Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban wins court battle – NBA Update
The NBA is currently in lockout mode but that doesn’t mean that the action has stopped, especially for the Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.
The most charismatic owner in NBA has made the headlines again by winning a court battle against Ross Perot Jr., the minority owner of the Mavericks.
"We are extremely pleased with the ruling, which puts the Mavericks in the win column before the season has even started," Cuban's attorney Thomas Melsheimer said Thursday.
Perot had claimed that Cuban was mismanaging the franchise and that his style of ownership was detrimental to the financial and sporting well being of the franchise. He had said in his complaint that Cuban was therefore causing
Hillwood Investment Properties III, Ltd., the investment arm of Perot, to "lose substantial investment value."
The Mavericks prepared a staunch defence argument and piled on evidence of Cuban’s sound management which included a picture of the team celebrating with the Larry O’Brien
"Under Hillwood's ownership, the team was deemed the 'worst franchise' in all of professional sports. Under Cuban's stewardship the Mavericks have become one of the league's most successful teams and are now NBA champions. Accordingly,
there can be no genuine question that Hillwood's claims of mismanagement lack merit and Hillwood's claims should be disposed of on summary judgment."
The statement really said it all. Since taking over, the eccentric Cuban has made the Mavericks one of the most talked about teams in the sports world through his antics alone. The owner, who has become notoriously infamous for
his consistent rants at opposition players, coaches and even the referees, has also quietly made Dallas one of the best teams in the league.
His crowning achievement came last season when the Mavericks won an NBA World Championship for the first time in their history. They held a huge celebration parade in the city of Dallas in which all team players, including NBA
Finals MVP Dirk Nowitzki, crowd favourite Jason Terry and revered veteran Jason Kidd, participated.
Cuban footed the bill for the whole thing and endeared himself even more to the fanatic Mavericks fan base.
With circumstantial evidence alone pointing to Cuban’s terrific management of the franchise, Judge Craig Smith agreed and put an end to the suit last Friday. He also ordered the complainant, i.e. Ross Perot Jr., to pay all legal
expenses incurred by Cuban.
It is not yet known if this will be the end of a spate of lawsuits that Perot has filed against Cuban since two years ago. Owner of just 5 percent of the Dallas franchise, Perot has never seen eye to eye with Cuban and dragged
him into the court time and again.
In July 2009, Perot, sued Cuban over money made from the American Airlines Center, and in May 2010, he again filed a suit against Cuban.
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