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$50,000 hockey lawsuit on hold
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Bruce Zoldan
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Mahoning County Common Pleas Judge Lou D'Apolito
The league claims that the money is owed because the Phantoms left the league.
YOUNGSTOWN — The North American Hockey League is seeking $50,000 from the owners of the Youngstown Phantoms for leaving the league.
But Phantoms ownership said nothing is owed to the league because the team never left. The NAHL’s board of governors in May voted to kick out the team.
The $50,000 was supposed to be paid by Thursday.
Judge Lou D’Apolito of the Mahoning County Common Pleas Court granted the Phantoms and its owner, Bruce Zoldan, a temporary restraining order preventing the league from getting the $50,000 at this point.
The judge will rule Aug. 12 on the Phantoms’ request for a preliminary injunction. If that is granted, a hearing for a permanent injunction would be at a later date.
In granting the temporary restraining order, Judge D’Apolito wrote: “Plaintiffs have satisfied this court that they have a substantial likelihood of prevailing on the merits” of the case.
Zoldan didn’t keep it a secret that he wanted his amateur hockey team to leave the NAHL. As early as January, Zoldan told The Vindicator that the team, the Mahoning Valley Phantoms, weren’t returning to that league. The team played most of its home games last season at the city-owned Covelli Centre, then known as the Chevrolet Centre.
But Zoldan didn’t officially notify the NAHL that he wouldn’t field a team in that league.
After failing to hear from Zoldan, the NAHL board of governors voted in May to dismiss the Phantoms from the league.
Zoldan signed a deal a few months ago with the United States Hockey League, the top amateur hockey league in this country, to field a team at the Covelli Centre for this upcoming season. The team is known as the Youngstown Phantoms.
Under NAHL rules, when a team leaves the league, it “agrees to indemnify the NAHL to the full extent of any costs, expenses, claims, demands and/or damages incurred by the league.”
In a June 29 letter to Zoldan, Robert F. Riley, the NAHL’s legal counsel wrote the loss of the Phantoms departure from the league: “Significantly hurts the ability of the NAHL to carry out its overall mission as a junior hockey league. This is even more difficult when an established member team abruptly departs from our league and the marketplace the NAHL has worked to support.”
In the letter, Riley wrote that the losses “cannot be easily valued” and that the Phantoms should pay $50,000 to the league.
Each NAHL team is required to maintain a $100,000 letter of credit that the league can tap into in cases such as this, but the judge’s ruling Thursday prevents the league from doing that.
Riley declined to comment Friday about the legal proceeding.
Because the team didn’t withdraw from the league and was instead expelled, the provision requiring a financial penalty doesn’t apply, said Frederick Coombs III, attorney for Zoldan and the Phantoms on this matter.
skolnick@vindy.com