Jay Huffman, CEO of Multiple Listing Service of Northern Illinois (MLSNI) was terminated "without cause" by the MLSNI board of directors at an executive session on Tuesday, October 12th, 2004.

According to Huffman's attorney Karen Levine of Novack and Macey, a litigation boutique which litigates business disputes, that means "he didn't do anything wrong."

"Regardless of whether yesterday's decision to terminate Mr. Huffman was proper," Levine told Realty Times, "that termination was expressly acknowledged to be without cause. This vindicates Mr. Huffman's position all along that he did nothing wrong. Indeed not withstanding the half-million dollar audit, neither PriceWaterhouse nor the board uncovered any improper action on Mr. Huffman's part."

Mr. Huffman had come under scrutiny, as covered by Realty Times, by board members when audit information from MLSNI and MLSNI investments, particularly a company called REBIG of which Huffman's wife was CEO, was late. The board called for a forensic audit, and while it was not the job of auditors to point out irregularities, there were enough questions raised by the results of the auditors' report to cause one shareholder member of MLSNI, the Realtor Association of West/South Suburban Chicagoland to request significantly more information of Mr. Huffman, MLSNI and REBIG executives.

Mr. Huffman will leave MLSNI's employ with all the severance benefits accorded him provided by the terms of his employment contract.

But that doesn't mean the story necessarily ends there. Levine says there may have been a problem with the way the termination was conducted.

There is an issue about whether or not the new board that was elected on September 30 should be sitting, explains Levine.

"The bylaws provide that a 'special meeting' can be called by the Chair or a majority of the board," she says. "The question is - who is the board? The persons who were elected on September 30, or the persons who were previously sitting on the board?"

If a question is found about the procedure of the executive session with regard to the special meeting, "the action is void because the notice of the meeting was improper," says Levine. "We are reserving our rights with respect to that issue."

Members of the MLSNI board could not be reached for comment.

Published: October 14, 2004

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