David Heath won in the cage this past weekend and hopes to win a legal battle against Shine Fights.
According to MMA Weekly, Heath has not been paid by Shine Fights for its cancelled May PPV. Heath was a late replacement for the card that never came to be. Heath intends to take Shine Fights to small claims court.
David Heath, who was tapped as a late replacement to face Murilo “Ninja” Rua in the main event on the card, says that he has not received any payment from Shine Fights for his contracted participation on the card, and will be filing suit against the promotion next week.
When asked if he had received payment from Shine Fights, Heath answered by text message saying, “Nope. Gonna file a small claims suit when I get back from MFC this weekend.”
Payout Perspective:
Heath is the first fighter that appears to be going through legal action to recoup funds allegedly owed to him from Shine for the May PPV. As noted here, there appears to be a dispute over the terms in the contract as to how fighters would be paid if the event was cancelled. Heath’s contract may be different since he was a late replacement. Regardless, he claims that he has not been paid.
By filing a small claims action in either Oklahoma (where Heath resides) or North Carolina (where the event was to take place), Heath can only claim at most $6,000 in Oklahoma ($5,000 in North Carolina).
This is an interesting strategy by Heath. The small claims court process is a down and dirty way to settle disputes without the need for high legal fees. Shine Fights should attempt to settle up with Heath prior to having to deal with this in court. If Heath decides to go through with small claims court and wins, we can expect other non-paid fighters to file their claims.
This might work against Shine but won’t work against say the UFC. The UFC would still send in their $800/hr lawyers and if you don’t win your paying their fees which would bankrupt any one going down this path making a mockery of the idea of small claims court. Now the UFC is unlikely to act like Shine but how long till all contracts have the you pay our legal fees clause?