They're Killing Us

Readers were stunned by Jessica P. Ogilvie's story about Larry Delassus, a Hermosa Beach man who was wrongly evicted after Wells Fargo mixed up his address with a neighbor's and came after him for $13,361 that he didn't owe (“Bank Typo Victim Dies in Court,” March 8). Delassus suffered a heart attack in court after years of attempting to fight the bank. Yet the bank's spokeswoman defended Wells Fargo's actions, in part by saying Delassus had no reason to be in court: The judge had already indicated she was prepared to rule in favor of Wells Fargo.

“It is truly outrageous that this Wells Fargo 'spokeswoman' would suggest that Mr. Delassus had no reason to attend a hearing in which he was seeking to obtain justice,” writes PeoplesLawyer. “Even if the judge had signaled her intention to grant summary judgment, he had the obvious right to be present to observe the proceedings, and his lawyer was still arguing the case when he died. What a heartless attempt to cover up the suffering Wells Fargo caused this man. By all means let us keep citizens away from the court proceedings in which their rights are being decided! (sarcasm intended).”

“Great and shocking story!” writes Mark Hoffman. “I, and probably many other readers, would love to see a follow-up story. If the facts are as you present them, the judge was about to make a terrible decision. That alone is a story – how a judge presented with overwhelming evidence of Wells Fargo's negligence, amounting to malice, could decide in their favor. That's baffling and deserves its own story.”

“The fact that it even went this far is just APPALLING,” adds Lisak1717. “Some administrative jackass and all the other lowlifes that couldn't fix this simple error should be fired immediately!!!”

“What's the point of owning anything any more?” asks Nic_77. “These guys can do whatever they want to anybody with impunity.  Justice is dead.”

So whom should be held accountable?

Former Wells Fargo worker Mir99 blames the lawyers. “Wells Fargo is a stagecoach that is driven and loaded down by highwaymen called 'attorneys.' The horses are starved and abused. The stables are full of manure. Don't blame Wells Fargo — find the executives and the attorney and FRY THEM.  The loyal horses (the low-level workers) know what to do to ensure customers are happy. Wells Fargo absolutely does not allow it.  Wells Fargo can be good, once freed of the mob that controls it.”

Searching for Civility

Daniel McVey writes in with a perplexing question. “In the GO LA section write-up on The ABCs of Death at Cinefamily, Jonny Whiteside writes, 'The evening is sure to be a lovely, bloody antidote to stifling civilities and social niceties.' Where is that actually a problem anymore? Is Whiteside stuck in the 1950s or Victorian England? I don't think there is a problem with civility stifling anyone in 2013 America.“

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