Plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the president and executive director of the Illinois Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association are seeking to have other board members added to the litigation as defendants, alleging they breached their fiduciary duties.
The suit, filed in August, alleges ILHBPA executive director Lanny Brooks and president John Wainwright are operating the organization largely in secret and have blatantly ignored efforts by members to shine a light on its financial dealings. The plaintiffs, consisting of 23 horsemen based in Southern Illinois who race primarily at Fairmount Park, are asking for Brooks and Wainwright to be removed from office.
Horsemen File Suit Against Illinois HBPA
Brooks responded that the allegations made in the intitial suit are false and that he will be cleared.
The latest filing seeks to amend the original suit to add as defendants current or former ILHBPA directors Jerry Hammond, Ron Rujawtiz, Tom Trione, Steve Manley, John Witthauer, and John Moroney, alleging breach of fiduciary duty to the ILHBPA members.
"As members of the ILHBPA board of directors, defendant board members owe fiduciary duties to the ILHBPA and the ILHBPA general membership, including but not limited to, the duty of care," the filing states.
The amended complaint goes on to outline 14 alleged breaches of duty by the defendants. As a result of the breach of duty by the defendants, Brooks has "been unjustly enriched in his salary and insofar as the organization, has lost other monies and those damages exceed $50,000," the document states.
The filing also says the organization's membership has been damaged by "inflated and excessive stall rent contract and training fees with Fairmount Park, waste of ILHBPA benevolence trust funds and asset, and monies expended in the unmeritorous defense of this lawsuit."
