TUSCALOOSA, Ala.–A member of Alabama One Credit Union here has filed a lawsuit in Tuscaloosa County Circuit Court seeking removal of the credit union’s leadership.
The suit was filed by Jerry Logan, who served on the CU’s board when it was known as BFGoodrich Employees CU, in Tuscaloosa County Circuit Court.
Alabama One has been at the center of both a regulator’s order that ordered its management be replaced, and a high-profile local fraud case.
The Tuscaloosa News quoted Logan as saying he was filing the suit on behalf of all the credit union’s members. Earlier this year Logan lost a bid to get a seat on AOCU’s board. In addition to the credit union, other defendants in the suit include CEO John Dee Carruth, its business lending manager, Tammy Ewing, and members of the board and supervisory committee.
The lawsuit alleges that the defendants failed to fulfill their fiduciary duties; grossly mismanaged the credit union; wasted the credit union’s assets; and committed civil conspiracy and intentional, reckless and innocent misrepresentation and suppression, the Tuscaloosa News reported.
Logan is seeking a jury trial and asked the court to remove the defendants from control of the credit union by appointing a receiver to manage Alabama One.
The $600-million Alabama One is currently subject to a cease-and-desist order from the Alabama Credit Union Department, which has ordered that the credit union’s senior management be replaced. But the credit union is challenging the Alabama Credit Union Administrator’s authority to make the demands included in the cease-and-desist, and alleging that what’s really at work is a conspiracy among a number of parties, including a group of attorneys. Additional details can be found here.
The Tuscaloosa News quoted Paul E. Toppins, Alabama One’s in-house attorney, as saying the credit union takes issue with allegations in Logan’s lawsuit. Toppins told the News the credit union was working to be in full compliance with the regulator’s order, and that other allegations made in the lawsuit had been “debunked.”
Alabama One has been embroiled in a high-profile lawsuit related to Danny Ray Butler, a former Tuscaloosa used car dealer and real estate developer who is currently serving a federal sentence for fraud, and who at one time had as much as $25 million in loans from the credit union. Butler has since also filed for bankruptcy.