bud the spud in the news again... could be fun to watch.....

[Guest hotsoxchick1]

Selig's lawyers want to move Expos trial

 

November 8, 2002 Print it

 

 

MIAMI -- A lawsuit accusing baseball commissioner Bud Selig of racketeering for his involvement in the sale of the Montreal Expos should be not be tried in Florida, his lawyers argued Friday.

 

The suit by the Expos' former minority owners also should be delayed until an arbitrator decides whether former controlling owner Jeffrey Loria intentionally destroyed the franchise's value, the lawyers said.

 

Loria sold the Expos earlier this year to the other 29 major-league teams and bought the Florida Marlins. After Selig's plan to eliminate the Expos and Minnesota Twins was blocked, the commissioner's office took over operation of the Expos.

 

Selig's lawyers said during a hearing Friday that the U.S. District Court in Miami didn't have jurisdiction because the minority owners are Canadian and Major League Baseball is headquartered in New York. If the suit isn't dismissed, it should be moved to New York, the attorneys told Judge Ursula M. Ungaro-Benages.

 

The lawyers for the former limited partners countered that the suit should be heard in Miami because the Expos listed their U.S. address in Jupiter, Fla., while Loria ran the team, and that important meetings leading to Loria swapping the Expos for the Marlins were held in Florida.

 

Bradley Ruskin, Loria's lawyer, asked the case against his client be dismissed outright since he and his former partners are already involved in arbitration.

 

The minority owners' lawyers said that the arbitration is between the investors and Loria's holding companies and not Loria himself.

 

Ungaro-Benages expressed doubt whether proceedings against Loria's companies could be "carved out" from the actions of Loria the individual, but issued no rulings Friday.

 

The Canadian investors have said that if baseball attempts to move the Expos, they will ask for an injunction that would block any move until the end of the trial.

 

The investors' suit contends Loria and Marlins president David Samson conspired with baseball officials to dilute the minority partners' share of the team from 76 percent to 6 to 7 percent and never intended to keep the franchise in Montreal.

 

Baseball says the partners' share was decreased because they refused to put up additional money Loria asked for in "cash calls" permitted by the partnership agreement.

[Chisoxfn]

I still firmly believe two teams should be contracted, but we'll have to wait 5 yrs for that to happen.

[Guest hotsoxchick1]

be careful of what you think out loud.... with the way things are going here we may be one of them.. :**** kenny williams

[Chisoxfn]

Sox won't go anywhere, they are an original team or damn near an original team and someone would buy them, trust me on that. I know many of you doubt that fact, but someone would. They probably would be tempted to move the stadium somewhere else, but since its so new I doubt they'd do it.

[BridgeportHeather]

Originally posted by Chisoxfn

Sox won't go anywhere, they are an original team or damn near an original team and someone would buy them, trust me on that.  I know many of you doubt that fact, but someone would.  They probably would be tempted to move the stadium somewhere else, but since its so new I doubt they'd do it.

I agree. Don't they still have another eight or nine years left on their lease at new Comiskey Park? I didn't think you could break your lease.