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What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You! By Mike Lipshultz |
What you don’t know, Can’t hurt you… Ya… Right… NOT! A lot of old sayings are very true, and have a lot of wisdom behind them. But not this one.
What you don’t know can… Well… Really screw you over. I’m sure I have not scared you. Moved you, or made you nerves. So let my share the story of Tony Capria, a nice guy who was to trusting and get screwed over because of what he did not know.
I found out about Tony when I was sent this press release about a book he wrote about what happened to him. Please read it:
Retired Cop Tells Cautionary Tale
Of Losing Retirement Benefits to Fraud
Tony Capria was a law enforcement officer who was injured in the line of duty, so he was legally entitled to full pay while on the job, and 75 percent of his salary upon retirement.
But he never received them, and his battle for justice has lasted more than two decades, exposing a dangerous technicality that could lead to other New York state workers losing their benefits, as well.
“It’s unlikely I’ll ever get justice for what was done to me, but I want to warn others in the state system that they are at risk,” said Capria, author of the book Betrayal (www.tonycapria.com). “When I was finally granted my day in court in 1999, the judge ruled that all of the assertions I made in the case -- including one that demonstrated my retirement form was altered by a state official after it was filed -- were true. However, he could not grant my claim because the statute of limitations on fraud, which is only 7 years, had run out.”
Capria’s story is the cautionary tale of how a government employee can get so wrapped up in the red tape of the system, that they can actually lose retirement benefits even though they followed the rules.
His story began in 1985, when he was injured by an inmate who had been agitated by Capria’s supervisor. Capria was thrown against the wall, but didn’t feel the affects of the blow until later.
“The incident set off a time bomb of pain inside my body that gradually worsened until I had to start taking days off from work,” he said. “When I tried to make an ‘injury in the line of duty’ claim, so I could stay on the payroll, my captain denied my claim.”
Previous to his job at the prison, Capria had led one of the local unions, and he believes his activism in exposing waste and corruption in the prison system was a sore point for his captain. What followed was a series of setbacks engineered primarily by his captain, that led to him being forced to retire in 1989 at one-third salary, far short of the full benefits he should have received because he was injured in the line of duty.
“Over the next few years, I filed suit to get reinstated,” he added. “I also sought a full investigation and learned how the captain and others sought to cover up the severity of my medical condition and altered my retirement application. I also sued the doctor and the HMO that had a contract to handle the medical care for all Onondaga County employees.”
His only victory, which was also his ultimate defeat, came in 1999 when the New York State Court of Claims ruled that his version of the events that led to his forced retirement -- including the fraudulent retirement application that resulted in him receiving only one-third salary -- was true. The only problem was that the process had taken so long that the statute of limitations on that fraud had expired.
“My story is a case study of how a guy who just wanted to do his job well, and perform his duties to the best of his ability, can still wind up losing because of a technicality,” Capria said. “My warning for every state employee everywhere is that all it took for me to lose my house, my benefits and my career was a single piece of paper and a calendar. Until we change the law on the statute of limitations and work for the protection of good workers, the very same thing is happening to others, and could happen to you.”
About Tony Capria
Tony Capria has spent more than 15 years in law enforcement, starting as a policeman in Syracuse, New York. Later, he moved up to the job of investigator in the organized crime unit. After several years running his own business, Tony realized he missed law enforcement and returned to work as a guard at the Jamesville Penitentiary near Syracuse. Tony experienced firsthand the dangers of his job due to insufficient staffing and training. This inspired him to revive the Onondaga County Correction Officers Benevolent Association, and he became its President. His efforts to improve conditions at the Penitentiary led to legislative hearings, extensive media publicity, and a department shakeup, in which the County Correctional Commissioner was forced to resign. Tony then left for a Sheriff's Department position at the Onondaga County Jail, where he was responsible for supervising a dozen jail deputies and over 200 inmates. After being injured in the line of duty, Tony began his fight to achieve fair pay for any deputy sheriff in similar circumstances. He has remained active in the Union of Jail Deputies to this day.
To interview Tony Capria, or request a review copy of Betrayal, contact Russ Handler at (727) 443-7115 ext. 206 or email Russ@newsandexperts.com.
Well now you know what happened to Tony. The court said you are right. You have been wronged, but I can’t help you because the state of limitations has run.
In the law, you only have so much time to file a lawsuit. If you go past that time, the court will not allow you to collect on your case even if you can prove you are right. File your case within the right timeline or tuff luck.
Well in Tony’s case, it took so long to get the proof he was right, he lost the right to sue. Now, the way most attorneys will tell their client to protect their right to sue is to simply file a law suit before the statute of limitations has run (before time runs out). It does not matter if you name all the right folks, or even have your case ready to go. You simply file it, to lock in your right to pursue it. You don’t even serve it. You keep putting your case together. Later when you have the information you need, you simply amend your case. Or if you find out you have no case you dismiss it. Now don’t take this as legal advise. This is just to demonstrate that there is a way in most cases to protect your rights. But you need to know how to protect your rights. Or even if you should! Not knowing can harm you.
I spent some time on the phone with Tony, Seemed like I nice guy. So I am working him into this story. This story is not really about Tony. It is about what can happen when you don’t know, and how it can hurt you.
Most folks would do what Tony did. He trusted the system to work for him, and allowed it to do it’s thing. Unfortunately it took so long to resolve his case, that by the time it did, he lost the right to sue over the fraud.
What Tony should have done was not be so trusting and gotten legal advise. But like most folks he was willing to give the benefit of the doubt. Also it is human nature not to go spending money to simply ask an attorney a question or two. It is easer to just be trusting. And sometimes your own trust is used against you.
In Tony’s case it was over a big issue. But we all have small issues that come into our lives. Issues we would love to talk to an attorney about. Or get an attorney to make a call or send a letter. But how many of us can afford to give an attorney the bucks for stuff like that?
There is a solution. Prepaid Legal Plans. You pay a flat monthly or yearly fee, and in most cases have unlimited access to talking to an attorney. Some plans will also get you unlimited phone calls and letters written for you (see the plans for details).
OK, I know I have just turned off most of you to reading the rest of this story. But don’t think of this as a story about something you may or may not use, but as a story about something that can save you a lot of aggravation, and that if you had it, you could really make use of it.
Come on, you going to tell me you have never had to yell and scream at someone to make something right? Got over charged on something, and getting a song and dance over a refund… Call Your Attorney! File an insurance claim, and start to wonder if the insurance company is treating you right… Call You Attorney! Neighbors dog Poop all over your lawn again…. Call Your Attorney! Get a traffic ticket and want to know what you can do about getting out of it…… Call Your Attorney! Buy something on the internet and feel ripped off… Call Your Attorney!
Now you start thinking about it. If it cost you nothing, how many times a year could you make use of an attorney to make a call for you, or send out one of “those” letters.
I think your starting to get the idea. If you have it you will use it. So now check out our story on Prepaid Legal Plans. They can be cheaper then just one trip to an attorney that you are paying full pop on.
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Editor: Tyler Harwood, Mike Lipshultz