Someone's New Year's Resolution was not to stay out of the limelight and out of legal trouble.
From the New York Daily News and Christian Red:
It's a new year, but the refrain is the same for Alex Rodriguez: more legal woes.
The disgraced slugger − who is trying to make a comeback with the Yankees after a season-long doping ban even as he could find himself called as a witness in the Biogenesis cases winding their way through the federal courts − is being sued in Miami state court by Constantine Scurtis, the brother of A-Rod’s ex-wife, Cynthia, for breach of contract in a real estate venture.
According to the complaint Scurtis filed in Circuit Court of the 11th Judicial Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County on Dec. 17, he and Rodriguez “agreed to enter into a business relationship for the purpose of acquiring real estate,” sometime prior to March 18, 2003.
Rodriguez and Scurtis, according to the complaint, “went about acquiring adjoining and/or neighboring properties in the ‘Edgewater’ neighborhood of Miami,” shortly after forming the business partnership, which established both A-Rod and Scurtis as limited partners, and ACREI LLC as the general partner.
The complaint states that Scurtis was “sole manager and sole owner of” ACREI, and would be entitled to .0100% of net profits. Meanwhile, A-Rod would be entitled to 94.9905% of the net profits, while Scurtis would get 4.995% of the net profits, according to the complaint.
But along the way, the partnership appears to have soured. In the complaint, which lists five Florida limited partnerships as defendants in addition to Rodriguez, Scurtis accuses A-Rod of having “breached the written contracts by selling the properties without authority, without notifying Scurtis, and without compensating Scurtis.”
The seven-count complaint goes on to say that Rodriguez and his agents “knew of the contractual arrangement between Rodriguez and Scurtis, whereby Scurtis had the exclusive power to sell any real estate held by any of the Defendants listed in this lawsuit.”
Despite having knowledge of Scurtis’ exclusive rights, the complaint states that “Rodriguez and/or his agents sold the properties in direct violation of the contract between Rodriguez and Scurtis and failed to notify and compensate Scurtis.”
Scurtis is suing all defendants for damages “far in excess of Fifteen Thousand ($15,000.00), plus Court costs,” and is demanding a trial by jury. Scurtis’ Miami attorney, Vincent Duffy, declined comment other than to tell the Daily News, “This is a serious family matter.”
Rodriguez’s spokesman, Ron Berkowitz, issued the following statement on A-Rod’s behalf: “Mr. Rodriguez intends to vigorously defend this lawsuit which is felt to be without merit.”
Rodriguez, 39, and Cynthia divorced in 2008. They have two daughters.
