An Albuquerque district judge this week scheduled a bench trial for June for a lawsuit filed by the New Mexico Route 66 Association and one of its longtime officers, Johnnie Meier, against purported former association president Melissa Beasley-Lee.
The complaint, filed in January, accuses Beasley-Lee of fraudulently seizing control of the association’s assets — including $46,000 in cash — after a stormy board meeting in March 2024 where she reportedly resigned as its president.
The lawsuit asks for the return of those assets and that all her actions after the meeting be declared invalid.
The suit also asks for a permanent injunction prohibiting Beasley-Lee from representing herself as a representative of the association.
Bernalillo County Judge Nancy Franchini set a date of June 21 for the three-day trial during a scheduling hearing Tuesday. Franchini said she might select mediators in an effort to resolve the lawsuit before it goes to court. She also said she would set deadlines for discovery, where both sides must exchange facts, documents and witness information related to the case.
The six-page complaint states that the plaintiffs found that Beasley-Lee misappropriated funds by writing checks totaling over $20,000 to the Fast TV Network, owned by her husband Mike Lee, without the association’s consent or knowledge.
During the association’s board meeting on March 9, 2024, board members confronted Beasley-Lee and Lee about the spending. Both announced their resignations and left.
Two days later, board members received an email from Beasley-Lee, stating she was not resigning.
Two days after that, the association board convened a special meeting and accepted the resignations.
The lawsuit alleges that Beasley-Lee subsequently took control of the association’s website and bank accounts. It also states she went to the New Mexico Secretary of State website and changed the association’s business information to indicate she still was its president.
“She continues to hold herself out as President of the Association and upon information and belief is fraudulently attempting to obtain additional grant funds from third parties,” the complaint states.
In April 2024, Beasley-Lee wrote herself two checks totaling over $2,000, closed the association’s checking and savings accounts and transferred the remaining $46,100.35 to bank accounts she controlled, the suit states.
The association’s and Meier’s attorney is Warren Frost of Logan, New Mexico.
Beasley-Lee didn’t have a lawyer speak on her behalf during Tuesday’s hearing. Online court filings indicate she is acting pro se, which means she is representing herself.
In Beasley-Lee’s initial answer to the lawsuit, she stated that Meier and other association board members resigned in March 2024. Because he and others formed the New Mexico Route 66 Alliance more than 18 months later, she alleges that Meier misrepresented himself in the lawsuit.
Beasley-Lee asked that Franchini dismiss the lawsuit with prejudice, meaning it cannot be refiled.
Franchini has continued to schedule hearings for the case.
After Franchini adjourned the hearing Tuesday, Beasley-Lee didn’t initially disconnect her phone from the court’s Google Meet platform. She could be heard talking to someone, saying: “This is f—ing bullsh–. They don’t want us to win. They just want to make us broke.”
(Image via Rumble Press via Flickr)