Judge OKs controversial Oak Hill membership meeting

This post is one in a partnership between the Rochester Beacon and veteran reporter Gary Craig, featuring articles published on his Substack site.

A judge has given the green light for a controversial membership meeting at the Oak Hill Country Club this evening, Oct. 15.

At the meeting, members can vote on whether its board of governors should be overhauled, with some members jettisoned from the board should the club lose a lawsuit brought by retired businessman Eugene Baldino and other Oak Hill members.

State Supreme Court Justice Daniel Doyle ruled Tuesday that the club, which wanted him to declare the special meeting legally void, was asking him to step deeper into club activities than the law allows.

“This court does not have jurisdiction to act as sole governor and dictate to the membership what actions it should or should not take as it navigates the challenges Oak Hill faces during this litigation,” Doyle wrote.

Doyle wrote that he understands the outcome of the vote could lead to more litigation but that the club, the board of governors and its attorneys have asked him to take steps precluded by the law.

More bad behavior allegations

At the core of Baldino’s lawsuit is an allegation that he was improperly booted from the board and that the board wrongly represented what happened in his interaction with a club restaurant manager.

The club found his behavior coarse, rude, harassing and antithetical to the club’s disciplinary code, while Baldino, and the former manager herself, allege that the interaction was not accurately portrayed in an internal investigation from the club.

Baldino alleges that he was ousted because he was fighting for more transparency of club finances.

The continuing flurry of legal motions and responses is starting to portray Oak Hill more as an off-the-rails reality show than as a revered club in international golf circles. (The good news: The lawsuit has not deterred the club from landing the PGA Championship in 2035.)

There are allegations of a governor allowing underage drinking at an offsite event, getting ejected after a physical altercation elsewhere, then breaking “the front door window of the establishment” on exit.

Another former member of the board is alleged to have engaged in a “loud profanity-laced argument in front of other members” as he accused other members of wrongly playing ahead of him on the Oak Hill course.

These allegations arise from those suing the club as proof, court papers say, of inequitable disciplinary treatment with Baldino unfairly singled out.

Deposition partly sealed

In a separate ruling Tuesday, Doyle agreed that some portions of a recent deposition of former Oak Hill Board President Robert Sansone should be blocked from public release. Among the portions to be sealed are instances in which Sansone had no knowledge of incidents he was questioned about and sections that could fall under attorney-client privilege protections.

Lawyers for Sansone and the club had requested the sealing of the entire seven-hour deposition, which was videotaped.

The costs of the lawsuit, which may have to be covered by club members, is well into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

One of the proposals set for a vote at the special meeting is formation of a special committee which could research possible insurance coverage for legal costs, the need for a special club fee, and “the extent to which legal fees may need to be borne by the Respondents,” those being the directors who are being sued.

(Look for a future Substack about the outcome of the vote, assuming I am able to learn the results. And, as I said recently, there will be a hiatus of sorts shortly. More on that next week.)

Gary Craig is a Rochester Beacon contributing writer. A retired Democrat and Chronicle reporter, he now writes on Substack.

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