Motions filed in TDL case

New motions were filed in the ongoing Terre Du Lac case requiring the case be continued to a future date.

On April 29, a temporary restraining order (TRO) was granted against Terre Du Lac board members Cary Combs and Gary Keithley. Property owner Herman Reisner was the original petitioner of the order. Association board member Michael Tilley became the petitioner in the new case on May 3.

Attorney R. Scott Reid filed a motion, on behalf of Combs and Keithley, to continue Thursday’s scheduled evidentiary hearing in order to take depositions of Reisner and Tilley. According to court documents, depositions of Reisner and Tilley were taken on Thursday.

According to the motion to continue, both respondents to the TRO vehemently deny all the allegations made by Tilley and Reisner.

Combs, through his attorney, also filed a motion on Tuesday to preserve all financial and business records of the association. Included in this motion was that all video surveillance and audio recordings that concern this case be preserved by association staff.

Another filing was made Tuesday by attorney Vonne Karraker on behalf of Tilley. This was an emergency motion to appoint additional board members.

Since the TRO was granted, only three active board members are currently serving on the board of directors for Terre Du Lac. Tilley, Michael Miller, and Adam Hector comprise the three remaining members. Two board members resigned late last month. 

The original emergency order authorized these three remaining board members to take all actions necessary to unlock the association bank accounts, pay employee wages, and conduct the day-to-day and ordinary necessary business of the association.

In Tilley’s newly-filed emergency motion to appoint additional board members it stated that “Miller failed and refused to fully comply with the provisions of the emergency order, under the mistaken belief that the court’s order did not supersede the language of the association bylaws.”

Further, the motion stated that “upon information and belief, Miller has violated the TRO by colluding with Combs to help Combs maintain his power on the board of directors and select a Combs supporter to serve on the board of directors for the association.”

The same motion goes on to state that Hector has remained largely uninvolved in the current crisis and has been unwilling to participate in voting to protect the interests of the association and its membership by fully complying with the emergency order. The motion goes on to claim that Miller and Hector have caused the association to incur unnecessary financial and other losses through their actions.

The motion then states that Miller and Hector refuse to vote to retain the services of former association manager Lori Pope which had been ordered by the court pending a final judgment in this case.

The motion concluded stating that Tilley “believes the association can best conduct business and protect its staff and members if more persons were appointed to the board of directors who are not unable or unwilling to act and whose sense of duty is the association rather than the respondents or any one member of the board of directors.”

Tilley, through this order, wants to appoint former board members Tracey Wibbenmeyer and Robert Rinnell back to the board for the remainder of the year or until final judgment in this ongoing matter.

Finally, a motion was filed Tuesday on behalf of Combs and Keithley in opposition to appoint new board members.

The motion stated that the petitioners request to not only remove a democratically-elected board member and a board member whose position is guaranteed by the articles of the association bylaws but also asks the court to appoint members hand-picked by the petitioners.

The motion then states that the petitioners, having failed to get their candidates elected in the prior election, believe they should be able to not only remove board members but also hand-pick their replacements before any discovery has been conducted, evidence has been heard, witnesses have been cross-examined, and before Combs and Keithley have been given a chance to defend themselves at a final trial.

“We are in the United States of America, not Russia, not China,” the motion states.

Lastly, this motion states that the petitioners have not cited any legal authority authorizing a court to appoint directors to the board of a private, member-based nonprofit corporation.

It went on to state that the association bylaws provide the method for selecting replacement directors in the event of a board vacancy.

The motions have not been heard or ruled on by the court.

An evidentiary hearing where these motions will be reviewed, and all evidence will be presented, is set for May 23 at 1:30 p.m. in front Associate Circuit Judge Joseph Goff Jr.

Bobby Radford is a reporter for the Daily Journal. He can be reached at 573-518-3628, or at bradford@dailyjournalonline.com.