Team Obsolete owner and AHRMA founder Rob Iannucci said June 12 that he was “amazed at the tone” of an AMA press release announcing that the organization has agreed to pay Roger Edmondson $3 million to settle Edmondson’s lawsuit against the AMA.

Iannucci said that he was amazed “given the fact that the courts made specific findings of fact that the AMA had acted wrongfully and maliciously. And that the management of the AMA has lightened the AMA’s treasury by apparently more than $4 million including their costs of litigation.”

Iannucci is currently involved in a lawsuit that he says is similar to the Edmondson suit, explaining “It’s similar in the sense that it accuses the AMA of predatory behavior.”

The AMA press release claimed that the organization has taken steps to avoid future problems, stating “Through this protracted litigation, the AMA’s trustees and staff have resolved to continue their work to protect the Association from situations like this….In today’s litigious climate, it’s virtually impossible to avoid lawsuits, but the Association has taken steps to guard against a recurrence.”

But, Iannucci said, “I just wonder exactly what steps they’ve taken to avoid similar litigation because over the past several years they have had several opportunities to avoid becoming defendants in a lawsuit brought by Team Obsolete, leaving us no choice but to go to the courts. And even now they are refusing to cooperate in accepting service of our summons and complaint voluntarily, requiring us to go through a more cumbersome procedure for serving them, which, ultimately, will cost them more money.”

Team Obsolete’s suit, filed in Federal District Court in Brooklyn, New York, names as defendants AMA, AHRMA, AHRMA attorney Ted Bendelow, AHRMA former Executive Director Jeff Smith (now an AMA Trustee), AHRMA current Executive Director Jack Turner, and several other individuals.

The complaint stems out of Iannucci and Team Obsolete being banned from AMA-sanctioned AHRMA races and the subsequent related loss of sponsorship revenue, along with other issues.

See related posts on June 11 and June 8.