As we all know, our Society has been in a lawsuit for the past two and one half years.
After numerous unsuccessful attempts to negotiate an end to this fiasco, the case finally ended in Court and the Judge, as we have expected ruled in our favor.
Obviously this has been a bitter sweet win for us, therefore the year of 2004 has been a good and an important year for Viitorul Roman. Bitter because the lawsuit have eaten up all our savings and also left the Society in debt and sweet because we were able to protect the name and the integrity of our organization.
We trust, this case will discourage future attempts of illegal takeovers.
For the purpose of keeping you informed, we will describe in a few wards the sequence of events of the above lawsuit, as follows:
In preparation of first day in Court the proper depositions have been taken from both parties.
From the Plaintiff “Viitorul Roman” the following people have been debriefed:
Cristian Calugarita
Ionela Kloes
From the Defendant “The fake Viitorul Roman” the following people have been debriefed:
Gheorghe Istrate
Daniela Istrate
Georgeta Papazian
On 24 June, 2004 we were supposed to have the first day in Court, however due to our last effort to solve the matter out of court, the Judge decided to move up the Court day for another two weeks.
Finally on July 13th we had the first day in Court and the following Witnesses had been listed:
From the Plaintiff side Mr. Cristian Calugarita, Mr. Victor Kloes, Mr. Viorel Petrescu and Ms.Valentina Stoianof.and from the Defendant side Mr. Gheorghe Istrate and Ms. Daniela Istrate.
The morning session did not go as well as expected for “Viitorul Roman”. The Defendant’s Attorney, Mr. Williams suggested to negotiate and settle the case during “lunch time brake”. Our Attorney was in favor of the idea and so was I; furthermore, in fact I have tried to convince Cristian to agree to it.
However Cristian would not have it, he stood his grounds and we ended up back in Court for the afternoon session.
Due to our Attorney’s plea in regards to the California Corporation’s Standard Codes in calling a General Meeting for the purpose of electing a new Board of Directors, the afternoon session turned more in our favor. The Defendant did not have the documents nor could they proof that the meeting took place according to the rules, codes and regulations of the State of California.
Therefore, in the afternoon the Judge made his mind up as to what his ruling should be however he decided to continue the next day, when he expected to have the final ruling on the case.
The second day in Court it was all in our favor and final ruling was as follows:
- The reported “election meeting” by telephone between the Istrates and Papazian was deemed illegal and in violation of the Corporate laws of the State of California.
- All actions following VRS’s January, 2001 election (when we validated our referendum to stay independent from the U&L) taken by all defendants are null and void.
- All defendants (both the individuals and the Union and League) will never be able to use Viitorul Roman Society’s name, or any of its derivatives.
- VRS was determined to be the prevailing party.
- All defendants shall reimburse VRS for all reasonable court fees and costs.
- The Plantiff and the Defandant shall be responsible for their own attorney’s fees.
An official Communiqué was then released to the media summarizing all above, both in English and Romanian.
On a final note, our attorney, Mr. Adams, has sent last week a summons to comply with the Court order to all defendants’ councils, requiring to pay up our costs within 30 days.
It is important to mention that without Mr. Cristian Calugarita’s strong stand on his beliefs, this case would have ended differently, still in our favor, but we would probably given up some of our assets in the process of negotiations and settlement.
As a closing statement I would like to express my personal gratitude to Mr. Cristian Calugarita for his continue and undivided effort in helping Viitorul Roman and especially his tremendous help in seeing this lawsuit end successfully. I trust that Viitorul Roman Board of Directors and the Organization as whole is an agreement with my statement.