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Sorority dispute over money turns into libel suit
By D.L. BENNETT
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 01/14/08
A dispute among local members of the nation's second-oldest black sorority over more than $100,000 that went missing has members swapping accusations of secret meetings, a cover-up, incompetent leadership, petty rivalries, libel and defamation.
The fight, which has played out over the past three years, has persisted through several mediation attempts by the Delta Sigma Theta's national leaders and court officials.
On Monday, it moved to Fulton County State Court where opening arguments were heard in a lawsuit filed two years ago. Testimony begins Wednesday before Judge Susan Forsling.
The suit claims former local alumnae chapter President Pat Ross and former Treasurer Carmen Gordon were libeled by eight longtime members who wrote a letter to national Delta Sigma Theta leadership detailing issues with the local group under Ross' leadership.
Ross was president of the local alumnae chapter of Delta Sigma Theta from 1999 to 2004 when the money disappeared, court records show.
Ross, in a letter to sorority members, explained she didn't know money was missing because she traveled frequently and even trusted the treasurer enough to sign blank checks and leave them.
Court records show Gordon discovered the problems in 2003 when she took over as treasurer and spent months exchanging calls and other communications with her predecessor in attempts to find out what happened to the money.
Club members didn't find out until February 2004 — eight months after Gordon took over.
They decided to handle the crisis in house rather than refer the case to law enforcement officials. No charges were filed, and some of the money was later returned.
The letter by the eight defendants said Ross and Gordon tried to hide the theft and to cover up poor management by Ross.
That's just not true, said lawyer Kevin Ross, longtime adviser to former Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell and Pat Ross' brother.
"The evidence will show the document is false, that document is libelous," Ross said. "The most false thing of all was they said they wrote with careful consideration and that the contents were without bias. They were trying to destroy Pat Ross' reputation."
The eight members at odds with Ross and Gordon have between 30 and 60 years of service to the sorority and include retired teachers and school administrators.
One of their lawyers, Patrise Perkins-Hooker, said the eight defendants were following Delta Sigma Theta rules when they sent their letter to national sorority officials.
Perkins-Hooker said in court Monday the defendants were protecting an organization they love when they signed the letter, written to protest Ross' candidacy for a national sorority office. She won the post anyway.
"These are women of integrity," Perkins-Hooker said. "They are dedicated loyal members of Delta Sigma Theta. They have never been sued before."
Fatima Harris, another lawyer working with the defendants, said in court Monday the accusations in the letter were true and her client stands behind what they wrote. She also said neither of the plaintiffs had been injured by it.
"This is a hurt-feelings case," Harris said in her opening statement. "When this case is over, you will believe that hurt feelings don't amount to libel."
The sorority has a storied national history.
Since it's founding in 1913, Delta Sigma Theta has counted among its members Brig. Gen. Hazel Johnson Brown, the first African-American female general in the United States Army; Alexis Herman, secretary of labor for former President Bill Clinton; Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman in Congress; and Barbara Jordan, the first African-American from the South to serve in the U.S. Congress since Reconstruction.
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atlanta/stories/...4/sorority_0115.html
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