MASN has won the bulk of its discovery request against MLB and the Nationals in their ongoing media rights dispute. After a four-hour hearing yesterday at the N.Y. Supreme Court, Judge Lawrence Marks ordered the league to turn over documents relating to the role of MLB Commissioner-elect Rob Manfred in the preparation of a Revenue Sharing Definitions Committee decision favoring the Nationals, as well as evidence of any communications between Manfred and the individual RSDC arbitrators. MASN sought the documents as part of a broader argument that the RSDC decision was tainted, in large part by Manfred, and should be vacated. A trial on the primary arguments in that vacature case is still scheduled for March 2. “We are gratified the judge has granted us the ability to get the important documents we were seeking,” said Arnold Weiner, an attorney representing the Orioles-controlled MASN. “It is important to find out who knew what and when, and this is very helpful.” MLB attorney John Buckley declined comment after the hearing. MLB is not under a set deadline to produce the required documents. But before that March 2 trial date, several other deadlines exist, including a Jan. 8 status conference, and Jan. 12 for reply briefs. The Nationals and law firm Proskauer Rose, whose representation of several entities involved in the case has also been a focal point of the dispute, have turned over documents to MASN voluntarily. Prior to the discovery hearing, MLB had refused to do so. Marks additionally showed some sympathy for MASN’s position that a $25M advance paid by MLB to Nationals prior to the RSDC award created a vested interest for the league in the RSDC ruling.
