1990 Draft of a Class-Action Lawsuit against HSUS

In late 1990, attorneys retained by a group of Humane Society of the United States board members drafted this 23-page class-action lawsuit against HSUS and its leaders, on behalf of the group’s members, the members of its Board of Directors, and the U.S. taxpayers.

The complaint was designed to recover $750,000 in damages for the HSUS chief executives’ “misconduct, deception, fraud, negligence, and dereliction of duty.”

The defendants included:

• HSUS president John Hoyt
• HSUS treasurer Paul Irwin
• HSUS board chairman K. William Wiseman
• HSUS board member Jack Lydman
• HSUS board member Coleman Burke
• HSUS board member O.J. Ramsey

This lawsuit was never actually filed. It was shared with HumaneWatch by a former HSUS board member.