Howard Lesnik Discusses Arbitration in Deontay Wilder vs Tyson Fury Case
Nestor Gibbs:
We do have Howard P. Lesnik, Esquire attorney at law on the line to just bring us up to speed a little bit, give us some knowledge on arbitration and what could come from it. Howard, are you there? Good morning and thank you for coming on the program and just giving us a little bit of education here to all these fight fans.
Howard P. Lesnik, Esq.:
Good morning, gentlemen, I’m here. How are you?
Nestor Gibbs:
We are good, good morning.
Howard P. Lesnik, Esq.:
Thanks for introducing me, Nestor. I’m a certified trial attorney in New Jersey and I handle criminal and civil cases. In New Jersey civil cases have mandatory court ordered arbitration. Basically, arbitration is when parties want to enter negotiations to try to persuade the other side to come to terms. However, if the two sides cannot come to terms, arbitration is when a third party is brought on to arbitrate the case. Often this is done by a respected and retired judge. Basically, arbitration is a negotiation process when there are numbers of issues that need to be settled. It allows both sides to present in front of the neutral, impartial observer their side of the case.
Howard P. Lesnik, Esq.:
The reason a retired judge or a neutral observer is used in most arbitration cases because they have the experience because they presided over thousands of trials and understand the issues, depending on the type of, well, in this case, a contract issue that would be resolved. So arbitration points are common in contracts. Stolen contracts are breached. The other parties can invoke the arbitration clause or file for arbitration. This allows the parties to resolve their disputes without having lengthy and expensive litigation and attorney’s fees, such as hiring an attorney like myself. Arbitration could be non-binding, which means the side that’s unhappy with the Dutch decision can reject it. If the arbitration is binding, then the arbitrator’s decision is final and both parties have to live or file a formal lawsuit to go forward. I hope that helps, guys.
Nestor Gibbs:
So essentially the judge serves as a mediator of sorts.
Howard P. Lesnik, Esq.:
Yeah. So both parties can agree to select a judge. It doesn’t have to be a judge, but judges are obviously the people who have the most experience in resolving issues and they’ve seen these issues come up with thousands of times in their court rooms, so they know how juries feel about resolving these issues [inaudible 00:02:45].
Nestor Gibbs:
So now Howard, the situation at hand is the article that I sent you from Sports Illustrated. Did you have an opportunity to read it?
Howard P. Lesnik, Esq.:
I did, yes.
Nestor Gibbs:
So in that situation, if one of those parties doesn’t want to fight, will they settle financially? Or, I mean, what exactly can either fighter do in this situation?
Howard P. Lesnik, Esq.:
So it depends what’s in the contract. I would say I’d have to see the contract, but if the contract does have an arbitration clause, that means any dispute can be resolved, including financial terms, can be resolved in the arbitration, if that’s in the contract.
Nestor Gibbs:
Now, according to Tyson Fury, he says because of what Wilder has accused him of with his allegations, he will no longer fight him. But because there’s a contract, I mean, does he have the right not to fight and then I guess legally pay, or money isn’t involved until you actually file a lawsuit?
Howard P. Lesnik, Esq.:
Well, you can always settle and pay them off without filing a lawsuit, but if there’s an arbitration clause and the arbitration says the arbitrator decides whether to pay one party for breaching the contract and that clause is binding, then if that’s in the contract, then they have to live with what they both agree to when they sign the contract. With [inaudible 00:04:16], if they’re arguing that the contract is not valid because of what happened, then the arbitration clause will be not valid because they would say the arbitration clause is not valid because once the contracts [inaudible 00:04:33], the arbitration clause doesn’t apply anymore. Then he can try to file some arbitration if the arbitrator won’t hear it. Then he’d have to file a formal litigation in court and have to go through the long process of filing a legal action.
Nestor Gibbs:
Now, there’s some rumors surrounding this situation that the contract for the fight expired due to obviously they were not able to stage it because of COVID. Most of the world was shut down. We couldn’t have fans in attendance, stadiums weren’t even accepting events. What is that, like a natural cause clause or the God clause, is there something called? I know I’m really messing up what’s probably the legal term, but in contracts, isn’t there a backup for situations like COVID?
Howard P. Lesnik, Esq.:
Yes. And if there’s a condition that makes it impossible for one or both parties to perform, sometimes that’s included in the contract as well. So if it’s not included in the contract, then once I can say, well, I had nothing to do with it. And because it’s some circumstances out of my control, you have no right to enforce the contract because it’s out of my control. And that’s an argument that one side can make before the arbitrator, and then ultimately the arbitrator will decide on it. And if there’s no arbitration clause, they’re going to have to wait years to go through litigation before this gets to a jury.
Nestor Gibbs:
So I’m seeing people in our live chat say is something like a pandemic clause. Does that sound right?
Howard P. Lesnik, Esq.:
Yeah, sure. Again, if there’s anything, if there was an earthquake on the morning of the fight, they wouldn’t have been able to fight because of that natural condition, and it wouldn’t have been either party’s fault. Neither party would have breached the contract, but based upon that natural disaster, you’re absolutely right.
Nestor Gibbs:
Now Howard, let me ask you some regular questions here. How much of a casual are you? Did you know of this situation before I sent you the article, or have you been following it and you are a boxing fan?
Howard P. Lesnik, Esq.:
I did watch the fight in February, but I haven’t been following it that much.
Nestor Gibbs:
So you don’t know that Deontay Wilder is accusing Tyson Fury of cheating?
Howard P. Lesnik, Esq.:
Not until I saw the article, correct.
Nestor Gibbs:
Oh, wow. Oh, wow. Well, Howard man, like I said, I promise it wouldn’t be long. I want to thank you obviously for coming on and explaining all this to us. We do appreciate it. Please give anybody, oh, and everybody, if you have any social media or website or however they can acquire your services, please do give out that information. And thank you once again.
Howard P. Lesnik, Esq.:
Thank you. My website is lesniklaw.com. Feel free to click and check out my reviews and email me if you have any questions, howard@lesniklaw.com. Thanks, guys.
Nestor Gibbs:
Thank you. Thank you, gentlemen.
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