Upcoming Board Meeting
The next Board meeting is scheduled for Saturday, April 3, 2010, at the Alcor facility (7895 East Acoma Drive in Scottsdale, AZ) at 11:00 AM (MT). Members and the public are encouraged to attend.
Team Training
Team Training
The Terasem Response Team will have their annual refresher course in early April. Last year, their training was held at Alcor in Scottsdale, AZ and the team learned their skills on our in-house equipment. Now that they have a complete response kit of their own, they will be able to practice using their own equipment, in their own environment. In conjunction with the training, the Cryonics Technology Progress Conference will be held, where the team will have an opportunity to demonstrate their proficiency to the general cryonics community. This interaction between a professional response team and cryonicists should create greater understanding of the progress that has been made in response capabilities and help foster increased confidence in the overall probability that our patients will receive a quality stabilization and cool down.
New Statistics (As February 28, 2010)
Membership
Alcor had 913 members on its Emergency Responsibility List. Three (3) memberships were approved during this month, no memberships were reinstated, three (3) memberships were cancelled and two members were cryopreserved. Overall, there was no net gain or loss of members this month.
Applicants
Alcor had 59 applicants for membership. Four (4) new applicants were added, three (3) applicants were converted to members and four (4) applicants were cancelled resulting in net loss of three (3) applicants for this month.
Information Packets
Alcor received 231 information packet requests. Eleven (11) were handed out during facility tours or from special request. The average total of 194 info packs sent per month in 2010 is compared to 188 in 2009.
New York Lawsuit Against Larry Johnson Expands to Include Defamation; New York Court Grants Request to Fully Domesticate Arizona Judgment Against Larry Johnson
The New York Supreme Court has granted a motion by Alcor to amend its lawsuit against Defendants, Larry Johnson, co-author, Scott Baldyga, and publisher Vanguard Press. The lawsuit now includes dozens of defamation claims, including numerous claims related to false allegations of mistreatment of Ted Williams and other claims for defamation per se. There is an even larger volume of false and misleading statements in the book “Frozen” than encompassed by these claims, but Alcor believes that these claims are sufficient for proving in court that the book by Johnson and Baldyga was written and published maliciously with false information intended to harm Alcor. The lawsuit additionally includes causes of action for Breach of Agreements and Judgment, Breach of Fiduciary Duty, Conversion (theft of company property), and Aiding and Abetting Breach of Court-Entered Judgments against Johnson.
The New York Supreme Court also approved a motion to domesticate in New York the Arizona judgment against Larry Johnson that has been in place since July 7, 2009. This domesticated judgment requires Johnson to return all materials he took from Alcor, including materials distributed to third parties, and prohibits him from making any statements about Alcor. Since this Judgment is now enforceable in New York, it will support the next request for the New York publisher to cease and desist from continued publication of the subject book and to return any Alcor materials Johnson provided to his publisher.
It should provide some reassurance to Alcor members and their families to know that courts are supporting return of records to Alcor, and that any disclosures of Alcor records by Johnson were completely inappropriate. Neither Johnson, Baldyga or Vanguard even attempted to argue “free speech” in opposition of the Motion to Domesticate the Arizona judgment.
Alcor and Robbins Family Reach Amicable Settlement
SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA – March 3, 2010
Mary Robbins was a member of Alcor Life Extension Foundation since 2006. Ms. Robbins left her remains to Alcor in a written directive pursuant to the Colorado Disposition of Last Remains Act. A dispute arose between the Robbins family and Alcor over whether or not Ms. Robbins cancelled her written wishes concerning her remains two days before her legal death in Colorado Springs on February 9, 2010.
On March 1, 2010, a Colorado Probate Court ruled that Ms. Robbins did not revoke her written wishes concerning her remains by signing a “change of beneficiary” document in connection with an insurance annuity. The court further ordered that Alcor shall have custody of the remains of Ms. Robbins.
Today, Alcor and the Robbins family reached an amicable settlement in which Alcor will be allowed to transport immediately the frozen remains of Ms. Robbins to Arizona to complete the process of cryopreservation. In exchange, Alcor agreed to release all potential claims to an insurance annuity in which Alcor had been the previously named beneficiary.
Jennifer Chapman, Executive Director of Alcor stated: “We are glad we were able to fulfill the wishes of our long-standing member.”
Colorado Springs Court Upholds Desire of Alcor Member to be Cryopreserved
SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA – March 1, 2010
Mary Robbins was a member of Alcor Life Extension Foundation since 2006. She signed numerous documents expressing her desire to have her remains cryopreserved by Alcor after legal death. Ms. Robbins never executed a document which revoked her wishes concerning the donation of her remains to Alcor for cryopreservation. The Colorado Springs Probate Court decided today that a “change in beneficiary form” related to an insurance annuity was not sufficient to revoke the long-standing desire of Ms. Robbins for cryopreservation. The court upheld the desire of Ms. Robbins to be cryopreserved.
The change in beneficiary form was placed in front of Ms. Robbins two days before her death. Her mental and physical well-being are questionable at the time she executed the document. For this and other reasons, Alcor challenged the claim by her family that she had revoked her cryonics arrangements based on this document.
Colorado counsel for Alcor, Eric Bentley, said, “We are very pleased that the written desires of Ms. Robbins will be fulfilled. This case has always been about the written intentions of Ms. Robbins.”
Upcoming Board Meeting
The next Board meeting is scheduled for Saturday, March 6, 2010, at the Alcor facility (7895 East Acoma Drive in Scottsdale, AZ) at 11:00 AM (MT). Members and the public are encouraged to attend.
Status of CEO Search
Out of the seven candidates set aside for interviews, two were no longer available and one changed her mind. The four remaining candidates were interviewed. Recently there has been an increase in new applications and resumes submitted to the committee. From these new applicants there are five additional candidates the committee would like to interview.
Team Training
Team Training
The Arizona Regional Response Team held an afternoon of training on January 23rd at Alcor Central. With 19 volunteers attending, not including Alcor staff, this session was the largest turnout that Alcor has had in a long time. It is encouraging to see the return of strong local enthusiasm not only for our local members, but also for members that relocate to Scottsdale/Phoenix when they are facing terminal health issues. This training event was followed by a CryoFeast that was hosted by Bonnie Magee, Alcor’s Finance Director. Thanks to Jack St. Claire for offering his home as the cryonics clubhouse in Scottsdale.