An Open Letter to All Lawmakers, Officials, Businesses and Citizens

     You have probably seen them going to a fire, an accident or a crime scene. No, not the police, the fire department or an ambulance……but a TV News vehicle. Live trucks, SUV’s and cars. Trying to get to the story first or beating the other news stations to the scene is expected of every cameraman and reporter by news station management. In February 2004, an accident occurred between a passenger laden MTA bus and a WBAL-TV owned and operated news vehicle. It spawned a lawsuit from a passenger on the bus. WBAL-TV operates a fleet of vehicles on the streets of Maryland and surrounding jurisdictions. The acts committed by WBAL-TV in response to that accident victim is why lawmakers should enact legislation that protects innocent citizens, visitors, employees and businesses in Maryland from irresponsible actions of companies operating fleets of vehicles on Maryland’s streets.

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WBAL-TV Corporate Irresponsibility Act

     Corporations and businesses owning and operating vehicles or fleets of vehicles in Maryland must act promptly and responsibility when such vehicles are involved in traffic accidents. Upon notification of any accident involving a company’s vehicle, the company must take immediate and thorough actions to ensure that all involved parties and their insurance carriers are informed as to:

• The company’s name and contact information as the owner/lessee of the vehicle
• The insurance information associated with that vehicle

     Should a company ever become aware that any of the pertinent parties (including injured parties) involved do not know the proper ownership or lessee of the vehicle, that company must accept responsibility and take immediate action to inform any and all involved parties of the vehicle’s proper ownership.

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Events that precipitated the plea for new laws:

• An accident occurred between a WBAL-TV owned and operated news vehicle and an MTA bus carrying passengers
• Passengers on the bus sued the MTA and the WBAL-TV employee operating their vehicle
• The passengers did not know WBAL-TV owned and operated the vehicle
• The driver of the WBAL-TV vehicle was a staff employee, a news cameraman
• WBAL-TV instructed the driver of their vehicle, their employee, to only speak with WBAL-TV’s company attorneys and no other attorneys or the plaintiffs concerning the lawsuit. WBAL-TV controller Jeana Stanley instructed the employee to let the WBAL-TV/Hearst Corporation company attorneys handle everything. All correspondence concerning the lawsuit was sent to the employee’s home due to the plaintiffs ignorance of WBAL-TV ownership, involvement and responsibility
• WBAL-TV continued to advise their employee the lawsuits were being defended. In reality, they were not. WBAL-TV ignored or did not respond to any and all requests and demands from one plaintiffs’ attorney and the District Court of Maryland.
• As a result of WBAL-TV’s deceit and manipulations, the plaintiff, the co-defendant and the Court believed it was the employee who was uncooperative and unresponsive and they continued to pursue only the employee. At the same time WBAL-TV’s instructions and misrepresentations to the employee prevented him from responding to the Court’s requests and from seeking legal representation.  The onus should have been on WBAL-TV, but WBAL-TV's actions wrongfully passed it on to their employee.
• WBAL-TV’s manipulations effectively used their employee, without his knowledge or consent, to conceal WBAL-TV’s involvement and help WBAL-TV avoid their responsibility for an accident between a WBAL-TV owned and operated news vehicle and an MTA bus carrying passengers.

 

The Accident and Subsequent Events

     On February 23, 2004 a WBAL-TV employee was involved in an accident with a passenger laden MTA bus and an unmarked WBAL-TV owned and operated news vehicle. A passenger on the bus who was unaware of WBAL-TV’s involvement filed a personal injury lawsuit against the MTA and the driver of the WBAL-TV vehicle, a WBAL-TV employee.

     The information the plaintiff used to name the WBAL-TV employee (instead of WBAL-TV) as the defendant was obtained from the employee's drivers license. The plaintiff did not know WBAL-TV owned the vehicle (it was unmarked) or that WBAL-TV was involved in any way so the lawsuit did not name WBAL-TV as a defendant. It is reasonable to conclude that the plaintiff would have named WBAL-TV instead of their driver had they known WBAL-TV owned and operated the vehicle, for the plaintiffs named the MTA, not their driver in the lawsuit.  All the lawsuit papers were sent to the employee’s home address. As per WBAL-TV Controller Jeana Stanley’s instructions to him, the employee turned everything over to WBAL-TV as soon as he received them, whenever he received them. A Jeana Stanley hand-written notation on a Hearst email shows her acknowledging the lawsuit papers were sent to the employee’s home address, perhaps indicating her awareness of the plaintiff's ignorance. WBAL-TV did nothing to inform the plaintiff, his attorneys, the co-defendant, or the District Court of Maryland of their ownership and involvement, and repeatedly ignored requests from the Court, plaintiff and co-defendant (via the WBAL-TV employee) to provide documentation and information that, if responded to would have informed them of WBAL-TV’s involvement. WBAL-TV allowed the plaintiff to sue their employee for a WBAL-TV matter while they hid, kept silent and their lawyers did nothing according to WBAL-TV Controller Jeana Stanley (which was backed-up with fact). They deceived their employee, the plaintiff, the co-defendant and the Court. They told the employee that WBAL-TV attorneys were handling the lawsuit and forbade him to speak with any other attorneys. Almost two years later the employee is informed by the Court of a potential $10,000.00 judgment against him for "his" failure to respond to any of the Court’s requests. WBAL-TV Controller Jeana Stanley then told the employee, for the very first time, and after almost two years, they had done nothing because they were not named in the lawsuit. Stunned, he then listened to her tell him they also weren’t going to do anything for the same reason and ended the conversation with "Sorry. Good luck".  WBAL-TV took the stance that because the plaintiff did not know WBAL-TV owned the vehicle ( WBAL-TV kept their ownership a secret from the plaintiff), WBAL-TV was not responsible for the WBAL-TV owned and operated vehicle, their low-level employee (who did not own the car) was, and WBAL-TV General Manager Jordan Wertlieb felt that justified his decision to put the weight on the employee.  WBAL-TV is a poor example of a responsible, concerned and conscientious corporation operating fleets of vehicles on the streets of Maryland.

     WBAL-TV’s actions made the employee their "fall guy" left "holding the bag".  The company:

• Deceived and manipulated to wrongfully place WBAL-TV's responsibility on their innocent employee
• Wrongfully accused, used and misused their employee, who was innocent, to cover for the incompetent and irresponsible actions of WBAL-TV management

         WBAL-TV has shown little regard for the concepts of honesty, ethics or integrity. People should be protected from the acts WBAL-TV has committed against their employee, the plaintiff, and the court system. A company should not be able to:

• Own a vehicle
• Instruct an employee to drive that vehicle
• Accept no responsibility for that vehicle or their employee if involved in an accident
• Prevent the employee from obtaining legal representation if charged in a lawsuit resulting from an accident involving the company vehicle
• Hide and conceal their ownership from any and all parties involved in an accident with their vehicle

Are citizens of and visitors to Maryland safe on the streets and employees safe in their jobs? Should law enforcement and the Court investigate WBAL-TV’s activities? Companies should not be allowed to practice the acts carried out by managers in their handling of this WBAL-TV owned and operated news vehicle accident. Consideration needs to be given to all the MTA passengers that ride the bus everyday. This is a request for lawmakers of Maryland to adopt legislation that protects good people from bad businesses.  Protect citizens, employees and employers in Maryland.  Enact the "WBAL-TV Corporate Irresponsibility Act" now.