Marchio v. Letterlough

237 F. Supp. 2d 580, 2002 WL 31942791
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedJanuary 15, 2003
Docket2:02-cv-08254
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 237 F. Supp. 2d 580 (Marchio v. Letterlough) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Marchio v. Letterlough, 237 F. Supp. 2d 580, 2002 WL 31942791 (E.D. Pa. 2003).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

BAYLSON, District Judge.

I. Introduction

The issue presented is whether Plaintiff Alfredo Marchio, trading as Marchio’s International Productions (hereinafter “Mar-chio”) is entitled to a preliminary injunction against professional boxer Julian Letterlough (“Letterlough”) and Letter-lough’s manager, Michael Marley (“Marley”), both of whom are the Defendants in this suit. Plaintiffs Complaint seeks relief against Letterlough for breach of contract, and against Marley for tortious interference of the contract, and against both Defendants for unjust enrichment and defamation, in addition to equitable relief.

On June 20, 2000, Marchio and Letter-lough entered into an exclusive promotional agreement for Marchio to act as promoter for Letterlough’s professional bouts. The theory on which Marchio seeks a preliminary injunction is that the boxing services of Letterlough, and Marchio, as a professional boxing promoter, are unique; and although Marchio could not, and does not, seek to enjoin Letterlough’s alleged breach of this contract, Marchio does assert that, as having the exclusive rights to be Letterlough’s promoter, he would be irreparably injured if Letterlough were to engage in professional bouts promoted by someone else. Thus, Plaintiff does seek a preliminary injunction based on a so-called “negative covenant,” to enjoin Letterlough from fighting under the aegis of another promoter. Marchio also seeks to enjoin Marley, who currently serves as Letter-lough’s manager, from tortious interference with the Marchio-Letterlough promotional contract.

Shortly after the filing and service of the Complaint, the parties entered into a Stipulation for Temporary Restraining Order, which the Court entered, and which gave Plaintiff injunctive relief pending entry of this Court’s further Order after an eviden-tiary hearing.

In summary, the Court finds that Mar-chio has established that because of his significant work in building up Letterlough as a nationally ranked and reputable professional fighter, he has a protected legal interest in continuing, during the term of his exclusive promotional contract with Letterlough, to be identified with Letter-lough as a promoter or co-promoter of bouts in which Letterlough is fighting, and that Marchio has established the other requirements for a preliminary injunction. Thus, Marchio is entitled to specific, albeit limited injunctive relief to protect and preserve his reputation and relationship with Letterlough, pending a final hearing in this case. However, because the services at issue in this case are personal services, and courts are usually very reluctant to enter an injunction in the realm of person *582 al services, the Court cannot grant Mar-chio the wide sweeping relief which he seeks. There is no basis to grant any injunctive relief against Marley, as any liability which he may have to Marchio can be compensated in damages.

II. Jurisdiction

This Court has jurisdiction over this matter pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1332, based on complete diversity of citizenship. Because evidence was introduced at the hearing which tended to show that Defendant Letterlough was, , at certain times, a resident of Pennsylvania, and thus there would be no diversity of citizenship, the Court required the parties to submit supplemental information as to the citizenship of Mr. Letterlough. Plaintiff submitted an affidavit establishing that at the time of commencement of the lawsuit (which is the relevant time, see Freeport-McMoRan, Inc. v. K N Energy, Inc., 498 U.S. 426, 428, 111 S.Ct. 858, 112 L.Ed.2d 951 (1991)), Mr. Letterlough resided in Indiana. Mr. Letterlough has not submitted any supplemental information. There is no dispute that the amount in controversy exceeds $75,000. Thus, diversity of citizenship exists. 1

This Court has personal jurisdiction over the parties in that both Defendants have done business in Pennsylvania. Moreover, within the promotional agreement at issue, Defendant Letterlough consented to jurisdiction in Pennsylvania, in the event of a dispute. See Ex. P-4. Defendants have not contested these jurisdictional facts.

III. Facts

Upon review of the evidence presented at the hearing on December 3, 2002, this Court finds that Plaintiff is credible and has established the following essential facts.

On June 2, 1998, Marchio and Letter-lough entered into a written Boxer Manager Contract, with a stated term of three years, which terminated by its own terms. See Ex. P-3. On June 20, 2000, Plaintiff and Letterlough entered into a separate Exclusive Promotional Agreement. See Ex. P-4. The promotional agreement granted Plaintiff the exclusive right to “promote” Letterlough’s boxing contests for a period of thirty-six months, ending on June 20, 2003. Id. ¶ 1, 3.

Paragraph 1 of the promotional agreement provided:

Fighter hereby grants to Promoter the exclusive right to promote all professional boxing contests to be engaged in by Fighter during the term of this Agreement. Promoter or its designees shall promote such bouts subject to the terms and conditions set forth herein. Such exclusive promotion rights shall include, without limitation of the foregoing, (a) all rights required to stage and sell tickets of admission to all boxing contests as well as (b) the ancillary rights thereto, including without limitation all exclusive world wide rights to broadcast, telecast, record and film such bouts for exhibition in all media in perpetuity and all merchandising rights relating to such bouts. Fighter retains all personal endorsements as long as they do not conflict with the show sponsors.

Although the agreement also provides, in paragraph 4, that “fighter shall box and otherwise engage in the bouts arranged by promoter ... as mutually agreed upon by fighter and promoter,” the testimony revealed that if the fighter, for whatever *583 reasons, refused to fight, there was really nothing that the promoter could do about it. However, it is usually in the fighter’s interest to engage in bouts that the promoter arranges, because it is in the economic interest of both that the fighter fights in bouts that can be arranged. Nonetheless, the testimony provided examples of disputes which arise between a fighter and a promoter, where the parties disagree as to whether a particular fight, because of the identity of the opponent, the location, the purse, etc., is in the best interest of the fighter and/or the promoter. There was substantial testimony that such recent disagreements between Marchio and Letterlough have caused their past close relationship to deteriorate.

Marchio testified extensively to his efforts over several years to develop Let-terlough into a well known fighter and support him financially. Plaintiffs own testimony was detailed and persuasive on this point.

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Bluebook (online)
237 F. Supp. 2d 580, 2002 WL 31942791, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/marchio-v-letterlough-paed-2003.