Professional Sport Service FI OY v. Puck Agency LLC

CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedNovember 8, 2019
Docket7:19-cv-05904
StatusUnknown

This text of Professional Sport Service FI OY v. Puck Agency LLC (Professional Sport Service FI OY v. Puck Agency LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Professional Sport Service FI OY v. Puck Agency LLC, (S.D.N.Y. 2019).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK -----------------------------------------------------------------x PROFESSIONAL SPORT SERVICE FI OY,

Petitioner, DECISION AND ORDER

-against- 19-CV-5904 (CS)

PUCK AGENCY LLC,

Respondent. -----------------------------------------------------------------x

Appearances:

Jonathan S. Bodner Bodner Law PLLC Great Neck, New York Counsel for Petitioner

Steven Mitnick Marc D. Miceli SM Law Oldwick, New Jersey Counsel for Petitioner

Joseph I. Orlian Law Offices of Joseph I. Orlian, PC New York, New York Counsel for Respondent

Seibel, J.

This decision resolves a petition to confirm a foreign arbitration award. On June 24, 2019, Petitioner Professional Sport Service Fi Oy (“PSS”) filed a petition to confirm an arbitration award pursuant to the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, June 10, 1958, 21 U.S.T. 2517, 330 U.N.T.S. 38 (“New York Convention”); see also 9 U.S.C. § 203 (giving United States district courts original jurisdiction over actions or proceedings falling under the New York Convention). (Doc. 1 (“Pet.”).) The Award, rendered on November 22, 2018, was issued against Respondent Puck Agency LLC (“Puck Agency”). (Doc. 5 (“Miceli Decl.”) Ex. B (“the Award”).)1 For the following reasons, Petitioner’s motion to confirm the Award is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part. I. BACKGROUND

A. Facts The following facts are taken from the PSS’s Petition to Confirm Arbitration Award, (Pet.), Respondent’s Answer, (Doc. 14 (“R’s Answer”)), the Declaration of PSS’s manager, Jarmo Kork, (Doc. 6 (“Kork Decl.”)), the Declaration of Petitioner’s counsel Marc D. Miceli, (Miceli Decl.), and the exhibits submitted by Petitioner, (id. Exs. A-C; Kork Decl. Exs. A-N).2 PSS and Puck Agency are in the business of representing ice hockey players. (Award at 5 ¶ 1.) PSS is active primarily in Finland while Puck Agency is active primarily in North America. (Id.) In the summer of 2012, they entered into a five-year agreement that governed the terms of the parties’ joint representation of certain clients. (Id. Ex. A (“Agreement”) at 1-2, 8.) The Agreement required Puck Agency to exclusively use PSS for the referral and recruitment of

clients in Finland, (id. ¶ 2.3), and entitled PSS to a portion of the resulting commissions Puck Agency collected from the clients, (see id. ¶ 2.4). Puck Agency was entitled to collect commissions from PSS should any of Puck Agency’s clients return to play ice hockey in Europe or Russia. (See id.)

1 Citations to the Award refer to the pagination generated by the Court’s Electronic Case Filing System and printed across the top of each page.

2 “[C]ourts commonly adjudicate petitions to confirm arbitral awards based solely on the petition, any accompanying papers, and any response.” Wells Fargo Advisors, LLC v. Soliman, No. 15-CV-1139, 2015 WL 4619821, at *2 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 4, 2015), report and recommendation adopted, 2015 WL 6745960 (S.D.N.Y. Nov. 4, 2015), amended, 2016 WL 270454 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 21, 2016). Upon the Agreement’s expiration in 2017, PSS requested payment for past commissions owed under the Agreement and claimed that it was entitled to certain future commissions. (Award at 6 ¶ 8.) On April 23, 2018, PSS initiated arbitration proceedings in Finland to resolve the parties’ dispute. (Id. at 7 ¶ 9.) On May 23, 2018, the Board of the Finland Chamber of

Commerce appointed Judge Henrik Fieber as the sole arbitrator. (Id. at 7 ¶ 11.) Judge Fieber required each party to pay €22,500.00 as an advance on arbitration costs. (Id. at 7 ¶ 12.) Both parties timely paid the advance in June 2018. (Id.) The arbitration hearing took place in Helsinki, Finland, and lasted from October 22, 2018 to October 24, 2018. (Id. at 7 ¶ 16.) On November 22, 2018, Judge Fieber entered an award against Puck Agency. (Id. at 2.) Under the Award, Petitioner was awarded the following amounts to be paid by Respondent: (1) $76,616.00 plus 5% interest from July 5, 2017, until payment is made, to compensate Petitioner for commissions Respondent withheld during the 2016-17 hockey season, (Award at 29 ¶ 129; id. at 38 ¶ 2);

(2) $171,919.60 plus 5% interest from July 5, 2018, until payment is made, to compensate Petitioner for commissions Respondent collected after the expiration of the Agreement during the 2017-18 season, (id. at 34 ¶ 155; id. at 38 ¶ 4);

(3) $46,326.993 for costs and expenses incurred by Petitioner in connection with the arbitration proceeding, together with delay interest pursuant to Section 4(1) of the Finnish Interest Act from one month from the date of the Award until the amount has been paid in full, (id. at 37 ¶ 165; id. at 38 ¶ 6);

(4) $11,710.944 for 25% of Judge Fieber’s fees and costs, (id. at 34 ¶ 157; id. at 38 ¶ 5);

3 This number represents €40,611.25 converted to United States Dollars (“USD”) as of November 22, 2018. (Pet. ¶ 10(c); Kork Decl. ¶ 4(c).) Respondent does not dispute Petitioner’s calculations of the conversion rate.

4 The sum of $11,710.94 represents 25% of €41,067.00 converted to USD as of November 22, 2018, (Pet. ¶ 10(d)), and the sum of €41,067.00 comprises €40,000 for the arbitrator’s compensation and €1,067.00 for the arbitrator’s expenses for travel and accommodations, (Award at 34-35 ¶ 157). Under the Award, Petitioner is responsible for one-quarter of the total (5) Future commissions for as long as the following players are represented by Puck Agency: Pekka Rinne, Erik Haula, Vili Saarijärvi, Juho Lammikko, Kasimir Kaskisuo, Juuso Välimäki, Sebastian Repo, and Sami Niku, (id. at 30 ¶ 136; id. at 33 ¶ 149; id. at 38 ¶ 3).5

Petitioner calculates that Respondent owes it $650,187.00 for future commissions.6 (Pet. ¶¶ 13-15; Kork Decl. ¶¶ 9-20.) B. Procedural History On June 24, 2019, PSS filed its motion to confirm the arbitration award, (Pet.), along with the declaration of PSS’s manager, (Kork Decl.), the declaration of counsel, (Miceli Decl.), and accompanying exhibits. On August 21, 2019, Respondent filed its Answer, (R’s Answer), and on September 5, 2019, Petitioner filed its reply, (Doc. 15). Petitioner asks that the Court

arbitrator’s costs (€10,266.75) and Respondent is responsible for paying three-quarters of these costs (€30,800.25). (Id. at 38 ¶ 5.) The parties each paid €22,500.00 in advance to the arbitrator, resulting in an excess of €3,933.00 that was split among the parties, with Petitioner receiving €1,967.00 and Respondent receiving €1,966.00. (Id. ¶ 12.) Thus, Petitioner paid €20,533.00 (€22,500.00 – €1,967.00) but the Award only calls for Petitioner to pay €10,266.75. The difference between what Petitioner paid and what it was supposed to pay is €10,266.25, or $11,710.94.

5 Certain Finnish players PSS recruited and referred to Puck Agency are referred to as “RF Clients” under the terms of the Agreement. (Award at 5 ¶ 2.) Neither party disputes that Petitioner has the right to future commissions with regard to the eight specified RF clients. (Id. at 30 ¶ 136.)

6 This sum represents Kork’s calculations of commissions for the 2018-19 hockey season, tripled to account for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 hockey seasons. (Kork Decl. ¶¶ 9-20.) Kork calculated the commissions for the 2018-19 hockey seasons by obtaining the RF Clients’ base salaries (found online), calculating the commission owed to the players’ agents, and dividing that number in half to be split by Petitioner and Respondent. (See id. ¶¶ 12-20.) Kork reasons that because the commission for the 2018-19 hockey season is $216,729.00, and he “do[es] not know what the commissions will be for the next two seasons, [he is] estimating and projecting that the next two seasons will be the same.” (Id.

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Professional Sport Service FI OY v. Puck Agency LLC, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/professional-sport-service-fi-oy-v-puck-agency-llc-nysd-2019.