baysidecemeterylitigation.com

It has been several weeks since I last informed you about the developments in my lawsuit against Congregation Shaare Zedek and Bayside Cemetery. There are many details to update you on and there are some important approaching milestones in the case.

On December 12th, we were scheduled to appear before Chief Judge Raymond Dearie to argue the motion to dismiss the case that was filed by the Defendant. I described the basics for this process in my last email to you. My attorney Michael Buchman was all ready to make a very comprehensive and coherent argument for why the case should not be dismissed but in the early morning on December 11th we were notified by the judge that the hearing was being postponed because the judge was concerned that the case perhaps should not be heard in federal court due to jurisdictional issues. He ordered that we (and the defendant) file a brief arguing the jurisdictional issue by December 24th. Those papers were filed and have been posted to the www.baysidecemeterylitigation.com website in the ‘About The Litigation’ section.

In short, we have argued that the case does belong in federal court and we have submitted statements by two experts attesting to two core issues relevant to to why the case does belong in federal court. We have also requested that if the Court does not believe that it has the jurisdiction for the class action suit, we have requested a leave to file a consolidated amended complaint which will include a claim under RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act). You can read these documents on the case website.

We are now scheduled to appear in court again on Wednesday January 7th at 11 AM. I hope that this case can finally begin to proceed through the legal process as it has now been 1 year and 3 months since it was originally filed and so far the legal process has not afforded me the opportunity to have this matter heard in a substantive way in a court of law.

In the meantime Bayside Cemetery continues to be in a horrible condition and represents incredible disrespect for the 34,000 deceased Jews who have been buried there over the past 150+ years. Even the defendant states in their December 1, 2008 memorandum to the court that "everyone agrees that Bayside Cemetery is in poor condition". I say that ‘poor condition’ is a phenomenal understatement, especially considering that the defendant has also publicly stated that cemetery funds were diverted to the synagogue.

Nevertheless I, represented by my attorney Michael Buchman, continue to try to get this case heard in court and try to get Congregation Shaare Zedek to do the right thing – to honor their contractual obligations to maintain the cemetery and those plots and grave sites for which they have been paid for annual and perpetual care.

Stay tuned for more information on this story as it progresses. And please check the case website often for updated information (www.baysidecemeterylitigation.com).

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to all of you.

John Lucker
Plaintiff - Lucker et al vs. Bayside Cemetery & Congregation Shaare Zedek