1969 Voice Of The Tennessee Walking Horse 1969 November Voice RS | Page 18

EX-OFFICIAL OF BREEDERS ASSOCIATION WINS EMPLOYMENT CONTRACT SUIT

H T0M FULTON AS A TRAINER - The subject of a recent lawsuit against the Breeders ' Association . Mr . Fulton is pictured during the days he was active as a professional Walking Horse trainer
As newscaster Paul Harvey often says , " Don ' t worry . . . nothing is going to turn out right ." The Tennessee Walking Horse Breeders ' Association of America lost another round recently as the court in Lewisburg , Tennessee ruled against them in a suit brought by H . Tom Fulton , long-time former Executive Secretary of the Association .
Chancellor John D . Templeton found the Association guilty of breach of contract and ordered payment of
more than S33,000 in back pay to Fulton . Templeton ruled that the
Association pay Fulton the salary under the terms of his employment contract from the date he was fired ( it is our understanding that Mr . Fulton was not officially fired , but rather that his job was eliminated ) through October 21 , 1969 , and left the avenue open for future suits by Fulton to collect his salary between
now and the time his contract expires in 1976 .
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Clarence Evans of Nashville , attorney for Fulton , stated that his client was given a ten-year employment contract in May , 1964 and was also awarded a S 1,500 raise in May , 1965 .
Fulton , who was discharged from his duties December 31 , 1966 , claimed that he had a ten-year written employment contract with the Association at a minimum salary of $ 12 , - 000 per year and that he was fired without cause . The defendant Association , with attorney John J . Hooker , Sr . of Nashville handling their
case , claimed that Fulton did not have a written contract and that such
a contract would have been invalid because it extended beyond the term
of elected directors and officers who would have negotiated the contract .
The Association alsoclaimed it had just cause to fire Fulton because he breached the contract by writing a letter which the defense claims sparked a costly lawsuit in California involving the Association . Templeton ruled that Fulton did have a contract , that it was a valid contract and that his discharge was without
cause at the time it occurred . The attorney for the association said that they would appeal the decision .
The only witness for the defense was S . W . Beech , Jr . of Belfast , Tennessee , who was president of the Association when Fulton wrote the
letter in question . The record states that Fulton sent the letter to a Tennessee horseman who was to judge a show in Sacramento , California . In this personal letter he made statements that were not complimentary to West Coast Walking Horses or their exhibitors . The letter was seen by a prominent California Walking Horse enthusiast who took offense at the allegations and demanded a hearing before the Breeders ’ Association Board to discuss the attitude expressed by Fulton . A hearing was
set and the person demanding the hearing was unable to attend on the
scheduled date and was subsequently suspended by the Association . This suspension , which included refusal of the Association to transfer
or register horses owned or bred by him , led to a lawsuit in 1963 which
eventually cost the Association a judgment of $ 10,200 plus expensive
court costs . The Tennessee Walking Horse Breeders ’ Association of America has been under considerable scrutiny for years regarding management
practices and the lack of efficiency within the organization . In addition to the abovementioned suit , the current Board of Directors is also involved in several other lawsuits inj volving registration procedures and this year ’ s election . The Association has also been under attack by a Nashville , Term , newspaper thathas
sought to expose the practices which have allegedly led to many problems in the Walking Horse business .
Voice of the Tennessee Walking Horse