baysidecemeterylitigation.com

Dear Bayside Cemetery Litigation Friends:

I hope you are enjoying your summer and getting some time to relax and spend time with family and friends.  August 27^th is my grandmother Ruth Lucker’s birthday – she would be 119 if she were still alive.  So this time of year I often think of her because she was such a powerful presence in my childhood.  It is her memory, and that of my grandfather Harry, which I am so focused on as we work to right the terrible wrong at Bayside Cemetery and make the cemetery’s owner, Congregation Shaare Zedek, take responsibility for the egregious situation that they have created.  Ironically August is also the peak foliage growing season, so as August 27^th comes and goes, the wild weeds, shrubs, and renegade trees continue to thrive at Bayside Cemetery unchecked and uncared for despite the perpetual care fees paid to Congregation Shaare Zedek and the contracts those people had with the congregation for perpetual care services.

1)  On June 29^th there was a court hearing before Chief Judge Dearie to discuss several motions from the defendant.  The judge did not rule on those motions and concluded the hearing by saying that if we had not heard from him within 3 weeks, that we should begin the Class Action Class Certification Process.  Since Judge Dearie has not provided any instructions to the contrary, we, as plaintiffs, have provided the defendants with legal documents which move towards the certification of a class of plaintiffs all with common positions in the litigation.  All of these documents are available at http://site.baysidecemeterylitigation.com/About_the_Litigation.html and you can examine all the documents dated July 31, 2009.

2) I have received the court transcript for the June 29^th hearing.  It is available on the website at http://site.baysidecemeterylitigation.com/uploads/062909_Lucker_v._Bayside.pdf  It makes for some very interesting reading and it shows the “shifting sands” defense that the defendants keep attempting to use.  As an example on page 9 lines 3-5 you can read how the defendants state that Congregation Shaare Zedek (CSZ) “[has] only a handful of relatives of current members buried there [at Bayside Cemetery]”.  Compare this to http://site.baysidecemeterylitigation.com/uploads/Jewish_Week-Bayside_Cemetery_Mess_Lands_in_Federal_Court-10052007.pdf and CSZ’s original press release when my lawsuit was filed where CSZ says “[CSZ] has no current members who either own a plot at Bayside or have a relative buried at Bayside”.  Also contrast this with my previously disclosed finding that one of CSZ’s most recent synagogue presidents, Robert Pollack, died recently and is buried at Bayside Cemetery.  Another example from the transcript is where the defendants explain to the judge that a one-time cleanup at Bayside is underway.  Compare this to the defendant’s previous statements to the court where they say things like “[a landscaper to cleanup the cemetery is unwilling] to proceed with the project during the pendency of this lawsuit”.  And on and on the inconsistencies in their story continue.

3) There have been several new articles published about Bayside Cemetery since my last email to you all.  Go to http://site.baysidecemeterylitigation.com/Article_Archive.html and see the two July 14^th articles from The Jewish Week and the one July 31^st article from The Forward.

4) Congregation Shaare Zedek’s offshoot organization called CAJAC continues its work to try and make a dent in the mess at Bayside Cemetery.  They are working to get their story out as you saw in the articles I mentioned in #3 above.  It continues to be unclear what the relationship is between Congregation Shaare Zedek and CAJAC.  However it is important for us all to remember that the issues I am working to deal with are not about a one-time cleanup of Bayside Cemetery but rather about Perpetual Care of Bayside Cemetery.  The congregation and its friends in the NYC Jewish community are adept at making excuses about how the congregation has limited resources and that this is a problem the whole Jewish community faces.  Perhaps at the lowest level one could make this argument.  However, Congregation Shaare Zedek owns Bayside Cemetery, was paid for perpetual care services by many many people going back as far as 1912 (as CSZ stated in court on June 29^th), entered into many many contracts to provide perpetual care services, and the congregation has admitted to comingling and misusing the cemetery’s funds for the congregation’s own purposes.  So this case is really about righting that wrong and working towards a permanent and sustainable financial, managerial and maintenance endowment for Bayside Cemetery long after any of you (or me) are around to deal with all this.  So please, keep that in mind…  a one-time cleanup is nice… and necessary… but is not the solution beyond the present.  Because next August and the August each year after, when my grandmother’s birthday rolls around, someone needs to be maintaining Bayside Cemetery… as Jewish tradition prescribes.

5) In the past few years we have all seen numerous high profile criminal and civil cases breeze through the legal system – a great deal of social outrage was expressed during these incidents and rapid action took place.  Clearly this Bayside Cemetery litigation is taking some time and will take more time in the courts.  However, simultaneous to my class action lawsuit, the NY State Attorney General’s office has been investigating the situation at Bayside Cemetery and Congregation Shaare Zedek for 5-6 years!!!  Each time I enquire regarding the status of the NY AG’s work on the Bayside Cemetery matter about one issue or another (through my attorney), I always hear back that the matter is under investigation by the NY AG and I can’t get the information I want access to.  Even reporters have asked about various details under the Freedom Of Information Act and they have not been able to get access to the information.  What could be taking so long?  5+ years???!!!  If you want to ask the NYS AG about this yourself, feel free to call Mr. James Rogers, Deputy Attorney General for Social Justice at 1-800-771-7755.

I think that’s about all for now.  As always I will continue to keep you posted on developments at Bayside Cemetery.  Please feel free to email me your thoughts and ideas on all this.

Sincerely,

John Lucker

Plaintiff – www.baysidecemeterylitigation.com