March 5, 2012

SandBoxBlogs: Aspen Daily News "Restaurateur’s lawsuit against city still active despite his death"

Liza DeGraff's voice is not the one that District Court Judge Gail Nichols needs to hear.

Judge Nichols needs to remember all the voices that pursued Scott and his family for years in the Aspen and Snowmass communities. 

She needs to remember that the culmination of all those voices into a 'moral character' judgement removed the ability for Scott DeGraff, his family, all of his creditors and partners to ever recover any sense of justice or uphold the technical merits of law.  Those cumulative voices drove actions against DeGraff that were so far from full truth and reality, they took on a life of their own in the media and internet.

She needs to think about her district she serves and walk back over all the unnecessary actions that some in power took at the time of Scott's death.  That 800 lb. gorilla in the room has only gained weight since that time of loss for Liza DeGraff and her children.  Unnecessary, pointless and fruitless actions such as the display of force from the Dept. of Revenue.

Saved in a file in her email records, 'SandBox Nanny' holds the heart sounds from many who wrote in on our one post we did when all of us lost Scott DeGraff.

Words of pain that were enhanced to near unbearable weight over the pillorying that did not pass with him.  If you knew Scott, it was not hard to find awareness of what were likely some of his thoughts.  A good man, a kind and gentle man  who so many, many times took the higher road.  Who always looked for all sides and resolution.  He tried and when he failed, he stood back up and tried again.  Somewhere, he is a little more at peace listening to those words being put down anonymously and sent to a stranger.  We have no idea the true effect we have on others lives.  Yes, ill-intent individuals who are likely very uncomfortable with themselves when Scott enters their thoughts will twist that statement.  It is being posted for the living who have no need to look in the mirror.

In the case of Scott DeGraff, one cannot make peace with the notion that suicide is a selfish act.  The attacks on his family, his life,  his very essence of self were horrific and grossly distorted attacks.  It gets worse when one looks around at the players in this story and sees the obvious attempts to cover wrong-doing and unjust enrichment as they took advantage of Scott's nature and his brilliance in business.  The notion of Scott DeGraff as selfish is far-fetched.  The feeling that his death was wrongful is great.

One email spoke of deep pain over 'staying silent' when truly vile, untruthful and disinforming words were spoken about Scott by prominent and powerful people at a high-end function.  Writing anonymously to a stranger eased the hurt.  Another friend of the family met regularly with Scott.  The environment was a local sport.  This person played that sport with others as well.  And spoke of outrage they were feeling at how unwanted the verbal assaults on Scott were and that they were subjected to.  Ending with a statement that they would have played game after game and day after day with Scott DeGraff before they would want to play again with those who assaulted him behind his back.

Hopefully, Judge Nichols will listen not to the surviving voices in the motions in front of her and instead listen to the community she serves.  The law sounds like one of those open to broad interpretation so she may have that broader ability.

One cannot fix dead.  There is no ability to bring those passed back to life again.  There is no ability to heal life again when faced with what Scott DeGraff faced and his wife and children now bear.  None.  One can only rebuild.

But there are times when we can draw the voices and needs of the heart that those who have passed have back to us and help make the living whole again. 'SandBox Nanny' on behalf of those anonymous voices who reached out, asks that Judge Nichols do just that in the case of Scott DeGraff.

My best wishes go out to Liza DeGraff, a woman of courage.

I allowed the one previous story posted at Scott's passing to stay up live on blog for only a short time.  My thoughts were filled with feelings for the family and the fresh, raw pain I was reading in mails sent to SandBox because I blocked comment ability.  The blog was filled with literally hundreds of hits per day during that time, on that one post.

I will leave this post and all posts from this point forward until the ruling is in or the lawsuit is completed with trial.  You may comment in directly but will be heavily monitored.  (Click title for article)

"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

They crippled any ability Scott had to even stay open and work. That was the goal and there's just no other way of looking at it.

That act of expanding the law surrounding morality was done to appease contractors and other big names that in reality had taken such advantage and performed so poorly on the projects they left him millions in debt.

Even then he would have pulled out of it if he had just gotten open. But he made the mistake of bruising egos of those power brokers and in Aspen you just don't do that. From there it becomes all about vengeance with social status the weapon. Put the right words in the ear of those who make that kind of system work and it's all over for anyone who doesn't bow. The buildouts were so bad there should have been law enforcement looking at them. If we lived where there was fairness and balance instead of keeping things like that quiet.

He had to change everything and do it in the middle of the worst recession in history. Even then he wasn't dodging anything he was just obeying the rules to get a liquor license. Nobody could have foreseen the complete ignoring of the law that let the few who wanted him eliminated by that point to broaden out the interpretation of morality. Ironic, that is.

The weight was just too great and there is no recovery, this post is right about that. My family and I wish them the best and hope Judge Nichols does the right thing and lets this go to trial.

zgnative said...

I'm a little taken aback at the power of my emotion seeing a protected place to leave a comment on a news article for Scott.

How sad that is to hold back one's words out of concern they may be attacked.

I am very glad to see Lisa at least try. Judge Nichols should allow trial.

What is even more appropriate is for the City of Aspen to concede and settle monetary claim.

Anonymous said...

Whether they comment or not, zgnative, I think there are quite a few out here that feel similar. No one wants to bring more pain to Scott's family yet having a release to speak feels so good.

Scott was right in filing this lawsuit. What was done to him as a businessman, a father, a husband and a human being by the City of Aspen was pretty shocking. The rule is open to interpretation but it is also very clear that their claim against his character does not meet the bar. The thought of his family having to go through pursuit and finish it out is deeply troubling. This should be dropped in DeGraff favor and made right.

I enjoy the part of this post that speaks of the type of man Scott was. A good man, a kind man and a persevering man. Brilliant doesn't even come close to a description of his abilities. He was loved and he is sorely missed. My heartfelt wishes for success with this.

Anonymous said...

Worcester is gone and True is a far better lawyer to be handling the finishing of this. I agree that the city should back away and not contest this.

SandBoxBlogs said...

A couple of responses to some email rcvd. on this post:

Of course you can still write in without your comments being put up live on blog. To place a live on blog comment, that is done yourself by clicking on the 'post comment' link. If you email in and wish your comments posted, please specify and we'll be glad to do that for you.

Yes, it was simply a typo on Liza's name. Has been corrected.

Anonymous said...

I'm not in agreement that Aspen should just drop the suit. The suit has points that would clear Scott's name. Ultimately, that's what is really needed on this one point that effectively crippled his ability to do business. The law is clear. I believe Judge Nichols will at least hold up the broad reach of the city was out of line. At minimum, the city needs to be ordered to sit down and the table with Liza and reach a settlement. Should the city fight on this we can all then feel disgusted.