Falkenberg: A lawsuit in name of what?

This time, Hoang, acting as attorney for the Vietnamese Community of Houston and Vicinities, known as VNCH, is suing to evict another Vietnamese group, a nonprofit that serves the elderly, from the building they share.

In the lawsuit, Hoang claims that the group's name, Vietnamese Community Services Inc., is too similar to the umbrella organization VNCH, which actually owns the building. The elders' group had relocated in March 2009 after its old building changed hands and the rent went up.

"It caused confusion in the city that there are two Communities," Hoang told me Monday of the group's name. He said he intended the group to start using the name he wrote on the lease, Vietnamese Elders Association, but the group's leader maintains she didn't pick that name and never agreed to change.

A hearing on the matter is scheduled for Wednesday morning in Justice of the Peace Court.

The lawsuit claims that the umbrella organization has suffered actual and consequential damages and seeks recovery of attorney fees and exemplary damages, but never specifies the nature of any of these damages.

Asked to explain what problems the names have caused, and how the VNCH has been harmed, the councilman appeared at a loss to provide examples: "We have confusion," he reiterated.

Well, I won't argue with him there. It seems any time I write about Hoang and the goings-on in the Vietnamese community, I end up scratching my head. But kicking out an organization that provides hot meals, English classes and social services assistance to elderly Vietnamese because of something as trivial as the organization's name seems heartless and unnecessary.

Suspicious timing

The timing of Hoang's suit is also a bit suspicious, even though he maintains his motivations aren't personal. The executive director of the organization he's suing, Kim Nguyen, just happens to be the only community leader who went on the record in my May column criticizing Hoang. The issue then involved Hoang demanding community members apologize for disrespecting him.

Nguyen had been hesitant to speak out in the column for fear of retaliation, but finally agreed to be quoted, saying in part: "He was so upset that we didn't show respect. You know, you earn respect. You don't make people respect you."

Nguyen, who, like Hoang is a former president of VNCH, had boycotted a meeting in which more than 200 other community members gathered to talk about how Hoang had been offended at an April event commemorating the fall of Saigon. Hoang was upset that he wasn't scheduled to speak at the event and later went on Houston's Radio Saigon threatening not to run for re-election.

Hoang eventually was allowed to speak at the April event, but only after he claimed he was speaking for the mayor. A spokeswoman for Mayor Annise Parker later told me Hoang was never asked to speak for the mayor.

22-year name

On Monday, Nguyen seemed perplexed by the lawsuit, saying the only thing she could figure is that the councilman was trying to "get even" with her for criticizing him.

Nguyen said she doesn't see why her group, which has spent 22 years building its name, should change it now. Still, she said, after Hoang complained about a plastic sign with her group's name hanging over the TV in the community center, she covered it with thick white paper earlier this month. Hoang filed the lawsuit anyway.

She's also confused about the aim of the legal action, since her group had planned early next month to move in with a Filipino senior center because of renovations scheduled at the Vietnamese facility.

Worried, but not regretful

Nguyen says she's worried about the lawsuit; her nonprofit doesn't have the funds for a legal battle. But she says she doesn't regret criticizing Hoang, if that's what led to this.

"It's about time somebody has to speak up. Somebody has to do something. We're living in the United States. And he's acting like the mafia," she says. "If anybody is against him, he tries to humiliate and threaten and sue. He just wants to get his way."

Whatever Hoang's motivations, it seems like he could find better use of his time and energy than suing a small nonprofit serving the elderly. As more of these stories come to light, it's the councilman's own name he should be concerned about.

lisa.falkenberg@chron.com