The American Horse Shows Association (AHSA) and the United States Equestrian Team (USET) have been in an ongoing struggle over the national governance of equestrian sport (https://thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=996). The AHSA released the following document on April 16.

The American Horse Shows Association, Inc. (AHSA) announced today that its Executive Committee has given authorization that legal action be filed today by Alan F. Balch, its President and USET Trustee and Voting Member, in New Jersey against the United States Equestrian Team (USET) in the aftermath of the USET’s attempt to pass new bylaws on April 2.

“At the very heart of governance is an organization’s ability and willingness to function effectively, openly, and fairly. Today, the USET’s fundamental effectiveness, openness, and fairness will be questioned in a court of law, in a lawsuit challenging the manner in which the USET recently conducted its Annual Meeting and the Board of Trustees meeting that followed. We are doing so because the USET’s litigation against the AHSA, started in late February, has now been changed to rely heavily on actions we believe were improperly taken at the most recent Board meeting. The new bylaws were specifically written to support the USET’s litigation,” said Alan F. Balch, president of the AHSA and an officer of the USET.

First, the USET set a record date of December 31, 2000, to establish the list of its members entitled to vote for the new Board of Trustees. This was in violation of New Jersey law, where the USET is incorporated, which requires that such a record date be not more than 60 days in advance of, nor less than 10 days before, the Annual Meeting. The Annual Meeting was held on April 2, 2001, more than 90 days after the record date. Therefore, the election held for new trustees was invalid. Then, to compound matters, those trustees voted on substantially new language for the USET bylaws, circulated to the former trustees on notice of less than the 5 days required