Lou DiBella has filed a lawsuit against O’Shaquie Foster for breach of his promotional contract with his promoter. The lawsuit invokes the ‘force majeure’ clause in the contract with Foster while the fighter’s attorney disagrees.
The lawsuit, filed earlier this week in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York claims that the 130-pound prospect breached his contract with the promoter. He is seeking a declaratory judgment from the Court enforcing the ‘Force Majeure” portion of his contract.
On July 14, 2020, DiBella notified all of his fighters that he would be invoking the ‘Force Majeure’ clause in the fight contracts due to the global pandemic. This would effectively toll the contract six months and excuse the promoter from his conditions of offering fights. In an email on September 18, 2020, DiBella’s counsel offered Foster a fight against Miguel Roman on November 19, 2020. It also clarified the tolling provisions due to the invocation of its ‘Force Majeure’ clause .
Foster retained his own attorney which disagreed with the ‘Force Majeure’ invocation by DiBella.
He also made a threat, according to the lawsuit, that “a defeat would result in the wholesale departure of its remaining stable of fighters.”
Payout Perspective:
We see another lawsuit resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Similar to the Canelo Alvarez-DAZN lawsuit, the doctrine of ‘Force Majeure’ is being invoked. Essentially, this clause in contracts excuses the performance of a party due to unforeseen circumstances. The question will be the viability of this term in the lawsuit. We note that the notification to fighters came out in July at a time when Top Rank had returned to boxing as well as the UFC. Of course, there may be differing conditions related to their return. Still, there was boxing occurring at a time when the promoter sent out notice to fighters that it was tolling the contracts. MPO will continue to follow.
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