We have great news just in time for the holidays!
The ongoing litigation, which has plagued the Libertarian Party of Michigan for the past few years, is finally nearing an end.
The Libertarian Party of Michigan Executive Board (LEC) recently hired attorney Nick Curcio to represent the party as we seek to resolve the final lawsuit, which involves Comerica versus the Libertarian Party of Michigan and other individual defendants.
Once this case is resolved, the court should disburse $38,233 back to the Libertarian Party of Michigan.
We have paid a $5,000 retainer to Mr. Curcio, but we hope that this matter is resolved quickly and that most of that retainer will be returned to us.
The current board has not spent any other party money on legal matters. We have been working since we were elected in July to resolve this final lawsuit. The main obstacle has been that Andrew Chadderdon, former Chair of the party, has been unwilling to sign the release of funds back to the party.
In addition, all board members who were present at our legal meetings agree that this case must be resolved. We recently received a notice from the court stating that the case will be terminated if we do not file a response by December 18th. If the court terminates the case, the party risks losing the monies we are owed.
At this time, the current board has not received any itemized invoices or bills from Hooper Hathaway, the attorneys who represented the previous board. If and when we do receive any bills, we will review them carefully to be sure that we fulfill any legal obligations.
In addition, the party is owed a $14,362.50 refund from Oscar Rodriguez, an additional attorney who was hired by the previous board. Despite the LEC terminating this legal relationship shortly after we were elected in July, Mr. Rodriguez has not yet returned this unused escrow money to the party.
LEC board members recently voted to release the above information to members, and the board is free to speak to members about the above matters. Please email excomm@michiganlp.org with any questions.
