[外電] Ownership fight continues
Ownership fight continues
By TIM TUCKER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 04/20/06
Steve Belkin, the estranged part-owner of the Hawks and
Thrashers, does not have the right to take over the teams —-
at least not yet.
A Maryland court has ruled that "while Belkin may very well
succeed in obtaining the very relief" he seeks —- the right
to buy out the teams' other owners at cost —- he hasn't made
that case yet.
In a written ruling, judge Eric Johnson denied a Belkin motion
that sought a final judgment declaring, in effect, that the other
owners breached their agreement to buy him out and that he,
therefore, is entitled to buy them out instead for a price equal
to their investment. The judge wrote that Belkin was seeking to
"leapfrog a judicial process" by jumping to that outcome at this
point.
The fight for the franchises likely will remain in court for many
months, and the Hawks and Thrashers now enter a second off-season
of ownership turmoil.
Part-owner Bruce Levenson insists the litigation won't impact the
teams' decisions this summer.
"This dispute arose last summer, and subsequently we signed
high-profile free agents like Joe Johnson in basketball and Ilya
Kovalchuk for the Thrashers," Levenson said Thursday. "This
dispute has had —- and will continue to have —- zero impact on
our efforts to build two teams that climb to the top of the
mountain and stay there for a sustained period of time."
Levenson declined to comment on the latest ruling. "I don't think
it's appropriate to comment on every twist and turn in the legal
dispute," he said.
Belkin has said he won't comment until the legal issues are
resolved. Belkin's attorneys also declined to comment.
For now, Belkin maintains his approximately 30 percent stake in
the Hawks and Thrashers but is not required to help fund their
operating losses and has no real say in ownership decisions. The
other owners —- principally Levenson, Ed Peskowitz and Michael
Gearon Jr. —- are funding the losses (to the tune of $22 million
this season, according to a court document) and calling the shots.
The new court ruling, issued late Wednesday, stemmed from a
hearing 3 1/2 weeks ago in Montgomery County (Md.) Circuit Court.
Belkin's attorneys had argued that Judge Johnson's finding in
February that Belkin had the right to choose the second appraiser
in a three-appraisal buyout process triggered other "results and
consequences." They argued that the other owners failed to seek a
third appraisal in time and thus were obligated to pay Belkin the
second appraisal —- about $140 million —- by Feb. 17. Since they
did not do so, Belkin argued he had the right to buy their stakes
for cost.
But in this week's ruling, the judge said he had decided nothing
beyond Belkin's right to choose J. P. Morgan Securities as the
second appraiser.
"The court is not stating that the remaining issues [sought by
Belkin] may not necessarily flow from the result of this Court's
ruling," the judge wrote. "The court is simply stating that it
has not yet reached that decision and no argument has been heard
on those issues."
The court reiterated its February decision that last summer's
buyout agreement —- under which Belkin was to be paid fair
market value by the other owners for his stake —- entitled
Belkin to retain the second appraiser despite having retained
the first, because he was the fastest to object to the results
of the first.
The judge wrote: "Regretting the broad and arguably illogical
and unfair result of the [buyout] contract, which admittedly
seems patently obvious to the Court at this point, the Court
found that [Levenson, Peskowitz, Gearon, etc.] attempted to
persuade the [court] to ignore the plain unambiguous language
of the [contract] and generate an after-the-fact judicial
contract which more precisely reflects their current preference;
i. e., that [they] be handed the right to select the second
[appraiser]."
And in an understatement, the judge wrote: "It is abundantly
clear that this Court's decision failed to 'terminate controversy.'"
資料來源
http://www.ajc.com/hawks/content/sports/hawks/stories/0421belkin.html
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