No fun under the sun at Atlantic Beach Club

Posted

A dispute at a private beach club has spilled into the public court system as longtime member of the Atlantic Beach Club Thomas Liotti, who is also a lawyer, has brought a lawsuit against the club asking for a temporary receiver be appointed because the current Board of Directors were not elected legally based on New York state’s not-for-profit corporation law.

Liotti, a club member for 34 years who served on the club’s Board of Governors, also claims that the club discriminates and does not have members from certain ethnic groups and owes members refunds for the limited services available during the summer season that was impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. The temporary receiver will oversee what Liotti called “open and fair elections of directors.”

Supreme Court Justice R. Bruce Cozzens, Jr. signed an order on Sept. 15, compelling the Atlantic Beach Club to show cause by Sept. 29, why a temporary receiver should not be appointed to take over the management of the 530-member club and help ensure that it is in compliance with the not-for-profit corporation law. Liotti said that the club in East Atlantic Beach gains tax exempt status through its nonprofit status.

“Membership money is being spent for consultants and legal fees which are unneeded,” Liotti said, claiming that the club has spent at least $60,000 to date attaining information from consultants that was easily accessible from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “This is a good old boys system of governance which is completely undemocratic. The law requires open meetings and fair elections which we do not have at the Atlantic Beach Club.”

He said that the discriminatory practices are a “big, big problem” and is not the manner in which a “nonprofit should be run” saying that the club’s bylaws were never approved by all the members but through the Board of Governors and Boards of Directors “insulates and self-perpetuate themselves.

Liotti said he began questioning the policies in 2018, when, “I was unceremoniously removed as a governor.” According to Liotti, former club director Supreme Court Justice Jerome Murphy abolished Liotti’s Board of Governors seat because he representing Katuria D’Amato in her divorce and custody case opposing his father-in-law, former U.S. Senator Alfonse D’Amato. (D’Amato is a Herald columnist).

“We made a motion, all the claims are unfounded,” said John McEntee, the attorney representing the Atlantic Beach Club. “He alleges that the Board of Directors were never elected they were elected, I even have Liotti’s proxy.”

McEntee also denied Liotti’s claims that members did not received refunds as they got credits, and noted that other beach clubs, which operated under similar Covid-19 restraints, did not disburse refunds either.

“There are Black members, Jewish members, every group,” McEntee said deflecting Liotti’s discriminatory claim. “He made seven motions that went nowhere. The club hired an epidemiologist and industrial hygienist. No other club did that.”

To become a member, two members must sponsor a person, Liotti said. Annual memberships expire on Dec. 31 and members are invited back. Two longtime members who wanted to speak in support of Liotti’s actions both said that they feared retribution and outright banishment from the club.

“I’m reluctant to speak up,” said one of those members, adding that he also wanted the club to give refunds considering the pandemic and the financial situation of some members who either lost their jobs or were furloughed.