Frances Nelson QC launches legal action to examine membership books of Oakbank Racing Club

A high-profile Adelaide QC has launched legal action against Oakbank Racing Club – with a court hearing the board may not have been elected properly.

Some of the people sitting on the Oakbank Racing Club board might not even be valid club members, a court has heard, as a lawsuit challenging board decisions claims election procedures might not have been followed for more than a decade.

Frances Nelson QC, a lifetime Oakbank member, has launched legal action in the District Court to try to uncover the reasons for the club’s refusal to hold a special meeting into the future of jumps racing at the Easter Carnival.

The board dropped jumps racing in October after Racing SA’s decision to abandon the tradition for 2022.

Those on both sides of the lawsuit are now claiming some of their opponents are not valid club members.

Frances Nelson QC is taking Oakbank Racing Club to court seeking to force them to open their books. Picture: Mark Brake

On Friday, Judge Karen Thomas heard decisions by the board dating back to 2011 could be in doubt, as board representatives might not have been properly elected.

The revelation came as part of Ms Nelson’s application to access club records around the refusal to hold a special general meeting.

The required 50 members had signed a form needed to call the meeting, but the board had argued 43 of them were not valid as they were only prospective members.

Ms Nelson is seeking access to the club’s books.

Thomas McFarlane, for Ms Nelson, said historic records were sought because of suspected irregularities in the process for approving new club members, which could throw existing memberships into question.

“In terms of the historical nature of the records sought, one of the issues this has thrown up is that there hasn’t been a proper process in place for processing these memberships over quite a significant period of time,” he said.

“Because of this issue there is reason to question the very membership status of the committee (the board) themselves.

“So there is potentially a question that now arises of asking whether the committee has ever actually met over that period of time.”

Judge Thomas noted a meeting of the board was scheduled for November 26 and asked whether there was a need to rush the application ahead of that.

“The urgency for my client stems from the Easter Carnival and from her perspective every day that passes makes it much more difficult to rewind what happened,” Mr McFarlane said. Brendon Roberts QC, for the club, questioned whether Ms Nelson had a proper purpose to force the disclosure of the documents.

“We have here ... a body of parties that are applicants for membership trying to requisition a meeting to change the board of a committee they are not members of.”

The matter returns to court December 1.

Pre-eminent civil barrister Dick Whittington QC has been retained to represent Ms Nelson.

On October 1, Racing SA announced there would be no more jumps racing events scheduled in South Australia, including the high-profile Oakbank Easter Carnival, which draws thousands of spectators.