IN THE FIRST COURT OF APPEALS 

HOUSTON, TEXAS 

KELLY GAVIN, § 

 § 

Appellant, § No. 01-15-00223-CV 

 § 

v. § 

 § 

PAMELA S. FROESCHNER and § 

ROBERT S. EVANS § 

 § 

Appellees. § 

Appellees’ Objection to Mediation 

TO THE HONORABLE FIRST COURT OF APPEALS: 

 Appellees Froeschner and Evans, in compliance with the Court’s mediation 

order, file their objection to the referral to mediation. 

1. By Order entered April 3, 2015, the Court ordered the parties to mediation 

without a stay of briefing. The Court’s order provides the parties ten days to object 

to the referral to mediation. Appellees timely file their objection. 

2. This is an appeal from a summary judgment in favor of two members of the 

board of directors for a non-profit organization, AIDS Coalition of Coastal Texas, 

Inc. (“ACCT”) and for the Galveston AIDS Foundation, Inc., another non-profit 

that worked closely with ACCT. Appellant is a former at-will employee of the nonprofit ACCT who voluntarily resigned from her employment. Thereafter she 

ACCEPTED

01-15-00223-CV

FIRST COURT OF APPEALS

HOUSTON, TEXAS

4/13/2015 11:44:24 AM

CHRISTOPHER PRINE

CLERK

 FILED IN 1st COURT OF APPEALS HOUSTON, TEXAS 4/13/2015 11:44:24 AM CHRISTOPHER A. PRINE Clerk
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claimed she was the victim of intentional infliction of emotion distress and slander, 

and that there had been interference with her economic and contractual relations. 

3. Appellees Froeschner and Evans, who serve on the board of directors of a 

non-profit organization, are immune from liability under the Texas Non-Profit 

Corporation Act, Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Ann. Chapter 84. Their immunity 

was one of the grounds on which they sought summary judgment. 

4. Appellees object to the referral to mediation because they believe mediation 

will not be of assistance in resolving this litigation. Appellees and others were 

critical of several aspects of appellant’s job performance; she thereafter filed a 

grievance in December 2010 that was fully investigated by the non-profit’s 

Grievance Committee. The committee’s report contained no finding of 

wrongdoing by appellees, and no finding of any merit to appellant’s claims. The 

February 2011 report of the committee encouraged the parties to resolve hurt 

feelings and misunderstandings. Appellant resigned employment more than one 

year later on May 1, 2012. She filed suit in 2013 seeking in excess of $100,000 in 

damages. 

5. ACCT is a non-profit corporation that provides community-based education 

and services for people living with HIV/AIDS in Galveston, Brazoria, and 

Matagorda counties. Its clients are the general public and people that are HIV-
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positive. Appellees Froeschner and Evans are unpaid volunteer board members 

who have immunity from suit. For these reasons, they object to mediation. 

Mediation will be an additional expense to the parties and will not result in any 

resolution of appellant’s claims. 

6. Appellees requests the Court vacate its Order of referral of April 3, 2015, and 

allow the appeal to proceed on the existing briefing schedule. Appellees further 

request the Court grant any other relief it finds would be appropriate. 

Respectfully submitted, 

MILLS SHIRLEY L.L.P. 

By: /s/ George W. Vie III

 George W. Vie III 

State Bar No. 20579310 

2228 Mechanic Street, Suite 400 

Galveston, Texas 77550 

(713) 571-4232 

Fax (713) 893-6095 

gvie@millsshirley.com 

 Attorneys for Appellees 
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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

 As required by Tex. R. App. P. 6.3 and 9.5(b), (d), (e), I certify that I have 

served this document on all other parties – which are listed below – on April 13, 

2015, as follows: 

Maurice Bresenhan, Jr. 

Zukowski & Bresenhan & Sinex & Petry, L.L.P. 

1177 West Loop South, Suite 1100 

Houston, Texas 77027 

Attorney representing appellant: 

By: □ personal delivery 

X e-service 

□ commercial delivery service 

□ fax 

/s/ George W. Vie III 

 George W. Vie III