By: Rob Harris

I had planned today to write about the Gooseinator, the fierce looking product whose owner claims “Effectively Gets Geese off of Your Property Quickly and Efficiently.” And those interested can read here about how  a Goosinator with a mind of its own allegedly “unexpectedly turned on at full force and high speed, slicing severely the left ulnar nerve, tendon, and artery” of golf course worker Alfred Parcells III.

However, today’s Goosinator story has been preempted by news of the the securities fraud lawsuit filed against Winged Foot and several of its governing insiders.  According to the complaint,

“starting no later than the early 1960s, over the past decades and continuing up to the present day, plaintiff, and other class members, were solicited to sell their shares based upon materially false and misleading representations, for amounts ranging from approximately $1,000 to the recent $3,000 purchase by the club of plaintiff’s share, when defendants knew this share could be worth between $500,000 to $1,000,000 or more.”

Plaintiff Kevin Clune, owner of one share that he inherited from his mother, alleges the fraud goes back decades, and that in 1960 the club ignored legal advice to have shares appraised so that the club could acquire them at fair value.

Plaintiff asserts that the club president authored a letter in 1975 in which he stated that “[s]omeone, who [can afford to hire a lawyer] may come along one day [and litigate a rejected transfer], but so far we have been lucky… If such litigation were brought, my view is that Winged Foot would not only lose the case, but would also lose many future opportunities to pick up shares.”