As president of a non-profit, social club with 162 members, I am seeking help in conducting a code of conduct violation hearing.

Specifically, a member has maliciously slandered a fellow member's reputation causing that person to resign from the club. This is a repeated attack on this highly respected person's character and thats why he finally quit. There have been similar incidents involving this same antagonist for 10 years. Over the years, other clubmembers have left because of similar egregious personal attacks.

We are a Board that wants to punish this person to the fullest extent possible. Yet, boardmembers are concerned that we will be sued for our action. NOTE: The accused has hired an attorney that states that his client's 1st amendment rights allow him to make these defaming personal accusations toward other clubmembers! Something terribly disturbing in our society if this can be socially and legally acceptable!

Volunteers that give their personal time and expertise to their community must be appreciated and protected!

We need help from someone that has experience in this type of situation! My prepaid legal service CA. attorney has stated that as long as we follow our club bylaws, Ca. Corp. Code, and Robert's Rules of Order, we can take whatever action we deem appropriate for the offenders emailed slanderous, non-factual accusations toward the highly respected clubmember. These emailed attacks were sent to other clubs nation-wide!

We plan on holding our Code of Conduct Hearing on March 13th. So, time is short for us to prepare. And, we want to do this correctly so that this healthy, community based social club can survive.

If you can help us, we'd be much obliged. Please contact me right away. Ph # 707-938-8395