The Orange County Superior Court has filed a “tentative” ruling deciding that former Bellator Heavyweight Vitaly Minakov is subject to a prejudgment writ of attachment which may require any purse from future fights go toward his former agents.
A “tentative” ruling is a way to operate more efficiently by courts in which they decide a pending motion despite the fact that a hearing is set to take place. The court makes a decision and the parties are allowed to still argue their points but the tentative will give some insight into the court rationale in making its decision. It can be a deflating ruling for a party since they know they will lose. However, it does give them some head’s up on what to expect at the hearing.
In the ruling, the court noted that Minakov’s former agent, RusFighters, LLC had demonstrated the requirements needed for issuing a writ of attachment. It also must post a bond of $10,000 as a requirement. It should be pointed out that the writ does not automatically mean Minakov loses out on any money he might make from a fight purse, but it essentially “freezes” his earnings so that he does not spend or ferret out his money to a third-party to avoid a judgment.
Notably, the order states that Minakov’s argument that “earnings” should be exempt from a prejudgment writ of attachment was denied because he is a “self-employed professional” and any earnings would not fall under the claim for exemption of earnings from an employer.
Minakov argued that there was an oral modification (change) of his agency contract with RusFighters, LLC where the parties agreed that the heavyweight could use another agent to negotiate a contract with Bellator. In exchange, he would give RusFighters, LLC $10,000 as a “gift.” As many know, Minakov signed on with Bellator with the help of Ali Abdelaziz. A previous contract was negotiated by RusFighters, LLC but Minakov declined to sign because he did not like the terms.
Minakov signed with Bellator and RusFighters, LLC sued for breach of contract soon thereafter.
The motion by the lawyers of his former agency filed this writ as a sort of security for any money it may be awarded as a result of the lawsuit.
Payout Perspective:
Although the tentative is not certain (hence the name), in most cases the ruling is likely to be confirmed pending extenuating circumstances. The trial is not set to commence until 2021 so there is a lot of time in between but the ruling solidifies the fact that Minakov’s former agents mean business and he will not just have a paper judgment he cannot collect on. MMA Payout will keep you posted.
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