BAD MOVE DIRECTOR DOBSON?

John Dobson, Port of Shelton Executive Director

INSURANCE COMPANIES DISLIKE "INTENTIONAL" ACTS OF INSUREDS

Submitted to Shelton Blog by Katherine Price Mason County Progressive

When the Port Commissioners were questioned as to why they let Director Dobson fire Teresa Rebo, Commissioner Tom Wallitner went on record saying that it was not his job to interfere with the methods employed by Port Director John Dobson.

Poppycock! The Executive Director serves at the pleasure of the Commissioners -- not the other way around!

John Dobson's recent actions have set the stage for a very expensive, wrongful termination lawsuit against the Port of Shelton, which the Port of Shelton will lose, notwithstanding any bogus advice they got from their lawyer to the contrary.

Teresa Rebo's lawyer will likely name all of the Commissioners personally, individually, their marital communities, and as Port Commissioners; he or she will likely also name Dobson, individually, his marital community, and as the Executive Director of the Port of Shelton; and, of course, the Port of Shelton itself will be a defendant.

The result WILL NOT BE that the taxpayers spend thousands of dollars defending said lawsuit, but that the Port's insurance company will spend thousands of dollars defending said lawsuit, which hopefully will be filed in Federal Court.

Additionally, these commissioners and directors will have to engage their own individual insurance companies (I hope they all have nice fat umbrella policies) to provide a defense as well.

Insurance defense attorneys from Seattle will be racking up incredible bills responding to interrogatories and requests for production, and taking the depositions of the various players, UNDER OATH. Also, the attorney for the plaintiff will have no shortage of witnesses who wish to testify concerning the behavior of the Port's Commissioners and the Port's Executive Director. Those pesky citizens who attend those port meetings regularly will be a gold mine for the plaintiff Teresa Rebp's attorney, and an ongoing nightmare to Dobson, Hupp and Wallitner. What is it they say about payback? Hmmmm.

And when the insurance company sees what the "Three Stooges" at the Port (Dobson, Hupp and Wallitner) have been up to, we will be lucky if the Port of Shelton can buy liability insurance in the future.

The Port Commission's crazy behavior is going to cost taxpayers in increased insurance premiums IF ANYONE WILL EVEN PROVIDE LIABILITY INSURANCE TO THE PORT AFTER THE ANTICS OF THE PORT LEADERSHIP IN THE PAST FIFTEEN MONTHS.

This was the one event that perhaps the Port really did not want to have happen.

A lawsuit means discovery, testimony taken under oath, documents coughed up that the Port might not want to cough up. And, while the defense attorneys from Seattle are getting richer, we citizens of the Port District may finally have a vehicle to really dig deep into the records that our public disclosure requests sometimes fail to turn up.

I have been waiting a couple of months to receive documents in response to my last request to the Port. I did receive an acknowledgment from Skip Houser via certified mail, return receipt requested, saying I would get those documents by June 15; then a letter from a Port Secretary saying by June 30. Rather than receiving the documents, I have received confirmation that I can pick up my documents at the Port.

My public disclosure request:

How much money has the Port spent on lawyers in the last year, broken down by Port business and the necessity of defending various Port employees from various legal actions.

This will give us a necessary base-line, because even though insurance companies are likely to provide defenses, they have a little tool that allows them to defend under a "reservation of rights", which means if they find that the insureds acted "intentionally" or otherwise violated some section of their policy, well, then... they don't have to pay the plaintiff should she ultimately prevail. As a result, the Port's attorney, Skip Houser, will have to be involved all of the time as well. Cha-ching!

This stands to get really interesting.

This lawsuit might turn out to be Dobson and Hupp's worst nightmare, it might even be what finally breaks their stranglehold on the Port of Shelton.

Good job, Executive Director Dobson, for firing the whistle blower. We might even be able to get the Justice Department involved in this lawsuit because firing the whistle blower is a violation of federal law.

Bad move, Mr. Dobson...a poorly thought out, really bad move.

Keep it light.

Photo by Christine