Mason Springs a Leak

And it'll cost you.

Because in spite of the occasional lapse in taste and judgment, GA is a place to find useful information as well as facts hiding in plain sight. Those are the ones that get skipped over in the telling of the mundane parts of a story: the how, where, when and why. 

I'm talking about the leak of information--  the alleged $2 million settlement the City offered to the 5 police officers suing former Lieutenant Angelo Andriani for discrimination.

The leak to Hoboken411.

Hmmm...  

WHO could possibly have leaked the details of this confidential settlement to H411 ghostwriter Lane Bajardi for a quick and dirty hit on Mayor Zimmer... who, who, WHO?

WHO lives and breathes hatred for the mayor and obsesses about her downfall?  Who? WHO?

WHO has an unseemly private partnership with Hoboken411 that has never been seen on an ELEC report to-date in spite of 24/7 advertising and execution of political strategy?   WHO????

  (play video now)



My goodness, I hurt my brain trying to figure that one out.  Ouch.

Of course we all know WHO. 

So I consulted GA's legal department- did you know I had one?  Neither did I. But now I do.  I have a lawyer-friend named Larry who's agreed to be my legal department as long as I buy him a name tag. Which is OK.  But I was thinking my readers might be confused with all the lawyers named Larry on GA so a gave him a nickname.  I'm calling him Not-Stempler. So I asked Not-Stempler about the impact of such a leak on the City's ongoing litigation, and in particular this part of the Mayor's May 4th letter to the City Council:

As a result of the release of confidential information, the item is being removed from the agenda so Corporation Counsel can assess the damage that may have been done to the City and make a determination as to how to proceed to best protect the City’s financial interests.

What's it all about, Not-Stempler? Here's what Not-Stempler replied:

You asked me why the mayor was asking the city attorney to assess the potential damage to the city’s case as the result of the leak of the confidential settlement memo that has not been addressed.

Frankly, whoever leaked the memo has put the city at risk of having its insurance coverage evaporate, especially if the person responsible for the leak is an elected official or other high ranking municipal officer.  

Every insurance policy contains a clause which requires the insured ( the City) to cooperate with the efforts of the insurance  carrier to defend and limit liability for the claim.  Implicit is the obligation on the insured (the City)  not to take any action which may harm the potential settlement or successful resolution of the matter, even if there is some perceived political gain to be achieved.  The disclosure of the confidential memo likely contains an analysis of the relative strengths and weaknesses of the City’s position and a similar analysis of the plaintiffs’ position. Disclosure of that fact alone compromises the ability of the attorney for the carrier who is representing the City to provide a compelling defense.  

Any attorney would love to have a look at what their adversary is advising their client.  

Actually, within the legal community, this kind of leak has the potential to be devastating to the successful defense of a case and may cause vital information regarding the defense of the case to be  disclosed to the City’s adversary. 

Since the City has clearly violated the cooperation clause, the insurance carrier is now in a position to say to the City, you have blown the defense, ergo, we are not paying as a consequence of your breach.  You now have a situation where, prior to the leak, there was no coverage issue between the City and the carrier, and now there is, with the City potentially liable for the full cost of settling/defending the matter going forward.  

At a bare minimum, the leak has increased the costs of defending the case, needlessly. If the information leaked weakens the City's position somehow, and the case ultimately has to settle for more than it could have been settled prior to the leak, it is highly likely that the insurance carrier will ask the City to contribute to, or pay the entire amount of, the increased costs.  

Whoever leaked the memo showed appallingly bad judgment.

Oh, my goodness.  Leaking to those 2 numb-skulls over at Hoboken411 put the City and our taxpayers at this kind of financial and legal risk? Simply to score a hit on Zimmer in a 24-hour news cycle? Not-Stempler, thank you for letting us know the danger of a flailing politician leaking the City's confidential legal matters to cyber-morons. You've earned your name tag!