USATF & Max Siegel Continue Their Powergrab - This Time Against The Youth

Thanks, good info.

Now USATF is suing the people they suspended:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/162889787132224/permalink/1045208692233658/

polevaultpower wrote:

Now USATF is suing the people they suspended:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/162889787132224/permalink/1045208692233658/

Classic... USATF has taken the Nike route. If they can't politely make you do what they want than they will make an example out of you. So glad that the money being raised by the professional athletes are being used for lawsuits and attorney fees. How about increasing the revenue sharing up to 50% instead of taking that money and throwing it down the drain to prove you are bigger and stronger than your subordinates.

Wow! USATF is putting that Nike money to use.

Anyone have a copy of the Complaint that can be posted somewhere so we can see what they are suing the committee members for?

sue sue sue wrote:

Wow! USATF is putting that Nike money to use.

Anyone have a copy of the Complaint that can be posted somewhere so we can see what they are suing the committee members for?

I'll definitely post as soon as I find one.

Renee previously mentioned something about risking $10 million in liability from their actions.

The lawsuit against the committee members was filed on June 3.

You posted the answers from Jill Geer on June 9. When she answered your questions, was that after the lawsuit was filed on June 3.

If she answered the questions after the lawsuit was filed, this seems like an amazing lack of candor.

Here is a little more info from the last Associations Executive Committee Conference Call.

http://www.usatf.org/about/committees/GeneralCompetition/Associations/minutes.aspx

Youth Executive Committee – The Board suspended the entire committee. Two out of the 3 Associations with Presidents have complied. Until that suspension is lifted, they cannot participate in anything to do with the Association, including coaching. Send any questions you may get on this issue to Norm Wain. Renee told us all members of the Youth Executive committee received a notice and the information was made public. This is a disciplinary action and the suspension was made because we were at a point of no return. The process of our actual governing board is being followed. We have received official word that the Youth Executive Committee has filed a section 10 complaint with the USOC. Only 24 Associations had registered to use Athletic.net for the meet. All Associations were since notified that they must use it to advance their athletes. All but 5 Associations have complied. They also put Coach O on notice reminding him that he was not a registered vendor. The Hershey meet was not a meet that the Youth Committee favored, so the National Office had already taken action to have volunteers staff that meet. Only 1 of the 3 nearby associations agreed to help, so they brought in volunteers from around the country. They feel that they are in a good place with staffing the youth meets. Pat asked if the rumors were true that Robin Beamon was the meet director, but Renee said that was not true. We do not have an in-house system that can accommodate the youth registration process. If anyone is not getting the assistance that they need from Athletic.net, the National Office needs to be made aware of it. Steve asked what Robin’s position entails. Renee said Robin has been extremely helpful during Arionne’s leave. Robin does not have a title at the National Office. Karen asked Renee to comment on the talk going around about suspending members without due process. Renee said the actions taken by the Youth Executive Committee were causing us harm that we could not let continue. We are looking at about 10 million dollars of liability, so immediate action was required. It is regrettable.

Shameful. I am literally ashamed to belong to this organization.

I see from the USATF's website and Twitter feed that USATF is still pushing the Max Siegel "marketing genius" story, but make no announcement or mention of the fact that they have sued over a dozen of their youth committee members.

I guess keeping the membership in the dark about the lawsuit is what they would call "marketing genius."

Here is the full lawsuit: http://polevaultpower.com/docs/USATFlawsuit.pdf

I don't think I'd want to serve on a USATF committee after this. When USATF is willing to bring $10 million claims against committee members, you are risking a lot of potential liability just to be a volunteer.

Are USATF committee members covered by a directors and officers insurance policy?

Leading by litigation wrote:

I don't think I'd want to serve on a USATF committee after this. When USATF is willing to bring $10 million claims against committee members, you are risking a lot of potential liability just to be a volunteer.

Are USATF committee members covered by a directors and officers insurance policy?

I don't know, but I'd like to find out. Currently reconsidering future plans... If I join a committee and someone goes rogue, I am now putting my family's financial stability at risk. I don't know if I can be comfortable with that.

Even if the courts throw this out, it is going to cost them money to defend it. And what if USATF keeps appealing? They have deeper pockets than the volunteers...

The real question is:

Why is a group of volunteers making these kinds of big financial decisions against the will of the CEO? If I was a race directory for example, and one of the "volunteers" started prompting people to register for my race somewhere outside of my registration site I had paid for, and it messed up my entire race, I would hold them personally liable.

If you're a volunteer, you do what your director says, plain and simple. As much as I think the Nike USATF is despicable, this lawsuit is not surprising and they honestly had it coming.

Go back to page 1 and read the letter from Leach's counsel.

From the bylaws:

C. Youth Athletics Committee:

1. Duties: The Youth Athletics Committee shall:

a. Championships: Have jurisdiction over all championships in its discipline, and institute, conduct, and manage

its national championships, regional championships, Youth Junior Olympics Association championships, and

all other championships under its auspices, under Regulation 18;

There is another component to this which may or may not surface, but is loosely related.

Almost no associations want to host the national youth meets. National has somehow found a way to keep nearly all the registration money and significantly limit the sponsors an association can grab. I was told at our last association meeting that whoever hosted last year's meet (maybe North Carolina? I don't remember) lost somewhere between $20-$30k in expenses because National keeps all the revenue.

Who gets the entry fees depends on that meet. As far as I know, most National Championships, the LOC gets the entry fees.

Read the bid packets:

http://www.usatf.org/groups/EventDirectors/bids/openBids.aspx

ya..... wrote:

The real question is:

Why is a group of volunteers making these kinds of big financial decisions against the will of the CEO? If I was a race directory for example, and one of the "volunteers" started prompting people to register for my race somewhere outside of my registration site I had paid for, and it messed up my entire race, I would hold them personally liable.

If you're a volunteer, you do what your director says, plain and simple. As much as I think the Nike USATF is despicable, this lawsuit is not surprising and they honestly had it coming.

As I understand what USATF is saying, no USATF committee or LOC has authority to enter into contracts with vendors, etc. Only Max Siegel has that authority. Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm under the impression that committees and LOC's have frequently signed contracts with vendors.

So if you are on a USATF committee or LOC and you approve a contract with a vendor, you are subject to being sued personally by the USATF for large tort damages if everything didn't go through Max. I don't think the volunteers who set up and run events ever thought that was the process or that they were exposing themselves to that kind of liability.

Yup...