South Dakota Court Closes PINCHAS vs. USADSF Case

From: DeafSportLawSuit - Nov 2, 2006

Press Release - November 1, 2006

From: www.deafsportlawsuit.com

( to translate this material in your language, please visit www.babelfish.altavista.com )

SOUTH DAKOTA COURT CLOSES PINCHAS vs. USADSF CASE

By Rafael Pinkhasov Pinchas, CISS Ombudsman

SUMMARIES:

* USA COURTS ARE NOT PROPER FORUMS FOR DEAF SPORTS DISPUTES

* FLAWED SELECTION PROCESS FOR CISS AND USADSF POSITIONS

* RAMPANT CRONYISM AND FAVORITISM IN CISS AND USADSF CONTINUES

* WILL DEFENDANTS EVER AGREE TO VOLUNTARILY SUBMIT TO JURISDICTON OF SWITZERLAND-BASED COURT OF ARBITRATION FOR SPORT?

* 2006 GALLAUDET REVOLT: HYPOCRISY AND DOUBLE-STANDARD POLITICS BY AMMONS AND SCOGGINS

New York, USA - The United States District Court for the District of South Dakota in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, issued an Order to close the lawsuit matter between this Ombudsman as a plaintiff and the United States Deaf Sports Federation ( "USADSF" ) as a defendant.

The prime reason why the litigation case, according to the Court Memorandum Opinion and Order, was closed was that "the USADSF is a voluntary and non-employer organization," that "Eight Circuit law is clear that volunteers are not employees for purposes of Title VII," therefore, "plaintiff Pinchas was not a potential employee of the USADSF within meaning of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act."

The Court did not address the main charge of the lawsuit - discrimination based on national origin.

Nor the Court did impose any penalty or sanctions against either plaintiff or defendant.

Pinchas, a Soviet Union-Uzbekistani native, naturalized USA citizen and USADSF member, filed a discrimination lawsuit by naming four defendants: the USADSF and its members Jerald Jordan, Donalda Ammons and Bobbie Beth Scoggins

www.deafsportlawsuit.com/update99.htm

In his lawsuit paper submissions Pinchas charged defendants of their discriminatory practice and conspiracy in preventing Pinchas in obtaining vacant positions of the Chairman and Secretary General of the Organizing Committee of the 2007 Deaflympic Winter Games and Executve Director of the CISS/Deaflympics. It had also been Pinchas' substantiated claim that the selection procedure for these vacant USADSF and CISS positions were flawed, biased and one-sided.

Briefly, an USADSF position announcement for the 2007 Deaflympic Winter Games Organizing Committee stated the following guidelines:

"Application for the Chair of the 2007 Games Organizing Committee ( "2007 GOC" ) must be received by the USADSF Home Office no later than 5 p.m., September 2, 2003. Late applications will be returned unopened. Faxed applications are not acceptable."

"Finalists may be invited for an interview with the USADSF Executive Board in Frankfort, KY, during the weekend of October 4-5, 2003. Expenses will be paid by the USADSF."

The three finalists-candidates - Pinchas, Dwight Benedict and Geraldine Francini - submitted their applications for the position of the Chair of the 2007 GOC. One applicant - Francini - submitted her application papers via the facsimile very late, that is, on or about September 19, 2003 ( note: the deadline was September 2, 2003 ). Moreover, Francini's application was supported by the required two personal letters of reference, which were produced on Francini's behalf by Jerald Jordan, a known and long-time Pinchas nemesis, and Diane Dyer Morton, a non-deaf housemate of Donalda Ammons.

The position selection results were as follows:

- the USADSF Board led by its then President Bobbie Beth Scoggins did not want to interview Pinchas as a finalist-candidate in person;

- instead, the USADSF Board wanted to interview Pinchas via the videoconferencing, but because Pinchas did not have a videophone system in his possession he was rejected for interviewing as an applicant for any vacant position;

- Benedict, a college classmate of Pinchas, was chosen as the Chair of the 2007 GOC;

- Francini, in spite of her belated and faxed apllication submission, was picked as the Secretary General of the 2007 GOC.

Later on, in 2004, Francini abruptly resigned her position and was secretly replaced by Edward Ingham, a Jerald Jordan worshipper and Donalda Ammons subordinate, as the new Secretary General of the 2007 GOC.

Thus, the USADSF, among the other things, did not fully observe and strictly implement its above-described position announcement guidelines.

Furthermore, for the then vacant job position of the CISS Executive Director, the USADSF did not intentionally make any effort in supporting Pinchas' application. Instead, the job position was biasedly given out to another USADSF member and favorite of Donalda Ammons - Tiffany Granfors.

Cronyism and favoritism in the structures of the CISS and USADSF were and are still rampant.

Cronyism and favoritism, mismanagement and ineffective leadership are the main reasons why the two organizations - the CISS and USADSF - are still weak, stagnant and financially impoverished ones.

Commented one expert on legal sports dispute matters,

"Upon my thorough and impartial analysis, defendants Jordan, Ammons and Scoggins have obviously committed many wrongdoings and improprieties as sports administrators, but they are very lucky to run away from justice, that is, they have not gone to a single trial session because of the weakness, "gray area" and loopholes in the American judicial system. Because defendants flatly refused to solve their differences with Pinchas face-to-face and internally, betweeen 2001 and 2005, Pinchas was compelled to file the four various and very costly lawsuits against these defendants. Unfortunately, the American courts in Baltimore and Sioux Falls rejected all of them because these American courts are not basically proper forum places for the deaf sports litigation disputes. The only right and appropriate place to litigate the deaf sports dispute is the International Olympic Committee-created Court of Arbitration for Sport based in Lausanne, Switzerland. But, there is a big problem - defendants still continue to stubbornly refuse their recognition and acceptance of this Court of Arbitration for Sport as a litigation forum venue for Pinchas' justified and valid claims against them!"

In light of the foregoing, there is a final plea by this Ombudsman: for the sake of justice, fairness, truth and progress of the deaf sports world, will the defendants have their courage to voluntarily agree to fully submit to the jurisdiction of the Court of Arbitration for Sport, will not they?

P.S. Three days ago, on October 29, 2006, the Gallaudet revolt by students ended up with a success because their demand to remove Dr. Jane Fernandes as the 9th Gallaudet President was fullfiled. The students revolted against the appointment of Dr. Fernandes because they believed that the selection procedure by the Gallaudet Board of Trustees was "a flawed and biased one." The two deaf sports lawsuit litigants Donalda Ammons and Bobbie Beth Scoggins, like this Ombudsman, were on the side of the rebelling students, while another litigant - Jerald Jordan - remained on the sidelines.
Now compare and judge this scenario: on the one side, Ammons and Scoggins were themselves the ones in charge of the above-described "flawed and biased" CISS/USADSF selection process re: the 2007 GOC and CISS Executive Director positions, while the two women vehemently opposed the Gallaudet presidential appointment of Dr. Fernandes because they believed that there was "a flawed and biased" selection process by the Gallaudet Board of Trustees, on the other side!
What kind of politics do Ammons and Scoggins, both slick A.S.L. talkers, play in our still oppressed and disunited deaf world?