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USA Equestrian, Inc. | |
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NEWS RELEASE | |
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| For Immediate Release | October 25, 2001 |
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USET BOARD VOTES TO CONDITION SETTLEMENT TALKS;
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USA Equestrian (formerly American Horse Shows Association) announced today that efforts to settle the formal dispute over the status of equestrian sport’s National Governing Body (NGB) before the United States Olympic Committee (USOC), through mediation, have apparently reached an impasse. In a trustees’ meeting of the United States Equestrian Team (USET) held yesterday, October 24, 2001, its board voted by a narrow margin to refuse to engage in further settlement talks with the USOC mediators and USA Equestrian unless its president, Alan F. Balch, withdraws a motion pending in New Jersey Superior Court, “immediately dismissing the New Jersey lawsuit.” The motion now pending in Court seeks enforcement of a previous court order, issued in the case Balch vs. USET, on August 16, 2001, declaring USET’s corporate actions this year “null and void.” Balch explained, “We have continually offered, at USET’s request, to ask the Court to postpone the hearing on the motion until November 16, by which time we had hoped a settlement could be reached. The Court initially declined to do so. We then offered to make a further joint plea to the Court. However, USET apparently refused to consider that option. Our attorneys advise us that to unilaterally withdraw the motion at this point in the proceedings, as opposed to postponing it, will prejudice our position. Given the importance of our case, and the terms of the decision issued August 16, we simply cannot do so. Our officers are all in agreement on this point.” Nevertheless, as a further gesture of good faith, Balch authorized his New Jersey attorney to make renewed efforts seeking an adjournment of the pending motion until November 16. Just after 3 pm today, the Court agreed to the adjournment. Unfortunately, the USOC mediator has had to notify the USOC that the mediation appears to be at an end. Armand Leone, Jr., president of the USET, had informed the mediators earlier in the day that, “I am not authorized to proceed any further with negotiations with the AHSA.” “The foundation of any mediation, working toward a settlement,” Balch stated, “is that neither organization’s previously existing position be prejudiced in any way. That was understood when both USA Equestrian and USET entered the talks upon conclusion of the USOC hearings in Austin, Texas, on October 15. Our court motion was pending at the time, and was not considered an obstacle to settlement discussions then. So obviously something changed. From what I heard at the USET trustees’ meeting yesterday, it appeared that a majority of the USET board does not want to consider a settlement along the lines that the mediator, along with the leadership of both organizations, were in the process of developing. The demand that we halt our pending litigation is simply unreasonable; it is neither in our own interest nor the sport’s larger interest of assuring non-profit corporate governance within the law. I would expect the USET to have the same reaction if our organization were to demand at this point that the USET drop or withdraw its formal USOC challenge, which began all this litigation in the first place, back in February.” With the mediation apparently ended, the formal result of the hearing held before a USOC panel in Austin, Texas, October 13-15, 2001, is expected to be revealed in due course, barring any further attempts at mediation that still might be undertaken. It is subject to ratification by the entire USOC board of directors. Both USET and USA Equestrian have previously waived any right to further argument or debate before the USOC board of directors, by mutual agreement with the USOC.
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ENDS
For more information, please contact Sarah Holt, Public Relations at (859) 225-6974 or via email at sholt@equestrian.org. USA Equestrian press releases are available on our web site - www.equestrian.org. | |
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USA Equestrian, Inc., as the National Equestrian Federation of the U.S., is the regulatory body for the Olympic and World Championship sports of dressage, driving, endurance, eventing, reining, show jumping, and vaulting, as well as 19 other breeds and disciplines of equestrian competition. As the country’s largest multi-breed organization, the Federation has over 80,000 members and recognizes more than 2,800 competitions nationwide each year. It governs all aspects of competition, including educating and licensing all judges, stewards, and technical delegates who officiate at these shows. | |
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