Subject: Lawsuit

Members, as I promised I would inform you of the progress of the lawsuit filed in the State of NY, against me personally and as President of ATFTC.   This included a similar defamation claim against Dennis Sprung in his capacity as President of the AKC.  Sharon Pothast was also served in her capacity as Secretary of ATFTC

All parties involved in this case were from a different state, WA-ATFTC charter-CA-Plaintiff-OK-Defendant-NY-AKC.  With this being the circumstances, we asked the civil action be moved to Federal Court, and it was so moved.  Because I have no New York presence, I planned to move to dismiss the claims against me and ATFTC.  Settlement discussions went nowhere.  Please, understand at this point, no discovery had been put in place, therefore no evidence was collected.  They insisted on a very public apology for my statement to Quast (no one else received my statement, except those who Quast may have sent them) and I felt it not required, as it was between two people, me and Quast. They would not agree to discuss possible settlement terms in confidence and wanted some form of audit of ATFTC membership records conducted by a licensed CPA, and they did not draft any proposed settlement agreement.  When we notified them that we were going to move to dismiss, they agreed to dismiss the case altogether.

Happily, as the complaint named me both personally and in my capacity as president of the ATFTC, the club’s insurance company and my personal insurance company will pay the fees for the NY attorneys work responding to these claims. There will therefore be no financial cost to the club.

Some, if not many of you have gone through battles with people who “fuel a fire” in an attempt to promote themselves or their views of what an organization should do.  For centuries, some have even used false information, partial or distorted information and other manipulation practices.  Such tactics earned the label propaganda.  I hope our organization never has to confront such tactics, but I will be willing to do so if necessary.

As you know it is a very small number of members that are really unhappy with this organization, and once they were listed and the Board notified as being represented by an attorney, any communication between those members had to cease and were referred to the Board’s legal advisory.   

This Board and I cannot thank you enough, for standing behind us and offering financial support as well as offering to testify if needed. This confirms our beliefs, that things are good within this organization and thus produces the energy needed to find ways to protect the organization, uphold our Code of Ethics, the Constitution and By Laws and to work harder to achieve the Objectives as set forth in Article 1 of the Constitution and the Constitution and By Laws in its entirety.

I have received many requests asking if they could file charges on individuals who continually attempt to harm other members, speak false allegations, and continue to disseminate third hand information to those who will follow them which are not true.  I hope this does not happen, but we are ready to do whatever is necessary to make sure their Constitutional rights are honored.

As you know there are  only 3 ways to remove a member from the membership list that are so unhappy and having conduct that is prejudicial to the best interests of the club or the breed: 1. Article VI Discipline, 2. nonpayment of dues, and 3. Resignation

I believe a scholar – William James- once wrote “A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices”.

Respectfully submitted,

Roger S Pritchard,

President ATFTC

Link to Case Dismissal Papers