Trinity countersuing Melnyk for 1 Billion

[18Hossa]

Is this what happened?

• Melnyk enters into RLG saying all the right things: "We can fund our portion, no problem, hakuna mattata"
  
• Trinity/NCC being doing things (ie. spending $$) to get the project rolling
• When time comes to make decisions on how to split the pie, agreement can't be reached
• Melnyk asks city for money, wants unreasonable concessions from NCC/City/Trinity
• Ruddy/Melnyk having shouting match
• Melnyk has (potentially never had) no intention/means of funding his portion of arena
• RLG about to lose deal, lawsuits inc

If it shook down something like this, this looks really bad on Melnyk. It really looks like he overplayed his hand, thinking that because he holds the Ottawa Senators trump card, he can take as many concessions as he wants, but the City/NCC/Trinity just weren't having it. I'll hold full judgement until maybe there are more details about both lawsuits, but it really looks like Eugene Melnyk dropped the ball here. And given his track record, it's just not that surprising.

Leeder did a lot of the early conversations/negotiating iirc since Melnyk was hospitalized for a while. Then when he got better he started to take over from Leeder and we all know how that turned out.

 

[coladin]

And it effects the soon to be UFAs

Not sure it does. It will be business as usual at the CTC while Lebreton stays empty for the foreseeable future. I am not sure if Melnyk is able to get another partner even if he wanted to. Ruddy surely must have the same rights to the land. It will be another two years wasted , probably, finding a new design, probably without an arena component. Sucks for Ottawa.

Some things, just like on Melnyk's end, don't add up:

1. Not sure how Ruddy didn't just get up and leave from the get go, 3 years ago, if Melnyk wasn't bringing any money and wanted a free arena. Control of naming rights, in the face of a free arena, sounds like a pittance...unless the arena was to be called the "Trinity Centre" or something?

2. We have seen 600M from Melnyk, 3.4B from Ruddy. We have seen 50 -50. Now, we see 3.8B "already" spent. Too many differing views means this will be tied up in courts forever and ever amen.

 

[BonkTastic]

One... BILLION dollars.

 

[Silex]

This lawsuit will ruin Eugene if he loses. He wont have to surrender the team to Trinity, but I'm sure he will to someone else.

It depends. If he loses in court (if it even gets there) and Trinity is awarded a large enough sum and Melnyk is then forced to declare bankruptcy, then Sens will fall under the control of Melnyk's creditors (whoever they may be). But that is a very specific scenario that require a lot of things to go a cerain way for it to happen.

 

[BatherSeason]

Why so much silence from the usual suspects? Eugene call you guys into a meeting?

 

[18Hossa]

2. We have seen 600M from Melnyk, 3.4B from Ruddy. We have seen 50 -50. Now, we see 3.8B "already" spent. Too many differing views means this will be tied up in courts forever and ever amen.

Its actually 3.8 Million so...

 

[BonHoonLayneCornell]

On a semi-related note, can Melnyk take Garrioch with him when he gets booted out of the door? Tired of that beluga sized blowhard being Eugene's personal mouth piece/spin doctor.

Fully expecting an article from him any minute explaining how this countersuit is frivolous with no ground to stand on.

No kidding. It's pretty embarrassing that he's seen as the Senators beat writer from outside.

 

[Tnuoc Alucard]

 

[Joeyjoejoe]

Why so much silence from the usual suspects? Eugene call you guys into a meeting?

They are on vacation with him

 

[BonkTastic]

I wonder if these two lawsuits "resolve" themselves behind the scene before they ever get to court.

It's hard to see Melnyk actually seeing his suit through to the end based on the existence of the countersuit.

 

[Tnuoc Alucard]

I wonder if these two lawsuits "resolve" themselves behind the scene before they ever get to court.

It's hard to see Melnyk actually seeing his suit through to the end based on the existence of the countersuit.

We'll see what happens at the next Meeting with the NCC.

If nothing is settled by then, I hope the NCC lets the two squabbling Millionaires do their own thing, and turn to Devcore and hand them the rights to Lebreton Flats

 

[Gil Gunderson]

I wonder if these two lawsuits "resolve" themselves behind the scene before they ever get to court.

It's hard to see Melnyk actually seeing his suit through to the end based on the existence of the countersuit.

I’m pretty certain it gets resolved out of court.

In a dream world Ruddy doesn’t give in until he negotiates to buy the team...

 

[coladin]

Its actually 3.8 Million so...

ahhhhhh, thanks for the correction

 

[Smash88]

I wonder if these two lawsuits "resolve" themselves behind the scene before they ever get to court.

It's hard to see Melnyk actually seeing his suit through to the end based on the existence of the countersuit.

I figure this is the most likely scenario after a few years of "he said she said" type of stuff.

 

[BonHoonLayneCornell]

This shit is more exciting that the 2018-19 Ottawa Senators!

 

[FormentonTheFuture]

I figure this is the most likely scenario after a few years of "he said she said" type of stuff.

is that actually how long it would take? Is that a normal lawsuit timeline?

 

[starling]

Nice.
In the next episode, CSMI and Trinity suing NCC for $1.7 Billion once they walk away from this dumpster fire bid.

 

[Smash88]

is that actually how long it would take? Is that a normal lawsuit timeline?

Ones as big as this, with so many implications usually go for a while, they can drag on for years.

Now, this one is fairly high profile, so it may get pushed to the front so to speak, but it will still be a long go regardless.

Either way, the Sens moving to Lebreton is very far off at this point.

 

[The Lewler]

It depends. If he loses in court (if it even gets there) and Trinity is awarded a large enough sum and Melnyk is then forced to declare bankruptcy, then Sens will fall under the control of Melnyk's creditors (whoever they may be). But that is a very specific scenario that require a lot of things to go a cerain way for it to happen.

That would some 4D chess shit. Which would be awesome. lol

 

[Silencio]

I'll never comprehend what's so hard about writing Melnyk's name properly...

"Eugene Dazeem" - half of hfboards posters

 

[Mingus Dew]

is that actually how long it would take? Is that a normal lawsuit timeline?

There are cases here where an associate will quit and then come back to the firm 10 years later and get staffed on the same case lol.

High stakes corporate litigation is insane.

 

[RandR]

We'll see what happens at the next Meeting with the NCC.

If nothing is settled by then, I hope the NCC lets the two squabbling Millionaires do their own thing, and turn to Devcore and hand them the rights to Lebreton Flats

I hope for the same thing, but Ruddy did state today in the CTV News article linked above in this thread:

In a statement on Tuesday, Ruddy expressed his desire to move forward on the Lebreton project, "Let me be clear, I am committed to moving this project forward. The vision we've brought forward is the right one. I will work with the NCC, the City of Ottawa, and the community at large to advance solutions that will make this project a reality, and avoid losing these important lands for another generation."

So both Trinity and Devcore have now staked claims of wanting to have a go at LeBreton. Given that, I find it easiest to imagine that the NCC will not let either Trinity (without Melnyk) or Devcore proceed, also because both their bids included an arena as a focal point and it now appears that neither would be proceeding with an arena (Devcore just said they would hold enough land for one for at least 5 years). We will see in January, but I find it easiest to imagine that the NCC will open up another round of bids with presumably a shorter time-line to pick a winner.

 

[Tnuoc Alucard]

I hope for the same thing, but Ruddy did state today in the CTV News article linked above in this thread:



So both Trinity and Devcore have now staked claims of wanting to have a go at LeBreton. Given that, I find it easiest to imagine that the NCC will not let either Trinity or Devcore proceed, also because both their bids included an arena as a focal point and it now appears that neither would be proceeding with an arena (Devcore just said they would hold enough land for one for at least 5 years). We will see in January, but I find it easiest to imagine that the NCC will open up another round of bids with presumably a shorter time-line to pick a winner.

Nothing that the NCC has done since it's inception would indicate that they would proceed in anything other than it's normal glacial pace.

 

[swiftwin]

I hope for the same thing, but Ruddy did state today in the CTV News article linked above in this thread:



So both Trinity and Devcore have now staked claims of wanting to have a go at LeBreton. Given that, I find it easiest to imagine that the NCC will not let either Trinity (without Melnyk) or Devcore proceed, also because both their bids included an arena as a focal point and it now appears that neither would be proceeding with an arena (Devcore just said they would hold enough land for one for at least 5 years). We will see in January, but I find it easiest to imagine that the NCC will open up another round of bids with presumably a shorter time-line to pick a winner.

This might be a good thing. This should strike fear into Bettman and the BoG.

Hopefully this means they'll force Melnyk to sell before a proposal without an arena is approved. At this point, Melnyk's stupidity and arrogance is costing the rest of the league a ton of potential revenue if Lebreton goes forward without an arena, especially after they had it in the bag.

 

[DaveMatthew]

Nothing that the NCC has done since it's inception would indicate that they would proceed in anything other than it's normal glacial pace.

This whole saga has set Lebreton back by at least 5 years. Even on the most optimistic timeline:

• A new bid is selected by January 2020
• Shovels in the ground by 2022
• An arena opens for the start of the 2025 season

But there's always delays... so 2027 or 2028 seems more likely.

I also don't see any scenario in which Melnyk retains ownership of this team, nor do I see a scenario in which the NHL allows this team to move. But unfortunately, I don't see any of this being resolved in the short term.

This means that Sens fans are in for a very dark period.

See ya Stone and Duchene, to start.