I was looking for this information which was published November 2000
(The quote is from another thread)
Originally posted by Gayle:
[QUOTE]Back to the topic at hand… didn’t all the litigation the AHSA went through with George Lindemann Jr. and Barney Ward establish that they DO have this kind of jurisdiction??
Yes. From The COTH November2000 (link: Judge’s Ruling )
BARNEY WARD BANNED PERMANENTLY, JUDGE RULES
On Nov. 1, a New York State Supreme Court justice ruled in favor of the American Horse Shows Association in its two-year effort to keep former show jumper Barney Ward off horse show grounds. Justice Richard F. Braun granted the AHSA a permanent injunction to keep Ward off show grounds for as long as he is suspended.
Ward, along with others convicted in the insurance-fraud indictments announced in July 1994, was suspended by the AHSA Hear-ing Committee for a minimum 15 years in July 1998. After serving 33 months in federal prison, he appeared on the grounds of shows in Vermont and Florida, violating his suspension. Justice Leland G. LeGrasse ruled twice in favor of the AHSA in granting a temporary injunction against Ward, pending further action.
Justice Braun’s decision permanently bars Ward from attending AHSA-recognized competitions as a participant or spectator. He noted that Ward had pleaded guilty in March 1996 to the insurance-fraud charges, admitting he arranged for Tommy Burns to electrocute George Lindemann’s hunter Charisma and three other horses before he threatened to kill Burns if he told anyone. Justice Braun called these “most reprehensible actions.”
Justice Braun wrote that the AHSA “has the right to keep unsavory people away from the horse shows that it oversees, even if only to prevent the appearance of impropriety.”
Justice Braun rejected Ward’s request that he be allowed to watch his son, McLain Ward, compete, saying Barney “should have considered the consequences of his actions before he put himself in the position in which he is now.”
He added that the AHSA “issued an appropriate penalty that, contrary to [Ward’s] contention, was not disproportionate to penalties issued against others” and that the AHSA is “certainly justified in avoiding actual or potential harm to its events, members and reputation, not to mention the horses, by having [Ward] barred from those events.”
QUOTE]
Note that Ward plead guilty to fraud…and then defied the suspension of the AHSA by attending a AHSA-recognized competition. Barney wanted to be “allowed” to watch his son. The USEF (then the AHSA) ruled against him and so did Justice Braun of the New York Supreme Court,saying that Ward
“should have considered the consequences of his actions before he put himself in the position in which he is now.”
Before anyone makes the implication…I am not equating any actions of Barney Ward and his associate felons with Josh or Keg(who are not suspended as yet). I just wanted to clarify what the Court sees as it’s role in the issue of governing those suspended by the USEF and what can be done if the “suspended” do not comply with the USEF rules.
Footnote: This was a costly court case and very worth the time and money spent… Is serves to define the right the association has the right to keep unsavory people away from shows it oversees to prevent the appearance of impropriety.
