Image Credit: Michael Hintringer
October 07, 2019 - 6:30 PM
KELOWNA - It could be years, if ever, before lawyer Marc Whittemore’s lawsuit against Kelowna Yacht Club ever goes to trial but the club has already changed a key item he raised in that suit.
Whittemore, a long-time member, sued the club in February, in part, because some directors – Fleet and Staff Captains - were elected by small groups at social gatherings rather than through a formal election process.
Late last week he found out that has changed.
“I was so delighted to see this blurb on the club’s web site,” he told iNFOnews.ca today, Oct. 7. “This was a blurb from the nominating committee that said we’re going to have these elections at the Annual General Meeting, which is a point I’ve been making over and over again for several years and was being ignored, which was partly responsible for commencing the lawsuit to try and force the club to do things, so called, correctly.”
But, while claiming victory, not everyone sees it that way.
“I’ve already had pushback from the club, saying ‘we didn’t do this at the insistence of your lawsuit,’” Whittemore said. “I say to myself, for 40 years you’ve been electing these two directors at social events with no voting qualification or quorum structures. Marc Whittemore starts a lawsuit claiming that’s not how you do things and, miraculously, you change the whole program then say it’s not related to the lawsuit. That’s pretty far fetched, isn’t it?”
The election process was just one of the issues in the lawsuit so that remains active, although Whittemore said it could take a year or two before it goes to trial, if at all.
The suit also raises concerns about the food services at the club and he claims his reputation was tarnished by the club.
A message left with the yacht club was not returned before publication.
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