MLB, the Nationals and Orioles-controlled MASN argued for 45 minutes on Friday morning before the appellate division of the N.Y. Supreme Court, marking the latest escalation in their long-running media rights battle. MASN, represented by litigator Carter Phillips, argued to confirm a lower court ruling from '15 in its favor and move the dispute to a neutral forum. The RSN appeared to find some favor among the five-member appellate panel. “You want to go right back into the same dirty swimming pool?,” Justice Richard Andrias asked Nationals attorney Stephen Neuwirth, referring in part to overlapping legal representations by Proskauer within a prior internal MLB arbitration that led to MASN’s lower court victory.
But MLB, represented by former U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement, said the Proskauer concerns amounted to “at most an appearance issue." Clement, who also counseled the NFL in the Brady-Deflategate case, argued the previous ruling should be overturned. “If this court decides that the (prior) ruling of evident partiality was in error, there is no reason to think about another venue” to arbitrate the matter, Clement said. Many of the judges’ questions also centered on the nature and intent of a $25M advance MLB previously gave the Nationals.
There was no immediate indication when the appellate judges will render a decision. The hearing drew many execs connected to the league and two clubs, including MLB Chief Legal Officer Dan Halem and Senior VP & Special Counsel Tom Ostertag, longtime Orioles outside counsel Alan Rifkin and Nationals co-Owners Ed Cohen and Robert Tanenbaum.
