MV Transportation to receive nearly $1.5 mil.
By Kathryn Reed
When all the settlement payments are made MV Transportation will get $1,475,965.89.
The Fairfield-based transportation company sought $3 million when it filed a lawsuit against the now defunct South Tahoe Area Transit Authority. The company contended it was owed $2 million for services rendered and another $1 million in lost revenue.
MV ran the South Shore bus service BlueGo starting in summer 2009. (Tahoe Transportation District has since taken over the operation of the bus service.) STATA severed the three-year contract after the first year. MV sued. STATA filed for bankruptcy. Settlements were officially reached in November.
The largest check is being written by Feldman McLaughlin Thiel LLP — for $650,000. Mike McLaughlin, when the firm was Feldman Shaw, was the attorney for STATA before it filed for bankruptcy.
Neither McLaughlin nor Feldman would talk to Lake Tahoe News about the settlement because the details of the firm’s negligent legal advice are under a federal seal.
The directors’ insurance settlement is $450,000. The suit against the individual board members of STATA was dropped. But collectively, because of their decisions to keep running the bus system without the funds to do so, the group is being held responsible. The STATA board never reduced service, racked up bills and ended up bankrupt. MV at the time was calling for a reduction in service.
The following are the settlement payments, according to court documents, that have been made to MV:
• MontBleu — $48,500
• The Ridge — $40,000
• Douglas County — $100,000
• Tahoe Regional Planning Agency — $25,000
• Lakeside Inn — $16,652
• South Lake Tahoe — $57,500
• Harrah’s-Harveys — $100,000
• Horizon — $21,500
• Tahoe Transportation District — $36,771.75
• Board of directors — $50,000.
This totals $495,923.75.
Others creditors besides MV will be receiving some money, too.
Another example of why south Lake Tahoe has the worst reputation of any community in the area.
This is the type of attitude that the local government and it’s non profit agencies have towards business.
What happened to the criminals that executed this scam to defraud this company of the money that they were owed?
They are all still players in the game.
South Lake Tahoe, bad for Business, Bad for America.
It seems that living at higher altitudes affects good judgement in the high country.
Tahoe has a history of litigants over contract disputes, and the private enterprise plaintiffs win, time and time again. This is the sort of thing that can bankrupt a local government.
Case in point, Mammoth Lakes, which filed for bankruptcy largely as a result of a judgement levied against the municipality for a breach of contract against a private enterprise at their airport.
Government never seems to learn, until they lose. And even then, I am not sure they ever learn their lesson.
Evidence of what happens when naïve bureaucrats flounder around in the real world. And STATA still lurks and festers as it gobbles up public funds, having changed its name to Tahoe Transportation District. Pathetic.
The settlement payouts to MV trans. are mostly being paid by private enterprise entities, not gov’t agencies by about 2 to 1. It appears there was plenty of “floundering around” by our esteemed business community as well. Hopefully, lessons will be learned by all here in the Tahoe Basin and we can move forward with our transportation challenges.
seems to me that this paper reported that old Feldman stole $ 1,000,000.00
now he only has to pay back $ 650,000.00
that’s a good deal for him
Chief,
You have your facts wrong.
LTN staff
Some of the culprits settled prior to this settlement and feldmans insurance could have covered his cost.
Chief, He had money in his trust account and maybe other places.
Merry Christmas everyone!
They were told by TACCD not to use them…but!
MV by all counts is a professional transportation management company. Certainly they were in a better position to understand how to reduce costs for the bus service, but this was not what STATA wanted. STATA never understood that their resources were insufficient for the task they set out for themselves, and like many government entities, figured to just take it from the riders and tax payers.
Champagne tastes on a beer budget, and not enough money for beer either.
Very sad, and the current economy is clearly not helping.
How many cities of less than 30,000 have bus services in house?
The court has spoken.
Time to quit pointing the blame finger at people and deal with the problem of whether “Tahoe South” needs to be in the bus business.
My recommendation is to study it carefully for a representative period, look at the number of riders, the local vs visitor split, and , the costs.
Make this information available to the public and I believe a simpler solution will be seen. The people or entities who benefit from the service the most should be responsible for the lions share of the cost.