Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California
Association Management Practices
I belong to a state trade association. Membership is voluntary however, it is difficult not to be a member because the association is the largest in the state and has the largest Listserv. Without access to this listserv we lack an efficient means of communications between members as it is used for giving and receiving work assignments and consultations with each other in a broad number of subjects.
The association holds an annual meeting where seminars and workshops of interest to the members are presented. Special guests are invited to deliver a sort of keynote address designed to bring light in some area of our profession and/or provide a motivational message.
This year, the association invited an extremely controversial political figure to deliver the speech. As soon as the announcement was made, the listserv filled with messages protesting the invitation and cancelling reservations for the meeting. The Executive Director then ordered us to stop discussing the issue and threatened to suspend access to the list to anyone who posted further objections.
Is there a way to stop the officers from preventing us from using our listserv? Can the Board be forced to withdraw the invitation to that political figure?
Thanks.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Association Management Practices
Mr. Hoffman gave you a practical answer.
However, if you wanted to spend the money, a substantial retainer to an attorney, along with your rules and bylaws and the facts could be reviewed by an attorney to see if court action could be taken to get an injunction.
I don't know what your odds of winning are but would not recommend paying the retainer.
Re: Association Management Practices
If your association owns the listserv then it can set make the listserv's rules. Those who want to discuss topics which the rules exclude can do so on other listservs (or start their own) while continuing to use the association's system for other matters.
From what you have said I don't see how you can force the group to rescind the speaker's invitation. Organizations like yours generally have bylaws and those bylaws typically state how members can replace the board or overrule its decisions, but these processes are usually time-consuming and are designed to ensure that members have control over the group's overall direction. They are seldom useful when the controversy is over something as specific as the choice of a convention speaker. Having an organization's entire membership call the shots on details like this is impractical -- in fact, it is the reason boards and officers exist in the first place.
Members who strongly disagree with their organization's policies can join competing groups or start their own.
My suggestion is to accept the fact that you will not always agree with every decision any organization makes, just like you do not always agree with your friends, relatives and co-workers. Your urge to make the association see things the way you do may be an overreaction, even if yours is the majority view.
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