356 Registry Lawsuit is Concluded

[Mike Wilson]

If I read the court finding correctly, his attorney didn't properly file the documents regarding his illness so they could not be considered. Hence the finding of contempt.

[David Gensler]

Yet another interesting turn of events, and perhaps not such a "positive" outcome as the posting on the Registry site would have you believe.

Mr Heinrichs lost his appeal of the contempt issues. So, in that regard it must be considered a win for the Registry. Apparently now Mr Heinrichs is compelled to write a check to the Registry, or at least Mr Chieffo, thus partially compensating the Registry for expenses. I've been at odds with much of the membership over this, since I did not fault Mr Heinrichs for bringing the original suit. I followed the matter fairly closely in the early days, before it blew up into the lawsuit. I still don't know whether he was right or wrong, but he had the legal right to bring suit if he believed it was necessary, as any of us would. Likewise I never questioned the Registry's (us) right to defend. I tend to agree with this decision to uphold the contempt findings. Using the mailing list to send out his letter was a clear violation of the judges order to return the discovery documents, and judges seem almost universally to have a short fuse when their orders are ignored.

On the other hand, the court decided in Mr Heinrichs favor on what I saw as the major point of the case, which is that members are entitled to view books and records. So, presumably, Mr Heinrichs would be entitled to have the mailing list, for a reasonable purpose. Communicating one's thoughts, finding, or opinion to other members would certainly seem a reasonable purpose for members of a club such as ours, thus Mr Heinrichs could have mailed his letter. He just could not mail it with the list obtained during discovery. He had to return that list, per the judges order, then request the list again as a member seeking to use it for a reasonable purpose.

And now, we have the court's finding in favor of Mr Heinrichs on the first item in the appeal. Namely, that contracts are included in the "books and records" that must be made available for inspection by members. Should any member be interested, they should now have the ability to review contracts inked on their behalf by the Registry as a corporation. I assume this must include Gordon's contract, the goodie store stuff, and the oh-my-gosh-super-secret Porsche deal. This is reasonable and good, and in alignment with the recent promises of increased transparency from the trustees.

I'm somewhat amused, somewhat alarmed, by the continued "spin" on the lawsuit outcome on the website and magazine. We have been told the Registry won, when in fact there were specific findings in favor on both sides, with (in my opinion anyway) the most important wins by Mr Heinrichs. We've been told it was "over" when in fact it was not. Now I expect the upholding of the contempt citations will be cited as proof the whole thing was frivolous from the start. Mr Heinrichs (or his attorney) failed to do some things the judge said do, and was expensively chastised for it, but considering the findings of substance in no way frivolous. By the way, the same "spin" has shown up in other associated issues such as the "audit".

As I've said many times before I don't (and never have) believe there is any evil or misdeeds lurking to be found in either books or contracts. I don't think present or past trustees are bad guys. Beyond transparency, I don't think anything needs to significantly change for the magazine, trustees, or members. By the way, did anyone notice how many of the recently passed by-laws changes appear precipitated (again, my opinion) by the lawsuit and associated criticisms? The lawsuit spotlighted some needed legal housekeeping to cross the 't"s and dot the "i"s for compliance with Ohio law.

I do think we can have a healthier club if the old format of secrecy, "trust us, we know what we are doing, but never question us", and "you're either with us or against us"; successfully shifts to a new paradigm of openness and "we, the members" (appropriate for July 4!).

DG

[Mike Wilson]

A very accurate and objective assessment, David. Just think, if the initial request for documents would have been honored, neither party would have to have gone down this long, tedious and expensive road.

[Walt Nolte]

Thank the car gods all of this isn't about something serious, like a car club!

Walt Nolte
59A Coupe
Montana

[Curt Dansby]

Greetings Folks

The lawsuit reached it's ultimate terminus point this week. The Plaintiffs time frame to appeal to the Ohio Supreme Court has expired, allowing no further option to contest the lower courts decisions. The Plaintiff's Attorney has also submitted documentation that they intend to pay the fines assessed in the lower court which will go to the insurance company to be applied towards legal costs. This protracted "exercise" has caused a great deal of rancor and disagreement amongst friends inside and outside of the club and a good deal of grief for the leadership of the club primarily George Dunn. I do not want to revisit the whole sordid mess, but would like to make a couple of points. The Plaintiff as the person who brought suit was free to make claims, accusations and suggestions of wholesomeness and pureness of intent in the court of pubic opinion(which he did). As Defendants we were advised by our counsel to hold our tongues in the face of ongoing suggestions of misdeeds, lack of character, obstinance, lawlessness and outright malfeasance.
This was a very difficult task as membership rightfully wanted questions answered which we were advised not to put in print. Suffice it to say, we have a different story than what was presented by the Plaintiff and we believe the verbiage in the lower courts ruling rendered March 2015 sheds light on the real story.

George Dunn has happily tendered his resignation from the appointed position of Executive VP and is excited in becoming "just a member" again.
To paraphrase a political statement (which I have been wont to do recently):

Ladies and Gentlemen, our long International nightmare is over.

Let us put this distasteful episode in our rear view mirrors and return to being a car club.

Always KTF
Curt

[Jeffrey Leeds]

It's good to get this news Curt. The ending was inevitable, but the journey was torturous. Having been the individual responsible for managing my employer's litigation matters I spent more than 25 years dealing with these kind of issues, and no matter how right you know your position is, the courts move slowly and the instigating party always can have the loudest megaphone until it is over. Now we can go on just being a car club.

Jeff

[Vic Skirmants]

Have you all heard the latest news about SH?

[Sebastian Gaeta]

There was an earlier thread, but it was removed. It was civil but I feared it might get nasty so it's probably best.

[Brian R Adams]

It's not happy news. Too much of that going around in my circles lately.

Were the loaned-out documents ever returned?