck in the future, the resort management will not need it and does not want it – it’s a liability not an asset.
Just recently in talking with members of this litigation group, there is a lot of things that don’t make sense and come to the conclusion the lawyer is either:
· done with the group (game over) and has figured out the gravy train and groups good will is at an end perfectly coinciding with the next bigger client (suckers) out of the US who see a knight in shining armor and hearing of great wins and exploits through successfully negotiated a great release settlement for their existing clients). Having a delay now may impede on collection of fresh retainers
· not sure, is this no clue, arrogant, or incompetent. Why not just focus on actually negotiating a settlement right out of the gate like the lawyer’s clients have instructed (maybe there was, and it wasn’t shared – who knows) instead of abandoning and not presenting key evidence at trial, pissing the judge off, killing key negotiation chips, prejudicing individual clients for what has proven to be a very flawed approach, and not reading Negotiating For Dummies 101. Reading the transcripts from super conferences to trials there has been so many breadcrumbs provided by judges you would think a follow-up strategy / roadmap would present itself for a economical solution by following the advice of these learned people who clearly are not the litigation groups lawyer / strategist but nevertheless provided a trail as they could see the righting on the wall and pending injustice.
· Some are even suggesting collusion – haven’t seen direct evidence to support this but there has been a lot of suggestions it’s out there
Insult to injury – next the lawyer will inform everyone all the collected trust money is used up and will hit the trough up one more time to process all those huge settlement tabs and prepare the individual statement claims (or more than likely there will not be time for this as there is the new retainers to attend to so delegating tasks to discredited individuals may be more efficient and just manage efforts)
· Ever wonder how much has been collected in the trust and has it been administered correctly and prudently – wonder how accurate the bouncing litigation group member figure is and if all have paid all the retainers
· Can this lawyer actually do the things properly to get a final release (so far way more losses than wins on the lawyer’s track record) or will the lawyer screw up again and allow people to be stuck with their timeshare after paying all that money out (at that point everyone needs a guarantee) – this might be an interesting strategy, if everyone is forced to pay their full invoice they are entitled to start using their timeshare again – will there be units available to use
· Why are proceedings like the petitions that would see the resort torn apart (that also act as negotiation chips) all ready being abandoned, what’s going to happen with the two appeals that have been filed – nothing is a done deal
· Its my understanding when appeals have been filed in Alberta and BC for the most recent trials the lawyer must request and pay for transcripts – has the litigation group members seen these recent transcripts to review the lawyers performance at these trials and get insight as to why the judge is pissed at the lawyer (might have to do with res judicata and surprise motions) as the litigation trust paid for them
· Bet there is a tone of wasted research paid for by the litigation groups trust for things like how can a class action be achieved – unfortunately research like this needs a client who can benefit from it but if the lawyer has tainted all the exiting clients who actually stand to benefit from a future action as there is a good chance the existing trust clients cannot benefit from it so has this been a waste of money or is there another agenda that this group paid for
The best way to keep clients from demanding results is to keep them segregated and fearing being abandoned to fend for themselves (kind of like what bullies do) – do members of this litigation group ever feel this way? Are conversations censored and manipulated, is there a feeling of being monitored, has it been said that the individual knowledge is dangerous as the individual cannot be trusted just in case they are a spy or will say something to blow up the whole case (guess it wouldn’t have mattered – how much worse could the litigation group members have made it if they spilled the non-existent beans a couple of years ago). Enough is enough – all the rules were followed and now everyone is a big loser and in hind site probably would have been cheaper to go it alone but going this far there is only one thing to do, start questioning what has happened without worrying about repercussion (really what can be done at this point to make it worse) and start communicating and sharing – time to force accountability.
My bet is litigation members are being segregated for a reason and been appeased for years by being satisfied hearing that a settlement was around the next corner but all that is consistent is a request for another retainer and advice not to rock the boat, stay the coarse as every member matters as the numbers are what counts so sticking together benefits everyone – it’s always someone else’s fault for the failed negotiations!!
Has anyone actually been involved with providing direct input and not just played to think their voice matters – was there actually a road map and who has been driving this group? Are there members of the litigation group who don’t have an ulterior motive like taking over the resort who are the inner circle or better yet, is there still an inner circle of people who are timeshare owners?
So how many people have been betrayed – what happened to the promise of an individual review of the offer to settle before any hard and fast decision is made as promised twice in written correspondences and verbally. Seems anyone who was forced into choosing either option now sees they have made a terrible decision because of trust, manipulation, and coercion (remember protecting your rights made you an outcast of the group and would result your banishment). Having no input in such a life impacting choice is wrong or being abandoned and vulnerable as you were made to believe because you disagreed with the dictatorship option was not a choice at all.
Looking back there is many cases of manipulation all with the premise to benefit the group but did they – the most resent manipulations are to provide a smoke screen to set the lawyer up to show it is the will of the group or let the mavericks fend for themselves (hopefully everyone who became a maverick knows about what the lawyer on record must provide clients who are parting ways (pretty much a copy of everything) and the parting of the ways has been done procedurally correctly or if not, they are still part of the litigation group as the judge clearly stated the matter needed to be dealt with as a whole and not individually at this stage of the proceedings).
The judge gave direction for three options to be followed for the two sides to come to an arrangement and if talks fail they would progress from 1 to 2 and finally to 3:
1. Mutually (this is as far as the lawyer made it before throwing in the towel) – just curious, did any member of the litigation group attend and consent or was this just what the lawyers decided?
2. Arbitrated (could be binding or non-binding) by neutral 3rd party – sounds fair enough
3. The judge would hear submissions and decide everyone’s fate
Does the lawyer even know what they have committed individual clients too? Maybe not – here is an estimated real-life example as no real information has actually been passed on to affected parties as of yet so individuals need to assume and are braising for the worst
· Get the 2018 statement for an annual + biannual prime that is in arrears for about $32,000 as it probably hasn’t been paid since the start as recommended by the lawyer which comprised of the original renovation fee
for all building to be renovated, yearly maintenance, and lots of interest at 26% and add-in say a 20% ($6400) resort manager fee to relieve you of your liability (timeshare) brings you to just shy of $40,000
· So let’s say there are 1000 people that will be settling – quick math = $40.000,000 (right off the bat that means $6,400,000 goes to the resort manager, wonder how much of the other $33,000,000 will end up staying in the resort as now the VIA contracts are worthless as the resort manager now can change them to suite itself the majority holder)
What can be done
1. Express your concerns to your lawyer
2. Contact the presiding judge (remember be respectful – they have done their job properly)
3. Contact provincial law society (again be respectful, look up the rules, provide supporting documentation to your claims, and summarize your grievances along with how your lawyer has failed to meet the Code of Conduct all lawyers are professionally bound too)
FYI – complaining to your lawyer may get you a generic email response indicating to suck it up if you chose an option originally or invite you to leave (which by the way is not really an option because of the lawyer on record thing and judges directions to get this resolved as a whole not individually).
I am definitely not a lawyer so I cannot offer legal advice but be cautious what you post in open forums – be happy to hear from you if you have something you want to say more directly, send me an email if you like
back123@shaw.ca
My intent is to ignite communications which I expect will come in many forms from positive to hostile and hope other people also exercise their right to question recent developments and send a resounding
UNACCEPTABLE message down whatever route you are most comfortable with.
I no longer want to be isolated!!!
