On Tuesday, July 17, a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge dismissed La Casa de la Raza’s case from bankruptcy proceedings. The judge rendered her decision based on procedural accountings without considering La Casa’s practices for the past 30-plus years. We disagree with her decision.
The issue at hand is whether the Board of Directors that made the difficult decision to enter Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings was validly seated. One issue is that a minority of the Board members remained beyond the two terms stated in the By-Laws. Yet, for decades, long-term Board membership was a regular practice.
The other issue is that La Casa’s By-Laws state that the organization is a membership organization. But La Casa has not operated as a membership organization for over 30 years. No one pays dues. There is no current membership roster. To the contrary, every Board member was fully vetted and underwent the procedures for becoming a Board member, including submitting a letter of intent and resume, being interviewed by Board member(s), and voted on by the Board.