Balcones Co-Founder Scores Points In Court
By Richard Thomas
Balcones co-founder Chip Tate won an important victory in court earlier this month, when Judge Jim Meyer ruled that actions taken by the Balcones board of managers since Tate’s August ouster were invalid.
More specifically, on November 11 the judge directed that Tate had to be present at board meetings for there to be a quorum, according to the Waco Tribune. He further ruled that the board violated its own bylaws in removing Tate. One of the reasons cited by the board for removing Tate was his refusal to attend board meetings, which in light of this ruling looks like a tactic on Tate’s part to filibuster the board.
If so, the judge’s ruling upholds the validity of Tate’s obstruction of his own board. Indeed, Tate indicated in the wake of the decision that he would not attend the board meeting scheduled for that same day, and the board meeting was soon canceled.
Tate, a popular whiskey figure in America for his innovative approach to whiskey-making and hand-building his own still, was removed from the helm of his company as a dispute over the direction of the company with his second round of investors, led by board chairman Greg Allen, went both ugly and public. He has since become a cause célèbre among American whiskey fans.
