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Suit stemed from dispute with rival Chaldean chamber
By Miriam Raftery
March 23, 2014 (San Diego’s East County) – The San Diego East County Chaldean American Chamber of Commerce founded by Ben Kalasho has been awarded an $8,500 Small Claims judgment in San Diego Superior Court against Daryl Idler, owner of Cottonwood Golf Resort in Rancho San Diego.
The award stems from Cottonwood’s cancellation of a launch event for the new Chamber slated for November 22. Cottonwood subsequently held an event December 3 for a rival chamber, the Chaldean American Chamber of Commerce of California, founded by Johnny Oram. Kalasho’s Chamber sued for breach of contract.
“Just because we are a new organization does not mean we will tolerate being taken advantage or bullied,” Kalasho wrote on the organization’s Facebook page.
But Oram told ECM, "There's an appeal scheduled." He added that Idler "didn't show up for valid reasons" and that the judgment was won by default. "However the judge accepted Mr. Idler's reasons for not showing up to court."
Idler confirmed to EMC that a calendar mixup resulted in him missing the court appearance and that he will send a written response in the near future.
Kalasho had initially sought an emergency hearing in state court to prevent the other Chamber’s group from holding its event. But Oram’s group succeeded in moving the case into federal court, which has backlogs of two weeks or more, so the case could not be heard before the event was held.
Kalasho’s group has also filed a separate lawsuit asserting that the other Chaldean Chamber engaged in copycat practices after his Chamber launched. Oram has denied these assertions and counters that Kalasho's group took its name from a Detroit-based Chaldean Chamber.
East County Magazine researched conflicting claims and found that the East County Chaldean American Chamber (Kalasho’s group) reserved its name on August 28 with California’s Secretary of State and received its taxpayer ID number from the IRS on October 24. The group signed a contract with Cottonwood October 9 and began delivering invitations the same day.
On November 5, the Neighborhood Market Association purchased numerous fictious business names including the California Chaldean Chamber of Commerce and variations, as well as close variations on the name of Kalasho’s chamber in East County. The second organization published materials with colors and a log that bore similarities to those of Kalasho’s group.
Although Kalasho was first in California to register a Chaldean Chamber and incorporated his Chamber, Oram says that his chamber may launch its own legal action, claiming that the Detroit-based Chaldean-American Chamber that launched back in 2002 owns the copyright on the term Chaldean-American Chamber.
Oram told East Count y Magazine back in December that his chamber was part of a long-time strategic plan to create an organization in California similar to that in Detroit, which has the nation’s highest concentration of Chaldean-Americans from Iraq. He added that it “makes no sense for Ben to drag the NMA and Mark Arabo into this issue or fight…”
Arabo is an honorary co-chair of Oram’s organization, along with former California State Senator Wadie Deddeh
Mark Arabo with the Neighborhood Market Association has called the lawsuit by Kalasho “frivolous”, adding, “We look forward to vindicating our position in court.”
But Kalasho believes his victory against Cottonwood bodes well for his case over Oram’s chamber. “Our trial is coming up soon,” he told ECM, adding, “It is looking really good.”
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