| Boxing
Contender O'Shaquie
Foster Answered Dibella
Suit, Now His Injunction
Bid Denied
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
July 16 – 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
and below.
On July 15, Judge
Koeltl held an in person
evidentiary hearing, and Inner
City Press went to cover it.
After some initial technical
difficulties, O'Shaquie
Foster's lawyer questioned Lou
DiBella, about his previous
practice of law, and
invocation of force majeur.
Afterward, this
ruling: "ORDER denying [51]
Motion to Strike document [51]
MOTION to Strike Document No.
[45, 47 and 49] of Plaintiff
DiBella Entertainment, Inc.'s
Evidence in Opposition to
Defendant's Motion for
Preliminary Injunction filed
by O'Shaquie Foster from the
record. For the reasons stated
on the record at the hearing
held on July 15, 2021, the
defendant's motion for
preliminary injunction is
denied and the motion to
strike is denied. The Clerk is
directed to close Docket Nos.
30 and 51. The Court sets the
following briefing schedule
for the defendant's motion to
dismiss the plaintiff's
counterclaims: the plaintiff's
response is due July 22, 2021,
and the reply is due July 27,
2021."
From June 9:
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)
***
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