[外電] Judge to rule Monday on Belkin suit
Judge to rule Monday on Belkin suit
By TIM TUCKER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 06/03/06
Rockville, Md. — A Maryland judge Friday expressed skepticism
about estranged part-owner Steve Belkin's claim he has the right
to take over the Hawks and Thrashers but said he would not issue
a ruling on the matter until Monday.
"The remedy could fall short of this default position," Judge
Eric Johnson said near the end of a hearing at which Belkin's
attorneys argued he should be allowed to buy out the teams'
other owners at cost because they breached an agreement to buy
him out.
The judge — saying he was "thinking out loud here, probably not
a good idea in a room with this many lawyers in it" — suggested
that he conceivably could find "no harm, no foul" and attempt
to restart the process from the point at which a breach allegedly
occurred.
Johnson also suggested that the teams' owners work with a
mediator to try to settle their bitter and complex dispute —
"because right now we are spinning our wheels."
"This process is like a living organism here," the judge added
later. "It keeps growing extra tentacles."
Three of the Hawks' and Thrashers' eight owners were in the
Montgomery County (Md.) courtroom — Belkin on one side, Bruce
Levenson and Michael Gearon Sr. on the other. There were nine
lawyers in court representing the two sides. There was no
interaction between Belkin and the other owners.
"Hopefully we can bring this to a conclusion," Belkin said to
a reporter upon arriving at court. After the hearing, Belkin
said only: "Talk to you soon."
Levenson and Gearon declined to comment.
During the one-hour, 15-minute hearing, Boston attorney Jack
Fabiano, representing Belkin, said the other owners had
"completely blown up" the timetables of their agreement to buy
out Belkin's stake in the teams, triggering his right to buy
out their stakes instead. Atlanta attorney Rob Remar,
representing the other owners, called Belkin's position "a
tortured and unbelievable interpretation of the agreement"
that would amount to "an unlawful forfeiture" of the other
owners' stakes.
"This is, in all due respect, a game of 'Gotcha' — an attempt
to take unfair advantage and distract from the central issue of
the case," Remar said of Belkin's position.
Fabiano said time is of the essence because the NBA and NHL
drafts and free-agency periods are approaching. "Last year,
during that period, [the other owners] spent $175 million on
player transactions," Fabiano said.
Even before an attorney for either side spoke, Judge Johnson
asked the parties to consider a mediator. Fabiano was
noncommittal about the idea, while Remar said his clients
would welcome mediation.
Despite the case's myriad issues, Johnson said that, in the end,
it will come down to money.
"The bottom line in this case is how much money changes hands and
how you arrive at how much money the assets are worth," he said.
"And eventually we're going to have to get to that."
Under an agreement reached last August, Belkin was to be bought
out by his partners for a price to be set by a series of
appraisals. But in November controversy erupted over the
appraisal process, and Belkin filed the lawsuit.
Friday's hearing dealt only with Belkin's claim to now have the
right to buy out his partners. The judge said he would issue a
written ruling on that "immediately — not immediate as in this
afternoon but immediately as in 'how many hours between now and
Monday?' "
A six-day trial is scheduled for November on the other issues in
the case if it isn't resolved by then.
The dispute is being litigated in Rockville, Md., near Washington,
because last summer's agreement stipulated that any resulting
legal action would be filed there. Three of the owners —
Levenson, Ed Peskowitz and Todd Foreman — are partners in a
business information company based in Rockville.
資料來源
http://www.ajc.com/hawks/content/sports/hawks/stories/0603owners.html
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