| Boxing
Contender O'Shaquie
Foster Answered Dibella
Suit, Says Boxing
Resumed June 2020
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
June 18 – Boxer O'Shaquie
Foster wants to drop promoter
Dibella Entertainment, which
has sued him and is stopping
his probably short career at a
key point.
On May 11, U.S. District Court
for the Southern District of
New York Judge John G. Koeltl
held a proceeding. Inner City
Press covered it.
Both sides
said they want this proceeding
to move quickly, given how
time bound a boxer's career
can be. But the best that
could be done was a discovery
schedule running through
October 29.
Will this
contender still have a shot by
then?
On June 9, Judge
Koeltl held another
proceeding, and Inner City
Press live tweeted it, here:
Judge Koeltl asks
why a Temporary Restraining
Order is being sought.
Response: No one
will give a fight with threat
of litigation hanging in the
air.
Judge
Koeltl: How could I decide
that on a TRO? With the
absence of an imminent
fight...
Judge
Koeltl: The ability to move
forward with a new promoters
sound more like a Preliminary
Injunction matter.
Answer: We could
have a one-off agreement, like
with Bash Boxing. In the 14 or
28 days, we can get more than
one offer for Mr. Foster to
box.
Judge
Koeltl: I don't do TROs ex
parte.
Dibella's lawyer:
We are ready to promote him.
He is refusing. Lou Dibella is
in the boxing Hall of Fame.
I've been in the business 30
years and I've never heard of
the promoter they're
promoting.
Dibella's
lawyer: We offered him a fight
next week on a major network,
he turned it down. Fighters
like Foster can't be allowed
to just run off.
Judge Koeltl: I
am unlikely to sign a TRO. The
papers for a Preliminary
Injunction should be filed on
Friday.
And afterward he
ordered: "ORDER: For reasons
stated on the record at the
conference today, the pending
requests for the temporary
restraining order and
preliminary injunction are
denied with leave to refile on
proper papers pursuant to
Local Civil Rule 7.1. The
defendant shall file the
appropriate papers by June 11,
2021, the plaintiff will
respond by June 18, 2021, and
the defendants will reply by
June 23, 2021. The plaintiff
may move on the counterclaims
without a pre-motion
conference. The parties shall
file a Rule 26(f) report by
June 24, 2021.
On June 11,
the PI papers were filed. They
characterized Lou DiBella as a
Harvard Law School graduate,
oppressing 27 year old
O'Shaquie Dominique Williams
Foster and making him "a
pariah in his chosen
profession and unable to fight
until the present litigation
winds its way through this
Court."
On June 16,
Foster's counsel opposed
DiBella's request for a 19 day
extension of time to answer,
saying 10 days could be agreed
to "with the caveat that Mr.
Wirt does not argue that
neither he nor his client can
commence written or oral
discovery until after the
forthcoming FRCP 12(b)(6)
motion had been heard."
On June 18 -
Juneteenth, with the court
largely closed -- opposition
was filed, arguing that
"Foster's Claim that Boxing
Resumed in Earnest in June
2020 Is Not Likely to Succeed
on the Merits." Watch this
site.
The case is
DiBella Entertainment, Inc. v.
Foster, 21-cv-2709 (Koeltl)
***
Your
support means a lot. As little as $5 a month
helps keep us going and grants you access to
exclusive bonus material on our Patreon
page. Click
here to become a patron.
Feedback:
Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
SDNY Press Room 480, front cubicle
500 Pearl Street, NY NY 10007 USA
Mail: Box 20047, Dag
Hammarskjold Station NY NY 10017
Reporter's mobile (and weekends):
718-716-3540
Other, earlier Inner City Press are
listed here,
and some are available in the ProQuest
service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.
Copyright 2006-2021 Inner City
Press, Inc. To request reprint or other
permission, e-contact Editorial [at]
innercitypress.com
|
,
