Ownership fight continues By TIM TUCKER The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published on: 04/20/06 Steve Belkin, the estranged part-owner of the Hawks and Thrashers, does not have the right to take over the teams —- at least not yet. A Maryland court has ruled that "while Belkin may very well succeed in obtaining the very relief" he seeks —- the right to buy out the teams' other owners at cost —- he hasn't made that case yet. In a written ruling, judge Eric Johnson denied a Belkin motion that sought a final judgment declaring, in effect, that the other owners breached their agreement to buy him out and that he, therefore, is entitled to buy them out instead for a price equal to their investment. The judge wrote that Belkin was seeking to "leapfrog a judicial process" by jumping to that outcome at this point. The fight for the franchises likely will remain in court for many months, and the Hawks and Thrashers now enter a second off-season of ownership turmoil. Part-owner Bruce Levenson insists the litigation won't impact the teams' decisions this summer. "This dispute arose last summer, and subsequently we signed high-profile free agents like Joe Johnson in basketball and Ilya Kovalchuk for the Thrashers," Levenson said Thursday. "This dispute has had —- and will continue to have —- zero impact on our efforts to build two teams that climb to the top of the mountain and stay there for a sustained period of time." Levenson declined to comment on the latest ruling. "I don't think it's appropriate to comment on every twist and turn in the legal dispute," he said. Belkin has said he won't comment until the legal issues are resolved. Belkin's attorneys also declined to comment. For now, Belkin maintains his approximately 30 percent stake in the Hawks and Thrashers but is not required to help fund their operating losses and has no real say in ownership decisions. The other owners —- principally Levenson, Ed Peskowitz and Michael Gearon Jr. —- are funding the losses (to the tune of $22 million this season, according to a court document) and calling the shots. The new court ruling, issued late Wednesday, stemmed from a hearing 3 1/2 weeks ago in Montgomery County (Md.) Circuit Court. Belkin's attorneys had argued that Judge Johnson's finding in February that Belkin had the right to choose the second appraiser in a three-appraisal buyout process triggered other "results and consequences." They argued that the other owners failed to seek a third appraisal in time and thus were obligated to pay Belkin the second appraisal —- about $140 million —- by Feb. 17. Since they did not do so, Belkin argued he had the right to buy their stakes for cost. But in this week's ruling, the judge said he had decided nothing beyond Belkin's right to choose J. P. Morgan Securities as the second appraiser. "The court is not stating that the remaining issues [sought by Belkin] may not necessarily flow from the result of this Court's ruling," the judge wrote. "The court is simply stating that it has not yet reached that decision and no argument has been heard on those issues." The court reiterated its February decision that last summer's buyout agreement —- under which Belkin was to be paid fair market value by the other owners for his stake —- entitled Belkin to retain the second appraiser despite having retained the first, because he was the fastest to object to the results of the first. The judge wrote: "Regretting the broad and arguably illogical and unfair result of the [buyout] contract, which admittedly seems patently obvious to the Court at this point, the Court found that [Levenson, Peskowitz, Gearon, etc.] attempted to persuade the [court] to ignore the plain unambiguous language of the [contract] and generate an after-the-fact judicial contract which more precisely reflects their current preference; i. e., that [they] be handed the right to select the second [appraiser]." And in an understatement, the judge wrote: "It is abundantly clear that this Court's decision failed to 'terminate controversy.'" 資料來源 http://www.ajc.com/hawks/content/sports/hawks/stories/0421belkin.html --

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