What is the Legal Defense Fund contribution that appears on my company dues renewal?
The Legal Defense Fund was created after NCBFAA was called upon to file an amicus brief. The Fund is financed in whole by the NCBFAA’s Regular members and is only used for cases or causes brought to the Association’s attention by its members.
The fund is not meant to be used to settle individual legal disputes among our members; rather it is meant for legal issues that may affect our entire industry. Examples of this would be courts attempting to hold brokers liable for asbestos and agent orange imported decades ago, or fireworks legally imported but then mishandled and ultimately causing harm to children. We never want to see our industry held liable to the product safety of what we help our clients legally import under the rules in place at the time of importation.
All decisions to participate on behalf of a member, and issue, rests with a committee comprised of the officers of the Association (President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary and Chairperson of the Board), the chairpersons of the Customs Committee and Freight Forwarding Committees, and a board member who may have a particular insight into the issue at hand, selected by the Association President on a case-by-case basis.