Tax Break for the Really, Really Rich



In his 4-year, $52 million contract with the Florida Marlins, Carlos Delgado received a rather generous provision: Should he be traded to a team in a locality that features a state and/or local income tax, the club acquiring him must make up any difference in those taxes. In practice, this provision could prove quite lucrative. For instance, if Delgado is traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers, he would be reimbursed by the team for falling in the highest state income tax bracket (9.3 percent + 1 percent surcharge on income in excess of $1 million).

More on the Aramark Suit



Ted at Overlawyered has an excellent update on the Aramark beer vendor lawsuit I have talked about before (here and here), including some information on evidence that the judge excluded. The quoted New Jersey Law Journal article can be found here. Aramark is appealing the case.



Update: The post previously reprinted an assertion that the judge in this case excluded evidence that the fan went to a club after attending the game. Ted has informed me that it actually appears that the club was a defendant to the suit that the jury let off the hook. Thus, it is likely that the jury knew he had gone to the establishment.

Guest-blogging This Week



I am honored to have been asked to guest-blog this week at Overlawyered, a site run by Walter Olson of the Manhattan Institute. The site's purpose:

Overlawyered.com explores an American legal system that too often turns litigation into a weapon against guilty and innocent alike, erodes individual responsibility, rewards sharp practice, enriches its participants at the public's expense, and resists even modest efforts at reform and accountability.

Posts will continue here, but please visit over there as well.

'Altitude Chambers' in the JME

This month, the JME includes 3 articles on the ethics of hypoxic training chambers for sport. The lead article by Spriggs disusses the Australian Football League's investigation into the ethical parameters of these 'altitude chambers'. A commentary is then offered by Torbjorn Tannsjo, Claudio Tamburrini and finally by Peter Fricker. Generally, the articles favour enhancement and changing the rules of sport to make enhancement more commonplace.

Season Ticket, Inc. Sues TicketMaster



When will there be some meaningful competition for TicketMaster? Not as long as it misappropriates the trade secrets of its competition.

Neuheisel Trial Begins in Washington



I discussed on this blog the legality of NCAA tournament pools back in March. As Rick Neuheisel discovered, everyone may do them but that does not make it permissible. The former University of Washington football coach was fired two years ago after he lied to NCAA investigators about participating in the basketball pools. Now, he is suing both the university and the NCAA, claiming wrongful termination.

Neuheisel was questioned at a downtown Seattle hotel June 4, 2003, by NCAA investigators who initially queried him about other minor violations at the UW. Neuheisel's lead attorney, Bob Sulkin, says the coach was ambushed by the gambling questions, leading to Neuheisel's evasiveness in his first two sessions.



After about a week, Hedges officially initiated proceedings to fire Neuheisel, citing a clause in his contract prohibiting acts of dishonesty. Neuheisel's side contends Hedges was disinclined to fire him, doing so only when key NCAA officials made it clear Washington would be treated more favorably if he were terminated.



"This has never been an issue about dishonesty," Sulkin argued at a hearing earlier this month. "Dishonesty is nothing but a subterfuge."

Complicating the issue even further are emails sent by the university's former compliance officer that mistakenly authorized such tournament pools.



In the opening statements of the trial, Neuheisel's attorney said that his client was ambushed by the gambling questions and was "playing dodgeball." The attorney for the university presented a far different scenario, stating that Neuheisel got caught in his own web of lies that triggered the termination clause in his contract.



The trial continues today. Experts say that the NCAA rarely loses in court, so it will be interesting to see the outcome of this case.

Irate Parents Beware: Coaches are Fighting Back



Overzealous and downright mean parents have always been a problem in youth sports. In one game I umpired (the players were 12), a mother came onto the field and cursed me repeatedly before she could be subdued by the coach. (Note: I am a bad umpire, but not that bad).



But now coaches are fighting back. A jury in California has awarded a high school baseball coach $700,000 in damages after finding that one enraged parent acted with "oppression, malice, despicable conduct or fraud" in his dealings with the coach.



The parent, enraged because he felt the coach was damaging his son's arm by allowing him to throw too many pitches, pulled his son off of the team. No problem there. But then he repeatedly complained to the school, filed two lawsuits against the coach and repeatedly badmouthed the coach to local and national media outlets. The coach countersued for malicious prosecution and defamation.



The jury quickly found for the coach, dismissing the parent's claims. Said one juror, "I think this should send a message to parents."