Our firm represented a national sports federation in proceedings before the courts of Lausanne against its international federation, seeking to have a resolution of the international federation’s General Assembly declared null and void, or alternatively annulled, together with urgent provisional measures pending the outcome of that action.
The dispute arose after our client was excluded from the international federation’s annual General Assembly, at which the assembly voted to expel our client as its recognized national member, notwithstanding that our client remained officially recognized by its national Olympic committee to govern the sport in its country. Our client was never heard on the matter and only learned of the resolution informally.
Acting for our client, we filed an action before the competent Swiss court seeking a declaration of nullity, or in the alternative annulment, of the resolution, on the grounds that it had been adopted in serious breach of our client’s fundamental membership rights and the international federation’s own statutes.
Given the urgency, in particular the risk of our client’s athletes being unable to compete internationally, we also obtained super-provisional relief suspending all effects of the resolution.
This case illustrates the effectiveness of urgent judicial relief before the Swiss courts in protecting a sports federation’s membership rights against unlawful decisions of its international governing body.
