Having now had some time to sit back and catch up on things, I decided to post a response to the Motion for Non-Suit filed by Jay English, CCGLA’s Attorney. The CEF is not planning on opposing the motion, however it contained a number of statements or claims that continued to misrepresent the facts.
The “claims” (or statements) are italicized with my comments beneath each one.
CCGLA’S MOTION FOR NON-SUIT
Filed by Jay English, CCGLA’s Attorney
WHEREAS the Plaintiff Collin County Gay Lesbian Alliance (“CCGLA”) and its board of directors founded the Collin Equality Foundation (“CEF”) to carry out the charitable work of the CCGLA and serve as a tax-exempt repository of contributions to further the cause of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender persons in Collin County, Texas; and,
This is probably the only accurate statement in this the entire document. Unlike Mr. English’s claim in front of the Court on April 2, the CCGLA board did establish the Collin Equality Foundation on October 25, 2003. Like I had done with the original articles and bylaws of CCGLA, I was also the author of the articles of incorporation and the bylaws for the CEF.
WHEREAS CEFs current board of directors illegally and inappropriately seized control of the CEF in violation of the Bylaws of CEF and in derogation of the rights of the CCGLA to at all times maintain control of the CEF, and the CEF thereafter brought suit against the CCGLA in justice court; and
At the time the bylaws were amended to remove reference to CCGLA, the following people were members of the board of trustees: James Nunn, Chris Moss, Brian Marshall, Sean O’Connor, Morris Garcia and Dawnetta Miller. The notice of meeting was provided as is required by the bylaws and Texas law, no director (trustee) objected to the meeting being called inappropriately (as is provided in the CEF bylaws), and when the vote was taken to modify the bylaws, the motions were carried with a 4-2 majority. (See CEF minutes for November 16, 2005.)
As has been stated in our filings with the court, nothing illegal was ever undertaken by the CEF Board. Some people got their feelings hurt, but that is the extent of what happened.
The reference to the justice court suit was in connection to the actions taken by the majority of the CCGLA board in retaliation against myself. The justice court suit was an action I took, not the Foundation. Details of the suit can be seen here.
WHEREAS CCGLA brought the instant suit to carry out the CCGLA’s mission to operate the CEF, and sought to restore control of the ownership of the funds and the considerable good will the CEF enjoyed as part of the CCGLA; but
CCGLA waited six months to file the law suit. During the time the decision was made by the CEF Board and the filing of the lawsuit, both Dawnetta Miller and Morris Garcia resigned.
WHEREAS since the time the law suit was initiated, the CEF has ameliorated the funds and destroyed the good will of the CEF, making it for all purposes worthless, and continued prosecution of this law suit a waste of time and energy of the CCGLA, which intends to carry on the just and appropriate business of the CCGLA through the establishment of a new charitable foundation to be endowed with the considerable good will of the CCGLA; and
ameliorate: To make or become better; improve.
It’s nice that CCGLA acknowledged that since lawsuit was initiated the board actually improved the funds of the Foundation, and good-will has remained intact. Since the lawsuit was filed by CCGLA, a great deal of good-will that was once enjoyed by CCGLA has dissipated. Much of this has been caused by the leadership of the CCGLA board, and the lack of focus on the actual mission of CCGLA.
As I have said on many occasions, and as we have stated in our court filings, this lawsuit has always been a waste of time, and energy. CCGLA made no effort to resolve this matter prior to the court hearing on January 12, even though one of the resolutions – agreed to by the CEF Board – was the very action they state they are taking (i.e. creation of new charitable organization).
WHEREAS there are no pending counter-claims or affirmative claims for relief other than those presented by the Plaintiff; and
Okay, there were two accurate statements made.
WHEREAS it is the desire of the CCGLA to distance itself from the CEF and its current board of directors and the “ill will” that they have represented in the community;
As mentioned earlier, the only amount of ill-will that has been generated has been by existing board members of CCGLA. One excellent example took place at the March Gay Bingo, where two of the CCGLA board members taunted our group during the evening. It caused a general discussion amongst our group of 12-14 and generated a great deal of ‘ill-will’ towards CCGLA based on CCGLA board member actions.