T&T Pro League outfit Cunupia FC has been advised to reconsider its decision to sue embattled T&T Football Association (TTFA) president William Wallace and his two remaining vice presidents Clynt Taylor and Joseph Sam Phillips over their decision to pursue their controversial lawsuit against FIFA.
Responding on Saturday to the case filed by the club earlier this week, Wallace's lawyer Matthew Gayle wrote attorney Peter Taylor and suggested that it be withdrawn as it was doomed to fail.
Gayle told Guardian Media Sports that his client was improperly served via WhatsApp and was not given a pre-action protocol letter and allowed to respond.
"Compliance with the pre-action protocols is mandatory and your client's failure to do so appears to have caused this abusive, frivolous, and fundamentally flawed claim to have been filed," Gayle said.
Gayle questioned why Taylor claimed that Wallace and his team in their personal capacity breached an alleged contractual agreement with the club when no such contract existed.
He also queried the club's claim that is sponsorship and funding issues were caused by Wallace and his team's ongoing case before Justice Carol Gobin.
"There is no nexus between your client's purported potential and/or theoretical future losses, which the claim compounds by rightly and properly recognising my client as the "duly elected President"," Gayle said.
Gayle suggested that the $4.5 million in Government and private funding claimed was not guaranteed as it was dependent on the team's qualification for regional club tournaments.
"In any event, no causation is predicated and the purported potential/anticipated losses are predicated on the occurrence of several events which ate yet to take place or may never do," he said, as he suggested that the case was based on speculation.
Gayle suggested that the club take up its complaint with FIFA for suspending the association for narrowly missing its deadline for withdrawing the case.
"Any claim based on action taken by FIFA is firstly premature and in any event directed at the wrong party," Gayle said.
Gayle gave Taylor until October 23 to withdraw the case before he applies for it to be struck out and for the club to pay its legal costs.
In the court filings, Taylor said: "The Defendants' actions were grossly negligent, highly reckless unethical and irresponsible and without due regard to the statutory underpinning which binds the actions of the Association since they knew or ought to have known that failure to withdraw the action in the High Court would result in the suspension of T&T from all the attendant adverse consequences flowing therefrom."
The club claimed that Wallace and his team went against the wishes of the majority of its member delegates, who voted (21 in favour to withdraw; 8 not to withdraw and 3 abstentions) to withdraw the case, by withdrawing their withdrawal application, which was filed after the deadline, after FIFA announced the suspension on September 24.
"The Defendants' decision not to obey the majority vote of its membership to withdrawing the High Court action is inconsistent with good administration," Taylor stated.
It stated that through the suspension it would miss out on participating in regional club tournaments and receiving corresponding funding.
"The Defendants' actions will severely hamper the Claimant's development of it players and staff for an indefinite period thereby occasioning loss and damage," Taylor said.
Gobin is scheduled to rule in the substantive case on Tuesday.
SOURCE: T&T Guardian