DENIED: NBCE Board Members Motion to Dismiss Colucci Lawsuit

Monday, July 9, 2018 - 12:24 News Staff

Court States it is "Incapable of Believing" Assertions made by NBCE BOD

In a blow to the nine Board Members of the National Board of Chiropractic Examiners (NBCE) being sued by Margaret Colucci DC, the Board Member they ousted, Judge Marcelo A. Kopcow denied the Motion to Dismiss submitted by NBCE and the board members.

The nine Directors named in the suit and alleging they are just "volunteers" include the Executive Committee:

Salvatore D. LaRusso DC - President
Steven Conway DC - Vice President
John C. Nab DC - Treasurer
Paul N. Morin DC
Daniel M. Cote DC - Secretary
Leroy F. Otto DC
John R. McGinnis DC
Farrel Grossman DC
Kirk Shilts DC

In a lawsuit filed in the District Court of Weld County Colorado the President of the Federation of Chiropractic Licensing Boards (FCLB) Margaret Colucci DC and her attorney accuse the NBCE and nine of its Directors of engaging in a "witch hunt, harassment and scheme" to remove her from the NBCE Board of Directors. The deeply revealing lawsuit of the inner workings of one of the most powerful organizations in the chiropractic profession describes a series of breaches of the NBCE's governing corporate documents and applicable law that led to the removal of Dr. Colucci who was the only female NBCE Board member from May 2016 until the time of her removal from the Board.

CLICK HERE FOR THE ORIGINAL STORY

The all male, caucasian defendants who ousted the only female NBCE Board member argued that the court lacked jurisdiction over the board members, that Colucci lacked standing to bring her claims, that the Board Members are immune from liability because (they allege) they are "volunteers" of a non profit and that Colucci could not maintain an action for declaratory judgment.

The NBCE argued that the Colorado Court lacked jurisdiction even though the NBCE headquarters is located in Colorado in part arguing that any connection to Colorado was "random and fortuitous".

That's interesting since the NBCE sued tenants of theirs in a Real Estate dispute in Colorado in 2012 and in that lawsuit the NBCE argued it had standing to sue there because it is a Colorado corporation and its mailing address is in Colorado. They are also registered as a foreign corporation in Colorado with its primary in Texas.

Of course they did not tell the current judge this.

Even without revealing this slight of hand by the NBCE, the judge in the current case wasn't buying any of it:

"The Board Members all chose to become a member of a board for a non-profit corporation with its headquarters in Colorado; all have made communications to Colorado furthering the NBCE objectives, all have created continmuous obligations between themselves and the NBCE and at least in some part attended meetings in Colorado."

The judge obviously found the NBCE's assertions incredulous stating:

"The Court is incapable of believing that communications about the operations of NBCE to Colorado, traveling to meetings in Colorado and gaining the benefit from being on the board of a non-profit with its headquarters in Colorado, is random or fortuituous. In this case the Board Members purposefully availed themselves for the purpose of condcuting business in Colorado."

In addressing her standing to sue based on fiduciary claims, the Judge tied his ruling to the relevent language in the Colorado statute governing non-profits stating she could pursue a claim for breach of fiduciary duty that proved harmful to her, even though the duty by the Board Members was owed to NBCE.

Not only that, the judged also stated:

"Further, since she could pursue the breach of fiduciary duty claim against the Board Members she could also pursue a claim against NBCE for aiding and abetting breach of a fiduciary duty."

Then in an unbelievable assertion, the nine Board Members being sued expect people to believe that they are "volunteers" for the NBCE despite the hundreds of thousands of dollars paid to them every year.

The approximately $11,000.000.00 in NBCE revenue each year comes from testing students on mandated examinations they need in order to get licensed in the majority of jurisdictions. The vast majority of students get their money from student loans.

The NBCE and its Board of Directors enjoy a monopoly control over the ability of all chiropractic graduates to get a license in the United States.

CLICK BELOW for Court Filings Related to Motion to Dismiss:

CLICK BELOW for more history of the NBCE.