Author: Hunanian Jack

Oakland Tribune
March 10, 2004
Kaiser campaign donation chided
By Rebecca Vesely, STAFF WRITER
Consumer advocates demanded Tuesday that Kaiser Permanente take back
a$100,000 donation to a ballot initiative campaign that aims to change
the state’s unfair business competition law.
The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights is fighting the ballot
initiative on grounds that it will bar individuals and consumer groups
from suing businesses that violate consumer protection laws — including
patient protection and environmental statutes. The AARP, Sierra Club and
United Farm Workers are among other groups opposed to the initiative.
“Kaiser has invested$100,000 of our premium dollars into removing
consumer rights and accountability,” said Jerry Flanagan of the
Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights.
Kathleen McKenna, spokeswoman for Kaiser Permanente, said the HMO is
supporting initiative because of a “growing concern with frivolous
lawsuits.”
Appearing in front of Kaiser Permanente’s Oakland headquarters Tuesday
was Chant Yedalian, whose mother, Zevart — a Kaiser patient — died
from breast cancer in 1998 at age 53.
Yedalian used the state’s unfair business competition law, known as
17200, in a wrongful death lawsuit against Kaiser, arguing that it
denied his mother a potentially life-saving bone marrow transplant and
then further denied his rights to challenge the HMO in a jury trial.
Kaiser requires its members to go through binding arbitration instead of
trial.
Yedalian, who lives in Los Angeles, argued that Kaiser’s binding
arbitration clause is a violation of the unfair business competition
law.
“This was the only law available to protect people from this unfair
process,” Yedalian said.
Yedalian’s case is pending in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
McKenna said Kaiser’s campaign donation has nothing to do with its
arbitration policy.
“We’ve been using binding arbitration for 50 years,” she said.
She said Yedalian’s mother received inadequate notice about Kaiser’s
binding arbitration policy — a major reason why the case ended up in
court.
The initiative campaign, called Stop Shakedown Lawsuits, is driven by
the California Chamber of Commerce, the California Motor Car Dealers
Association and other business groups.
So far, the campaign has collected more than 300,000 signatures to place
the measure on the Nov. 2 ballot. To qualify, at least 373,816 valid
signatures must be submitted to the secretary of state by April 16.
The campaign has raised $2.5 million, mostly from banks, insurance
companies, car dealers, pharmaceutical companies and other businesses.
Blue Cross of California donated $250,000 and PacifiCare gave $10,000.
Campaign supporters said they want to stop unscrupulous lawyers from
using 17200 to sue for made-up claims and then force a settlement.
John Sullivan, president of the Civil Justice Association of California
and a co-chairman for the campaign, said the initiative would not bar
individuals from suing companies for harm or financial injury.
In a case to get out of arbitration, Sullivan said, many other statutes
and previous court decisions could surely be used “if justice is owed.”
“When groups like this find a case that has a tragic story — as this
one undoubtedly does — that 17200 figures into, you can turn it on it’s
head and argue that you can go out to any cases and find a 17200 case
tacked onto it,” Sullivan said.
Yedalian said 17200 was his only course of action.
“The initiative would prevent people from seeking justice,” he said.
“You can’t protect other members of the public without it.”
Contact Rebecca Vesely at [email protected] .
©1999-2003 by MediaNews Group, Inc. and ANG Newspapers

Boston Globe, MA
March 12 2004
Beauty of ‘Sketch Book’ draws attention to local pianist Ovsepian
By Bill Beuttler, Globe Correspondent, 3/12/2004
NEWBURYPORT — A few months ago, Brad Mehldau told jazzreview.com
that there is a fellow pianist out of Boston who had made a beautiful
record. “His name is Vardan Ovsepian,” the Grammy-nominated artist
said.
The record is “Sketch Book,” and Mehldau isn’t the only established
musician to become an admirer. Ovsepian, who will bring his quartet
(bassist Joshua Davis, drummer Take Toriyama, and vocalist Monica
Yngvesson) to the Regattabar on Wednesday for sets with guest
classical cellist Agnieszka Dziubak, is drawing notice from many
performers for the way he blends vocals with improvisation and
classically influenced compositions.
Saxophonist George Garzone, a member of Joe Lovano’s Grammy-winning
nonet and the long-lived local trio the Fringe, played a Regattabar
gig with Ovsepian’s quartet last year and may record with the group
on a future disc. And guitarist Mick Goodrick recorded three tracks
on “Sketch Book.”
“He’s one of the most talented young musicians I’ve seen in a long,
long time,” Goodrick says.
In his pieces, Ovsepian uses Yngvesson’s voice in a unique way — as
a horn-like instrument. He writes specifically with her vocals in
mind, and on “Sketch Book” her wordless soprano sings melodies in
unison with Ovsepian’s piano as Davis, Toriyama, and Ovsepian
improvise and supply rhythmic backing. The resulting sound is cool
and cerebral.
At times, Yngvesson is vaguely reminiscent of Flora Purim on Chick
Corea’s classic “Light as a Feather,” and Ovsepian’s piano-playing
reveals trace elements of some of his heroes: Mehldau, Keith Jarrett,
and Lennie Tristano. Ovsepian, 28, a thin, soft-spoken native of
Armenia, came to Boston in 1999 to begin a scholarship at Berklee
College of Music. In his walk-up apartment that he shares with
Yngvesson, Ovsepian says he first started thinking of writing for a
vocalist after listening to the work of Brazilian singer-composer
Luciana Souza. “At that time, everybody was saying, `You have to meet
Monica Yngvesson,’ ” he says. She had come over from Sweden on a
Berklee scholarship of her own. “So I started looking for her. And I
found her.”
Ovsepian’s latest batch of a dozen pieces was written for Dziubak’s
cello. The compositions are for a CD Ovsepian plans to record next
month and release in the fall. Pieces from that project will make up
the entirety of the Regattabar outing, Ovsepian says, and he,
Yngvesson, and Dziubak got a jump-start rehearsing the new material
in preparation for full-group practice sessions with Davis and
Toriyama. The rehearsals generally take place at the private music
school Musical Suite, a 10-minute walk from the couple’s apartment.
Ovsepian and Yngvesson have day jobs teaching at the school. They
might consider moving to New York at some point, but for now, living
in Newburyport makes sense for them. It may prove to be a strategic
step, Ovsepian says, “like a cat leaning back before it leaps.”
The Vardan Ovsepian Quartet performs with special guest Agnieszka
Dziubak at the Regattabar Wednesday. Sets at 8:30 and 10 p.m., $12;
617-876-8742.