A lawsuit filed last week alleges Hurricanes Owner Peter Karmanos Jr. has "defaulted" on more than $100M he "borrowed from a trust established for his three adult sons, the plaintiffs, who also allege the trust was used in various ways to 'support the Hurricanes,'" according to a front-page piece by Luke DeCock of the Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER. As a result, "new drama is developing within the franchise," which has been "struggling both on the ice and at the box office." Karmanos has "been trying to sell his majority share in the Hurricanes for almost two years, with no one yet willing to meet his asking price or his condition that he remain in control of the franchise." Getting sued by his sons "isn’t going to help convince anyone the latter is a good idea." The lawsuit "isn’t the first hint of a rift within the Karmanos family." None of the three sons who filed the lawsuit attended Karmanos’ HOF induction ceremony in Toronto last fall, and Jason Karmanos, one of the plaintiffs, "was fired by the Hurricanes four days before training camp" in '13 "without any public explanation." The lawsuit "isn’t the only potential capital call Karmanos Jr. faces." This fall, the first nine minority investors in the Hurricanes "face a decision" whether to get their roughly $22M "back with interest or become full partners, which would make them partly responsible for any losses" (Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER, 6/2).
