Attorney for Rich Passage Homeowners Dismisses Bremerton, Kitsap County Motion to Intervene in Chinook Ferry Suit; ''Put simply, they missed the boat''.SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 3, 1999-- The attorney representing homeowners along Rich Passage said that today's expected intervention A procedure used in a lawsuit by which the court allows a third person who was not originally a party to the suit to become a party, by joining with either the plaintiff or the defendant. request by Kitsap County and the city of Bremerton should not impact the class-action lawsuit against the ferry system. The motion, reported to be filed today, will ask the court to allow Bremerton and Kitsap county to join the fight regarding the ferry system's high-speed ferry Chinook Chinook, indigenous people of North America Chinook (shĭn  k`, chĭ–), Native American tribe of the Penutian linguistic stock. . According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Berman, the proposed motion by Bremerton and Kitsap County makes little legal sense. "The law is very clear -- if they wanted to have their voice heard, they should have spoken up when the hearings commenced, before the judge issued her ruling," Berman added. "In the four months since we filed our suit, there has been ample opportunity for Bremerton and Kitsap County to counter with legal action. Put simply, they missed the boat." The city and county did not seek to intervene in the months leading up to or during the week-long pre-trial hearing, but offered briefs in support of the ferry system's position. Aside from the legal shortcomings A shortcoming is a character flaw. Shortcomings may also be:
"We have heard that Bremerton and Kitsap County will claim that the added 15 minutes to the trip will have dire economic consequences," Berman said. "The Chinook has only been in service 13 months. Now a third boat is being added to the Seattle-to-Bremerton run, which is a sign that the ferries can adjust and compensate for a 15-minute scheduling gap." Berman added that citizens, the city, and the county have a right to be upset, but should be directing their anger toward the ferry system. "It's clear to us that the ferry system has a lot of explaining to do," he noted. "They spent millions of dollars of taxpayer money building boats that fall well short of design standards Design standards Specifications of materials, physical measurements, processes, performance of products, and characteristics of services rendered. Design standards may be established by individual manufacturers, trade associations, and national or , failed to test them adequately, and are now trying to avoid any blame for the damage they cause." Berman believes the motion to intervene by the county and city should not affect Judge Hall's ruling. "The judge ordered the boat to slow `immediately,' and that is what we expect them to do," he noted. "We should be asking the ferries why they didn't have a scheduling contingency plan A plan involving suitable backups, immediate actions and longer term measures for responding to computer emergencies such as attacks or accidental disasters. Contingency plans are part of business resumption planning. in place already. Our lawsuit was filed in March, so the ferries have had nearly four months to plan for any schedule disruptions caused by a slowdown For articles with similar titles, see Slow Down (disambiguation). A slowdown is an industrial action in which employees perform their duties but seek to reduce productivity or efficiency in their performance of these duties. ." |
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