Lawsuit Divides Texas Collegiate Baseball League and Owners.

Local High-Profile Owners Targeted

DALLAS -- The Texas Collegiate Baseball League Ltd. (TCBL), comprised of nine baseball teams, is suing seven of its own teams, their owners and investors, including former baseball professional Todd Van Poppel. The lawsuit, filed in the Tarrant County District Court, claims several investors "conspired" to take control of the league.

Over a period of four years, TCBL, created and principally owned by Gerald Haddock, became ranked as the second intercollegiate baseball league in the nation. Despite the league's non-profit designation, the teams have accused Haddock of running TCBL to maximize profits by charging high subscription fees, making it impossible for the owners to make money or breakeven. Some of the teams have lost money in the range of six-figures.

"TCBL ran the summer baseball league in such a manner that caused losses," said Stephen A. Kennedy, of counsel at Sessions Lambert Selwyn, the law firm representing the teams, owners and investors. "Our goal is to bring summer college baseball back to the community and allow the owners and investors to run the teams in a more just manner."

The owners attempted to negotiate a deal with TCBL to continue playing baseball and breakeven. The league refused and, after negotiations failed, the teams exercised their contractual rights to terminate their contracts with the TCBL.

"We are disappointed and surprised by the lawsuit filed by TCBL against the teams and individuals," said Jim Leslie, investor in the Denton Collegiate Baseball Club. "We have each spent considerable time and money on the teams and the league purely for the love of the game and to provide both our towns and top college players with summer baseball."

As a result of the actions by the TCBL, none of the teams in their current form will continue. As an alternative, many of the investors have openly discussed creating a new summer collegiate baseball league owned and operated by the teams, rather than a league, and managing it in a more equitable manner, similar to how most baseball leagues, including the MLB, are managed. Other investors have chosen to abandon the concept altogether, including the investors in the Mineral Wells Steam.

"TCBL was aware that we were steadily losing money each season, yet they continued to charge tens of thousands of dollars in yearly fees," said Jeff Najork, general manager of the Duncanville Deputies.

Several of the teams will file an answer in state court and file a second lawsuit in federal court. In the new lawsuit, being filed by law firm Sessions Lambert Selwyn, the teams are seeking a declaratory judgment declaring that (1) they have not violated any federal antitrust laws, (2) they own the rights to all copyrights they created, (3) they own the rights to all trademarks they created, (4) they did not breach the agreements with TCBL, and (5) they each validly terminated the agreements.

"It is unfortunate that the number two intercollegiate baseball league in the nation will fold," said Kennedy. "The biggest losers are the true fans and players."

The TCBL lawsuit is against seven teams as well as their outside investors, including: Jim Leslie, Denton Collegiate Baseball Club, LP d/b/a Denton Outlaws; Jeff Najork, Labrador, LLC d/b/a Duncanville Deputies; John Marston and Steve Pratt, Coppell Copperheads Baseball Club, LP d/b/a Coppell Copperheads; Fred Britton and Stacey Hollinger, SL Sports, LLC d/b/a Colleyville Lonestars; Frank Beaman d/b/a Wichita Falls Roughnecks; Jason Lester, Campus Crusade for Christ Athletes in Action d/b/a Mineral Wells Steam. Other investors include Texas business executives Jim Leslie, Stacey Hollinger and Britt Britton. One team, from Mineral Wells, is financed by The Campus Crusade for Christ.

About The Texas Collegiate Baseball League:

The formation of the Texas Collegiate League, Texas' first major collegiate summer wooden bat league, was announced at a press conference on September 24, 2003. The league is owned and operated by the Haddock Foundation, a section 501(c)3 organization. Gerald Haddock, a minority owner and General Counsel of the Texas Rangers from 1989-98, became the league's Chair and CEO. To learn more about the Texas Collegiate Baseball League, please visit: www.texascollegiateleague.com.

About Sessions Lambert Selwyn:

Sessions Lambert Selwyn is dedicated to providing the highest quality legal services toward achieving our goal of delivering creative, comprehensive legal solutions to each of our clients. We believe in long-term collaborative relationships with our clients and govern our service to achieve this objective. We leverage our talent with teamwork and adaptation to actively solve our clients' problems and challenges. To learn more about Sessions Lambert Selwyn, please visit: www.slslaw.net.