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Cobb Electric (Georgia)
Cobb EMC faces another Lawsuit
January 15, 2010
Cobb EMC faces another lawsuit, this one claiming it owes thousands of
former customers up to $300 million. The lawsuit seeks class-action
status for all former customers since 1939. The lawsuit, filed Friday in Cobb County Superior Court, claims that Cobb EMC, one of Georgia’s largest
electric cooperatives, has kept money owed to former customers in
violation of "longstanding principles" that guide electric membership
cooperatives nationwide.
It also says the co-op used money that should go to former customers to make periodic rebates to current customers. The company's Web site says the copop has paid $33 million in rebates since 1996.
The lawsuit, filed by Alpharetta law firm Pierce, Gabriel &
Parker, also claims Cobb EMC has failed to abide by the terms of its
own charter, which calls for repaying current and former customers from
its excess earnings. The excess is credited to members based on power
usage.
"Cobb EMC has kept these capital credits and not returned any," said
attorney Chuck Gabriel. But unlike current customers, former EMC
customers can only seek repayment through the courts, said attorney Sam Pierce. . . .
The co-op settled a lawsuit with suing customers in December 2008, related to a for-profit affiliate, Cobb Energy.
In April last year, the Cobb County district attorney's office executed search warrants at five locations related to Cobb EMC.
Pedernales Electric Cooperative (Texas)
Indictments say pair directed co-op money to relatives of PEC executives
Austin American-Statesman
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Indictments unsealed Friday against the former general manager and
top outside lawyer at the Pedernales Electric Cooperative say they
arranged for thousands of dollars of co-op money to be paid to
relatives of PEC executives.
According to the indictments, Bennie Fuelberg, who ran the Johnson
City-based co-op for more than 30 years, and lawyer Walter Demond,
directed payments exceeding $200,000 to Curtis Fuelberg, who is
Fuelberg's brother, and William Price, who is the son of former
Director E.B. Price. . . .
Both Fuelberg and Demond are named in the indictments on three
identical felony counts — misapplication of fiduciary property, theft
and money laundering. . . . Both men are expected to be arraigned next month.
The indictments are the first result of a five-month grand jury
inquiry into wrongdoing at PEC, which has more than 229,000 members in
Central Texas.
The payments were uncovered last year in a review by Navigant
Consulting Inc. . . . [that] found $510,000 in
unexplained payments from PEC to Clark Thomas & Winters, which had
been the co-op's outside law firm for 70 years.
Pedernales Electric Cooperative (Texas)
Grand jury indicts former Pedernales leader, longtime lawyer
Austin American-Statesman
Thursday, June 18, 2009
JOHNSON CITY -- A Blacno County grand jury handed down indictments Wednesday against the former top executive and former top lawyer for the Pedernales Electric Cooperative.
Pedernales Electric Cooperative (Texas)
Pedernales settlement makes sense -- on the whole
Austin American-StatesmanWednesday, May 7, 2008
State District Judge John Dietz this week approved a settlement in the civil suit against Pedernales Electric Cooperative Inc. that should, on the whole, be regarded as a good one for the co-op's 220,000 member-owners. The suit accomplished its most important mission, which was major reform of the co-op's governance, even if it fell short in its effort to force out all of the board members and make them and top managers - now retired and gone - pay back some misspent co-op money.
Cobb Electric Cooperative (Georgia)
Authorities raid Cobb EMC offices
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thursday, April 23, 2009
The Cobb County district attorney's office and local and state law
enforcement agencies executed search warrants Wednesday at five
locations related to the Cobb Electric Membership Corp.
Cobb Electric Cooperative (Georgia)
"We are being swindled"
The Marietta Daily Journal
September 5, 2008
MARIETTA - Temperatures and tempers were hot Thursday morning at the
70th annual members meeting of the Cobb Electric Membership Corporation
at its headquarters off Cobb Parkway.
A conflict of interest by Cobb EMC's President and CEO Dwight Brown
and its board who also oversee nonprofit EMC's for profit subsidiary,
Cobb Energy, were foremost on the minds of co-op members who voiced
their frustration and asked board members to resign. . . .
Fletcher
Thompson, a Marietta resident who represented Georgia in Congress for
three terms beginning in 1967, was first at the microphone during new
business. . . .
"We are being swindled," Thompson said. . . .
[MORE]
Carroll Electric Cooperative (Arkansas)Carroll Electric herbicide opponents get short shrift at annual meeting
The Lovely County Citizen
Monday, June 1, 2009
BERRYVILLE -- About 150 people who came out to the Carroll Electric
Cooperative Corp. (CECC) annual meeting May 28 to request the utility
reduce or eliminate herbicide spraying on right-of-ways found that
their pleas didn't fall on deaf ears. They fell on no ears at all.
| | Pedernales Electric (Texas)
PEC says co-op 'not for sale'
San Marcos Local NewsJanuary 20, 2010
Pedernales Electric Cooperative’s (PEC) board of directors made it
clear Tuesday that the largest co-op in America is not for sale.
The board made the declaration after meeting in executive session to
discuss an offer made by New Jersey-based Quentin Capital Management
LLC to purchase PEC. Quentin Capital also made an offer to buy PEC in
2008.
“We remain committed to the position — as previously stated by the
Board on Sept. 15, 2008 — that this cooperative is not for sale,” said
PEC Board President and District 6 Director Larry Landaker.
The board directed staff to create a formal response to Quentin
Capital and to develop a policy for board consideration to address any
potential future offers. . . .
Cobb Electric Cooperative (Georgia)
Cobb EMC/Energy HQ. CEO's residence raided
The Marietta Daily Journal
April 23, 2009
MARIETTA - In a surprising and sweeping episode Wednesday morning,
dozens of Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents descended on the
offices of Cobb EMC and Cobb Energy and the homes of the CEO, board
chairman and two other board members seeking documents, computers and
video files that may - or may not - show evidence of racketeering and
theft.
The agents, in conjunction with District Attorney Pat Head's
office and with assistance of Cobb sheriff's deputies, also served
search warrants at the east Cobb estate of EMC president and CEO Dwight
Brown; the Fulton County home of EMC board chairman Larry Chadwick; and
the Cobb County homes of board members David McGinnis and Dr. Frank
Boone.
"The assets of Cobb EMC were unlawfully transferred to Cobb
Energy, a for-profit corporation, in which Brown was the President and
CEO and of which Boone, McGinnis, and Chadwick were board members,"
according to the narrative of probable cause in Cobb Superior Court. . . .
About a dozen GBI agents and sheriff's deputies arrived at Cobb
EMC headquarters about 9 a.m. in unmarked cars. A steady stream of
customers came and left from the building throughout the day, and
agents emerged shortly before 2 p.m. with about 15 boxes of documents.
More than a dozen agents searched Brown's home at the same time.
Carroll Electric Cooperative (Arkansas)
Lawsuit accuses CECC of 'unjust enrichment' at the expense of members
The Lovely County Citizen
Friday, July 3, 2009
A lawsuit filed June 10 in Benton County against Carroll Electric
Cooperation Corporation (CECC) alleges the company has oppressed
shareholders and violated its fiduciary duties for unjust enrichment.
CECC spokeswoman Nancy Plagge had no comment on the lawsuit because
it has not yet been reviewed by the CECC attorney. The complaint by Joe
Capps, of Siloam Springs, individually and on behalf of all other
present and former coop members, said as a non-profit corporation, CECC
cannot earn a profit.
$170 million
"The cooperative is obligated to pay by credits to a capital account
for each patron, all such amounts in excess of operating costs and
expenses," the complaint filed in Benton County Circuit Court states.
"Carroll Electric possess over $170 million of 'patronage capital' or
'capital credits.' Carroll Electric pays neither interest nor dividends
for use or on account of the patronage capitol ... the cooperative does
not return patronage capital to former members, or excess capital to
current members." . . .
The lawsuit alleges the board has irresponsibly endangered the coop's tax-exempt status by retaining the capital credits.
CoServe Electric (Texas)
Carroll Electric Cooperative (Arkansas)
Man Sues Carrol Electric
The Morning News
Thursday, June 18, 2009
BENTONVILLE -- A Siloam Springs man has a gripe against Carroll Cooperative, and in filing a lawsuit Wednesday claims the corporation has failed to refund more than $170 million in capital credits to past and present members.
CoServe Electric (Texas)
CoServ Electric members file lawsuit against co-op
Dallas Business Journal
Friday, February 20, 2009
A lawsuit filed Wednesday by members of CoServ Electric alleges that the co-op has wrongfully taken $54 million of the members' money for its own use through improper accounting practices.
Pedernales Electric Cooperative (Texas)
PEC reaches settlement with its former law firm
San Marcos Mercury
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Austin-based law firm Clark, Thomas & Winters will pay Pedernales
Electric Cooperative $4.1 million to settle a lawsuit over improper
payments to relatives of former cooperative officials.
CoServe Electric (Texas)
CoServ Electric, Telecom emerge from Bankruptcy
Dallas Business Journal
Friday, December 13, 2002
Corinth-based CoServ Electric and CoServ Telecom have emerged from
bankruptcy, after completing the Chapter 11 reorganization process that
began in November last year.
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