Pickleball spoilsport loses bid to rejoin club

A Vernon man who was banned from the Vernon Pickleball Association for aggressive and unsportsmanlike behaviour has had an application to reinstate his membership denied in B.C. Supreme Court.

On Nov. 4, 2015, Lane Roberts was admitted as a member of the Vernon Pickleball Association for the 2015-16 season, and again on Oct. 1, 2016, for the 2016-17 season.

“Much of Mr. Roberts’s time as a member of the VPA was marred by complaints and controversy,” B.C. Supreme Court Justice Sheri Ann Donegan wrote in her decision released last week.

Between 2015 and 2017, the VPA received numerous complaints about Roberts’s conduct.

Complaints included Roberts giving unsolicited coaching to other players, engaging in unsportsmanlike conduct and bringing his dog to games, disrupting others.

The VPA issued Roberts a number of warnings, but the complaints persisted.

The association suspended Roberts’s membership for one month at the end of May 2017.

Roberts disputed the suspension and attended a couple of play sessions.

The second session resulted in police attendance.

On June 12, 2017, the board of directors met with Roberts and extended his suspension to July 8, 2017.

When he returned to play, the complaints continued.

The VPA sent Roberts a letter in July, warning him that further complaints may lead to his membership being cancelled.

The complaints continued, and the VPA sent Roberts a letter on Oct. 11, telling him it was not renewing his membership on a permanent basis.

Roberts took the VPA to provincial court, but the court dismissed his claims on the basis that it lacked jurisdiction over the dispute.

Roberts took the dispute to B.C. Supreme Court on May 1, 2018.

“Despite their best efforts over the last years to accommodate Mr. Roberts, the evidence proves that his continued disregard for the bylaws and code of conduct, episodes of aggression and continued unsolicited coaching created a hostile environment within the VPA,” said Donegan.

The VPA directors acted within their full authority when they decided not to renew Roberts’s membership, she said.

Roberts claimed he was being banned from playing pickleball for life, which Donegan refuted.

“He is not precluded from playing the sport in other associations or privately with other acquaintances, including current VPA members, if they so choose,” she said. “There is simply no basis for any claim that the VPA or the individual defendants have behaved in an oppressive or unfairly prejudicial manner toward Mr. Roberts.”

Donegan dismissed Roberts’s claim.