After playing in a member-guest at Oxbow (N.D.) CC, Aaron Greterman said he was informed that he was banned from the private club because of reports that he had used cocaine during the event. Greterman said he had only used an energy supplement and that the allegations led to damage of his reputation and real-estate business. His lawsuit, which names as defendants several Board members in addition to the club and the member who hosted him, seeks unspecified damages of more than $50,000.
A West Fargo, N.D. man is suing the Oxbow (N.D.) Country Club and several individuals who serve on the club’s Board, as well as a club member who was his host at a member-guest event, Inforum of Fargo, N.D. reported. Attorneys for Aaron Greterman filed the complaint late last month in Cass County (N.D) District Court, Inforum reported, claiming that Greterman’s reputation and real-estate business was damaged after false allegations were spread that he engaged in “rampant use of cocaine” while at the club, leading to his being banned from Oxbow CC.
The complaint names as defendants the nonprofit Oxbow Country Club, club Board members Britton Mattson of Horace, N.D. and Bill Short of Fargo, N.D., along with two other board members said to be “unidentifiable at this time,” and David Campbell of Horace, N.D., the member who invited Greterman to the event, Inforum reported.
The document says the defendants slandered Greterman by claiming he used cocaine and offered it to others at the golf course, and that by defaming him, they hurt him economically. Greterman is requesting unspecified damages of more than $50,000, Inforum reported.
Messages seeking comment from attorneys representing Campbell, Short, Mattson, and Oxbow Country Club were not returned, Inforum reported.
According to the court documents, Greterman, who helps people buy and sell mostly high-end homes and some commercial real estate, played golf at Oxbow CC on June 16, 2017 as a guest of Campbell during a two-day golf event, Inforum reported. During the first day of the event, Greterman said he consumed a small amount of a retail product called “doTERRA Lime,” described as an essential oil from the peel of fresh limes that can be taken as drops under the tongue or mixed in a drink.
Greterman said he told Campbell at the time that the oil was like an energy shot.
Greterman then played the second day of the event, Inforum reported, but without Campbell, who had texted him that he would not be attending.
On July 11, Greterman said he received a text from Campbell asking if he had received a letter from the club, and wondering if “anything really bad” had happened at the member-guest event, Inforum reported.
A week later, Greterman said he learned from a club member that he had been banned from the private club and that members of the club’s Board of Directors said it was because of his “rampant use of cocaine.”
Greterman said he was told that Board member Mattson had spoken openly of Greterman being banned for “cocaine use,” Inforum reported.
In his lawsuit, Greterman contends that Campbell told Board members, including Mattson and Short, that Greterman had used cocaine during the June event, and that the allegation was being spread to members of the Fargo (N.D.) Country Club as well.
On July 18, Greterman coordinated a meeting with some Board members to discuss statements that Greterman said were being made about him and were coming from the club. At that meeting, Greterman was given a letter saying he was banned from the club indefinitely, Inforum reported.
Greterman said he was told the only reason he was being banned was that he was “using cocaine, and we can’t have that at Oxbow.”
In addition, Greterman said, he was told the reason Campbell did not show up to the second day of the member-guest was because Greterman had allegedly offered Campbell cocaine, and that Greterman was “doing cocaine on the golf cart.” Greterman denied those accusations, Inforum reported.
In the lawsuit, Greterman said Short and another Board member told him they would make sure the Board would not disclose the reason he was banned. But real estate clients then began telling him they were told he was “kicked out of Oxbow” for cocaine use.
In late July or early August, Greterman said the President of the realty company where Greterman works had been told Greterman had used cocaine. The allegations were also being spread to local banks, Inforum reported.
By August 10th, Greterman said colleagues told him the allegations of cocaine use had spread throughout the local real estate and banking community and into the wider community. Greterman said he took a drug test to prove that he had not used illicit drugs, Inforum reported.
Current and potential clients said they would not use his services because of the allegations, and the allegations threatened his employment, Greterman contends in his lawsuit. He also said the allegations have harmed him emotionally and psychologically, causing him to lose sleep and become depressed, Inforum reported.
One of Greterman’s attorneys, Andrew Parker of the Minneapolis, Minn. law firm of Parker Daniels Kibort, told Inforum that the falsehoods have caused his client “great injury.”
“They just didn’t do anything to check before they started to spread it. They didn’t talk to him” or investigate, Parker said. “There are few accusations about someone that are more damaging to their reputation—and often to their profession—than these types of accusations.”
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