REGISTRY, Breed & kennel Club NEWS

Lady bites canine foundation, May 2005 update on man bites dog.

By Louis A. Fallon

Mrs. Deborah Lynch of Aurora, Ohio, the talented former Executive Director of the American Kennel Club Canine Health Foundation (AKC/CHF) filed a civil lawsuit alleging age discrimination, defamation and retaliation against her former employer saying that the AKC/CHF and two former presidents of its board of directors, Mr. John Studebaker of Richland, Michigan, and Mr. Howard Falberg of Poway, California, violated the law when they terminated Mrs. Lynch in 2003 and refused to consider her for open positions because of her age.  On April 27, 2005 a Cuyahoga County, Ohio jury agreed and found the AKC/CHF liable to the amount of more than half a million dollars for age discrimination, defamation and retaliation.  A half-million dollars buys a lot of dog biscuits.

The jury also unanimously agreed that the AKC/CHF and Mr. Studebaker unlawfully retaliated against and defamed Mrs. Lynch because she had filed her discrimination suit.  The jury of four men and four women awarded Mrs. Lynch $544,498.00 and attorney's fees.

The jury found John Studebaker, the AKC/CHF president until March 2005, personally liable for the same three charges: age discrimination, defamation and retaliation.  Former AKC/CHF president Howard Falberg was found personally liable for age discrimination.  The jury set Studebaker's personal liability at over $60,000.00, with Falberg's liability over $8,000.00.  In addition, the jury awarded Mrs. Lynch attorney's fees.  The AKC/CHF scurried to send out a press release saying that their insurance will cover all legal awards and costs, including the personal liabilities of Mr. Studebaker and Mr. Falberg and that the jury decision will be appealed.  Legal experts believe that there are two chances of this jury appeal succeeding; one is slim and the other is non-existent.  The well regarded and successful attorneys Christopher P. Thorman and Ryan A. Sobel of the Cleveland law firm of Thorman & Hardin-Levine represented Mrs. Lynch.  The firm primarily represents employees in discrimination and employee rights litigation.  Their website address is www.thllaw.com.

In 1995 the American Kennel Club, Inc. (AKC) formed the American Kennel Club Canine Health Foundation (AKC/CHF) in Aurora, Ohio and has been its main financial supporter ever since, contributing over $11 million to the AKC/CHF since its founding.  Several of the members of the AKC/CHF board of directors are associated with the AKC.

Mr. Ron Menaker is the Honorary Chair of the AKC/CHF.  He is also the chair of the AKC board of directors.  The AKC’s Board of Directors recently authorized a donation of up to $1 million to the AKC/CHF. An initial installment of $500,000.00 will be given outright and an additional $500,000.00 in matching funds will be made available by AKC for all new donations earmarked for the AKC/CHF through December 2005.  “The funds we are contributing today are in addition to our annual donations and reflect our continuing commitment to canine health research.  We are proud of having donated over $11 million in total to the Foundation,” said Ron Menaker, AKC’s Chairman of the Board.

Mrs. Deborah Lynch was hired as the first Executive Director of the new AKC/CHF in 1995.  She was promoted to Executive Vice President in 1998.  She often made a personal appearance before the AKC board of directors soliciting new funds.  Under Mrs. Lynch's leadership, the AKC/CHF became the world's premier fundraising organization for the promotion of canine health research.  At the trial, former AKC/CHF board members, including the founding board president, testified that the defendants told them that Mrs. Lynch did not “fit the profile” of the younger employees that the AKC and the AKC/CHF wanted.

In 2003, the AKC Canine Health Foundation, Mr. Studebaker and Mr. Falberg terminated Mrs. Lynch from her employment less then one month after she had earned for the AKC/CHF, a coveted four-star rating from Charity Navigator, an independent evaluator of the financial health of American charities.  After terminating Mrs. Lynch, the defendants replaced her with a much younger and admittedly less-qualified employee.

With her lawyers Mrs. Lynch filed a civil lawsuit with a claim of age discrimination in the Cuyahoga County, Ohio Court of Common Pleas on June 19, 2003.  Soon after, the AKC/CHF and Mr. Studebaker began making false and defamatory statements about Mrs. Lynch to others within the fields of canine studies, dog breeding and the sport of pure-bred dogs.

The AKC/CHF and Mr. Studebaker further retaliated against Mrs. Lynch by filing five counterclaims against her, the last two of which defendants abandoned just before the start of the trial.  Under oath Mr. Studebaker testified that the counterclaims would not have been brought against Mrs. Lynch had she not sued for discrimination.  Nevertheless, prior to dismissing the claims, Mr. Studebaker and the AKC/CHF openly discussed the counterclaims and defamed Mrs. Lynch.  On cross-examination Mr. Studebaker admitted that the counterclaims against Mrs. Lynch were, in his own word, “baseless”.

At the February 6, 2004 meeting of the board of directors of the AKC, the Mahoning-Shenango Kennel Club of Ohio presented its delegates credentials for Mrs. Deborah Lynch of Aurora, Ohio to represent the club in the AKC House of Delegates There was a motion by one courageous individual Mr. Steven Gladstone to approve the Delegate credentials of Deborah Lynch to represent the Mahoning-Shenango Kennel Club, as her credentials had been published in two consecutive issues of the AKC GAZETTE.  There was no second to this motion.  Thus, the Mahoning-Shenango Kennel Club which had been a member dog club of the AKC since 1939 was denied its legal right to send the person of its choice to the AKC’s House of Delegates.  Mrs. Deborah Lynch has been a respected Keeshonden dog breeder for thirty years.  She joins a long list of respected and well-known talented dog breeders and participants in the sport of pure-bred dogs that have been publicly black-balled by the AKC.

Detailed financial information and a copy of the AKC/CHF annual tax returns to the IRS that granted it a 501-C-3 federal tax exemption status is available free of charge on the Internet at www.guidestar.org.  Its employer identification number is 13-3813813.  In its latest report the AKC/CHF had 23 members of its board of directors, assets of over $5 million and fewer then 5 employees.

The American Kennel Club Inc. is a public non-profit organization incorporated in the State of New York, with a 501-C-4 federal tax exempt status.  It operates in all 50 states of the USA, and has offices in NY and NC.  The AKC was founded in 1884 and has a 501-C-4 federal income tax status (it does not pay federal or state taxes on any of its $50 million annual income) the federal government considers it a “public” organization.  Any person that would like to read the IRS form 990 annual income tax form that the AKC (and every other 501-C organization) is required to file with the IRS can obtain that document for free.  Just fill out the IRS form # 4506-A “Request for Public Inspection or Copy of Exempt or Political Organization IRS Form” which form is available at the IRS website www.irs.gov.  Include the AKC employer ID number 13-4923060 and its address at 260 Madison Ave., NY, NY 10016.

Mail or fax the completed IRS form #4506-A to the IRS, Mail Stop 6716, Odgen, Utah 84201 or fax it to telephone number 801-620-7896 and wait patiently for three weeks until the photocopies of the AKC form 990’s for the years you requested arrive in your mailbox.  If you just order one copy of each year, there is no IRS fee.  The AKC’s form 990 ‘Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax’ form includes details that are omitted from the slick AKC Annual Report magazine that the AKC publishes each year.  Form 990 includes the amount of salary paid to each AKC officer, and the compensation paid to each AKC director.