In response to frequent member questions, I am writing this on behalf of your AHRMA Board of Trustees to provide an update on the status of a lawsuit brought against AHRMA by Mr. Robert Iannucci (Team Obsolete) and six other plaintiffs.

Mr. Iannucci filed this lawsuit on March 12, 2001, and has been pursuing this litigation ever since. This legal action has its origin in many years of difficulties between AHRMA and Robert Iannucci.

After several previous difficulties with Mr. Iannucci, AHRMA filed suit against him on Oct. 16, 1997, for his misappropriation of the name of one of AHRMA's racing classes, BEARS, for events he personally promoted outside of AHRMA. AHRMA prevailed on summary judgment, with a federal judge finding, in part, Mr. Iannucci's conduct to be "shifty" and taken in "bad faith" with regard to his dealings with AHRMA. Mr. Iannucci unsuccessfully appealed that decision and the Court of Appeals affirmed the decision of the Federal District Court.

Several months after the successful conclusion of this litigation, the board by unanimous vote revoked Mr. Iannucci’s membership in AHRMA. Mr. Iannucci pursued our appeal process under the AHRMA rulebook, and the board, after consideration of the arguments made by his attorney, affirmed its original decision. Mr. Iannucci then filed suit against AHRMA in Federal District Court in New York on March 12, 2001. Mr. Iannucci has stated that his intent in this litigation is to bleed the AHRMA resources dry in the litigation process and bankrupt the association.

Mr. Iannucci's initial complaint was some 68 pages long with 16 claims for relief. Through a series of successful motions by AHRMA, a variety of his claims have been dismissed. Mr. Iannucci has amended the complaint five times.

As a part of our fiduciary responsibility to AHRMA and our members, we have conducted negotiations with Mr. Iannucci to pursue out-of-court settlement, but have been unable to achieve an agreement acceptable to both parties.

The case is currently in the discovery stage, which is unfortunately one of the most expensive portions of litigation. A number of depositions are in process, taken both by Mr. Iannucci's attorneys and AHRMA's attorneys. The discovery portion of the case is scheduled to be completed by Sept. 6, 2006. Following that there will be motions for summary judgment filed, which will seek to dismiss a variety of Team Obsolete’s and Mr. Iannucci's claims and perhaps the entire case. A trial is not currently set on the matter.

AHRMA's attorney fees have been eligible for our legal insurance coverage. Although our original insurance carrier, Reliance (AAA rating), went bankrupt in the largest insurance bankruptcy in U.S. history, a portion of the coverage was picked up by government coverage provided by the state of Wisconsin.

AHRMA has a counterclaim pending against Mr. Iannucci and the other plaintiffs based on the rulebook, which provides for AHRMA to recover its attorney fees. AHRMA intends to vigorously pursue that claim, because we have contended from the beginning that the case has no merit and is simply furtherance of Mr. Iannucci's announced intent to break the organization by bleeding its resources in legal fees.

As this litigation is still in process, we cannot comment further on this case on the advice of our attorneys.

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