Belkin wins appraisal battle By SEKOU SMITH The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published on: 02/25/06 Rockville, Md. — Steve Belkin won the latest round of the Hawks-Thrashers ownership feud, having beaten his estranged partners to the punch by 11 minutes in his objection to the first appraisal of a buyout plan they all agreed to last summer. On Friday, Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Eric M. Johnson ruled in favor of the plaintiff, Belkin, and said that his immediate objection to an appraisal the part-owner deemed "grossly undervalued," gave him the right to choose a second appraiser. Johnson likened the ownership feud to a "Pee Wee football game where both sides are lined up for the snap and the little guy takes the ball and runs in the wrong direction." The ruling essentially allows appraisers selected by Belkin to set the floor and ceiling of the buyout figure. It's a blow that could cost the other owners — namely Bruce Levenson, Ed Peskowitz and Michael Gearon Jr. — millions of dollars. Belkin, according to court documents and statements made Friday, has already retained J.P. Morgan Securities, at a cost of $1.5 million, to conduct the second appraisal. Court documents do not reveal the amount of either appraisal, but a filing by Belkin says that the second is 40 percent higher than the first. Should there be an objection to the second appraisal, the NBA would choose a third appraiser by drawing a name from a hat, with the final sale price being the middle of the three appraisals. Attorneys for the other owners suggested the difference in figures from the first and second appraisals for Belkin's 30 percent stake could dwarf his initial investment of $11 million. Neither Belkin nor the other owners showed much emotion as Johnson addressed the parties before announcing his ruling. Belkin declined comment following the proceeding, saying only that he would speak when the "process is completed." Levenson and Gearon Jr., the only other owners in attendance, acknowledged Friday's setback but vowed that the fight is far from finished. "While we have not seen the judges written order, we are disappointed with his decision," Gearon Jr. said after the eight-hour hearing. "And even though we recognize it is only one step in the process and has no effect on the operations of the teams and the good things that are happening in Atlanta, we intend to see this process through to a conclusion." Belkin filed his objection to the first appraisal a minute after the 70-page report was submitted to him by CitiGroup Private Bank. The other owners objected 11 minutes later, losing out on a race that was never spelled out in the buyout agreement but should have been obvious, according to Johnson. The judge insisted there was no "ambiguity in the language" of the contract and that the contract never used a plural in regards to the "objecting party." "The move by the plaintiff could be called many things," Johnson said. "Brilliant. Crafty. I'm sure the defendants might have another term for it." The other owners argued that in order for the buyout process to be "fair and balanced" they should be allowed to select the second appraiser since Belkin selected the first. They also asked that Johnson add language they believed was missing from the contract if both parties objected to the first appraisal. Johnson did the opposite on both counts, after admonishing both sides earlier for "wrangling." Johnson insisted that there are built in safeguards in the contract to "ensure fairness" and that there were no missing terms in the original contract. And even if there were, he said, it was not the court's role to rewrite contracts and that it would not do so. 原文轉載 http://www.ajc.com/hawks/content/sports/hawks/stories/0225belkin.html --

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