New court filings in MASN’s ongoing media-rights battle against MLB and the Nationals show the net has found 74 different legal representations of baseball-related entities by Proskauer Rose LLC, furthering MASN’s claim of bias in a league ruling favoring the Nats. MASN since last summer has argued to the N.Y. Supreme Court that Proskauer’s representation of MLB, the Nationals and numerous entities connected to arbitrators on the league’s Revenue Sharing Definitions Committee was improper and should be grounds to vacate the RSDC ruling for Washington. The new documents, in part incorporating recent discovery submissions from Proskauer, show a level of legal involvement by the law firm beyond MASN’s prior assumptions. Forty-nine of the 74 separate representations were active during the RSDC proceedings, including the negotiation of outgoing MLB Commissioner Bud Selig’s most recent employment contract with the league. “The sheer number of matters and their import demonstrate the level of MLB’s trust and confidence in the firm and the intimacy of their relationship,” the filings from the Orioles-controlled MASN read in part. “MLB was running (and controlling) an arbitration in which its own long-time counsel represented one of the parties. Despite MASN’s (and the Orioles’) numerous objections to Proskauer’s involvement, MLB made no effort to discharge its obligation to investigate and disclose the extent of the conflict, let alone properly resolve it.” The filings are part of submissions MASN made in preparation of a scheduled March 2 trial in N.Y. in which the net is seeking to have the RSDC ruling for the Nationals vacated and the matter referred to a neutral third party.
