Hawks-Thrashers owners back in court By TIM TUCKER The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published on: 03/27/06 The Hawks and Thrashers ownership group will be back in court today for the next round in the fight for the franchises. Estranged owner Steve Belkin this afternoon will ask a Maryland court to rule that his Atlanta Spirit partners breached their agreement to buy him out and that he, therefore, is entitled to buy them out at cost. The partners — principally Bruce Levenson, Ed Peskowitz, Michael Gearon Jr. and Rutherford Seydel — counter in a legal filing that Belkin is asking the court "to commit plain and obvious legal error." Montgomery County (Md.) Circuit Court Judge Eric Johnson, who has received extensive pleadings and exhibits in the case, has scheduled a 3 p.m. hearing at which attorneys for both sides will make arguments. It is not known if the judge will rule today. Long-simmering tensions between Belkin and his fellow Atlanta Spirit partners boiled over last summer because of Belkin's opposition to the conditions of the Hawks' trade for guard Joe Johnson. The feud seemed to end in August, when Belkin's partners agreed to purchase his 30 percent stake in the teams for a price to be determined by a series of up to three appraisals. But by November, the parties were at war over the appraisal process. Belkin said in a court filing last week that his partners "have delayed and frustrated" the process by which they agreed to buy him out, triggering, he claims, his right to buy their stakes instead. "It is now time to put an end to their delay game and to bring this process to its long-overdue conclusion," Belkin's brief said. The other owners contend it was Belkin who derailed the process by filing a lawsuit against them in November. In any case, an end is hardly in sight. Belkin acknowledges in his latest legal filing that a ruling in his favor today would leave the other owners with the right "to pursue a prompt appeal" — a right they undoubtedly would exercise. Belkin's estranged partners maintain the appraisal process has been improperly executed, while Belkin argues his partners simply don't like the results of that process. Two appraisals have been conducted of Belkin's stake, both by investment banks retained by him. Based on calculations made by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution from information provided in court records, Belkin's stake apparently was valued at about $88 million in the first appraisal and at about $140 million in the second appraisal. Either would represent an enormous return on Belkin's investment of $11.7 million in 2004. In court documents, Belkin's partners called the first appraisal "grossly excessive" and the second "absurd." Belkin called the first "grossly undervalued." Belkin, a Boston businessman, contends the other owners missed the deadline to get a third appraisal and thus were obligated to pay him the amount of the second appraisal (about $140 million) by Feb. 17. Since they did not do so, Belkin argues he has the right to buy them out for their total contributed capital ($31.4 million, according to an affidavit) and take control of the teams. At a hearing last month, Judge Johnson found that Belkin had the right to choose the second appraiser despite having chosen the first. With that "central" issue decided, Belkin's lawyers now argue, other "results and consequences ... clearly flow," including the right to buy out his partners. But his partners counter in court filings that Belkin is trying "to transform the court's narrow ruling on the ... second appraiser into a total victory on numerous hotly contested issues. " They say the ruling he seeks "would result in nothing less than judicially sanctioned theft of [their] interests in the Hawks, Thrashers and Philips Arena." The case is being heard in Maryland because the parties previously agreed to litigate any disputes about the buyout process there. Levenson and Peskowitz own a business information company based in Rockville, Md., near Washington. 资料来源 http://www.ajc.com/hawks/content/sports/hawks/stories/0327spirit.html --

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