Defendants file counterclaim in Giveaway House suit

The two factions seeking control of the Community Giveaway House in Havre are continuing their legal squabbles.

A group headed by Roberta Beute of Havre filed paperwork, but the attorney for the other faction, Tyler Gernant of Missoula, said the papers don't appear to respond to any of the questions he raised in his complaint. He said he will likely file a motion asking the judge to rule on the information that has been provided so far.

The lawsuit came after several months of contention between officers of the board listed in 2012.

Then-board Vice President Sue Markley, who was not a voting director of the corporate board, formed an informal committee to investigate allegations that then-Treasurer Sheila Forshee, also not a voting member, had failed in duties with results including the corporation losing its federal nonprofit status, letting its vehicle insurance lapse and failing to pay property taxes on the North Havre property where the charity operated.

That committee in January agreed that Forshee had adequately explained or taken care of the issues alleged.

A letter sent out by Beute in January said the board had been disbanded and that the charity was being reorganized.

Then, in February, the people listed as directors by Forshee in 2012 voted to remove Forshee and President Kelly Ann Damson from their positions and appointed a new board and officers. Markley filed an annual report with the Montana Secretary of State's office listing the new board.

In March, Forshee filed an addendum to that report, listing the board and officers selected through the reorganization that started in January.

The Secretary of State's office listed Markley's filing as the corporation's annual report until it was replaced by Forshee's report in March.

In April, Markley's group filed its lawsuit, alleging Forshee's group had no authority to reorganize the board and was not authorized to file the report in March.

Beute filed an answer April 25, saying she represented the other board members and listing documents related to the March filing with the Secretary of State as their answer, alleging that showed they are the charity's board.

The plaintiffs in the case then filed notices of intent to request a default judgment on the six defendants if they did not answer the complaint by May 15, stating that the answer filed by Beute, chair of the board formed in March, did not include the other plaintiffs because Beute could not represent them. Only a licensed attorney can represent others in these cases, the notice says.

Beute and the other six defendants, Sheila Forshee, Jacob Wolcott, Rebecca Wolcott, Ursula Brese, Vicki Neideregger and Kelly Ann Damson, filed their counterclaim Wednesday, just making that deadline.

The counterclaim requests judgment against the plaintiffs including Giveaway House money taken by the plaintiffs after they formed their board, legal costs and that "all injury to persons and properties be compensated for loss and damages, and punitive."

It also moves the judge to dismiss the complaint, citing Montana law dealing with directive proceedings, in which a director or shareholder brings suit against a corporation.

Gernant said neither the answer nor the counterclaim appears to answer any of the allegations in the complaint. The argument is that, because a document was filed with the Secretary of State, the defendants are the proper board, he said.

He added that the Secretary of State does not make any determination of the validity of a board or of corporate action, but simply retains documents if they are filed properly.

The documents filed by the defendants don't deny the complaint, Gernant said.

"They haven't made any factual arguments," he said.