A federal magistrate judge on Thursday recommended that MLB be awarded a Bell 407 helicopter from a Dominican Republic TV channel that owes the league more than $6 million.
Judge Gabriel Gorenstein of the Southern District of New York concluded that Corporacion de Television y Microonda Rafa SA (“Telemicro”) should turn over the helicopter and rights to payment from another company. The order also recommends that several banks should turn over accounts belonging to Telemicro.
The dispute originates from an MLB-Telemicro contract to broadcast games in the Dominican Republic for the 2016-18 seasons. After Telemicro failed to make payments, MLB terminated the contract in 2017. The contract contained an arbitration provision, which MLB invoked, subsequently winning an award of $6,012,463.97 plus post-judgment interest and attorneys’ fees. After Telemicro failed to make arbitration award payments, MLB (through MLB Properties, the league’s licensing arm) successfully sought a court order requiring that Telemicro pay. Most recently MLB petitioned the court for turnover, meaning an order compelling a debtor to surrender assets, such as bank accounts or other types of property.
A Bell 407 has four blades and a single engine. It is sometimes used for news gathering and medical transport services, among other purposes. According to Air Cost Calculator, the average price for a pre-owned Bell 407 is $2.55 million. Per records hosted by the Federal Aviation Administration, the Bell 407 at issue in this litigation is registered to a different company in Santo Domingo. However, MLB provided evidence “that the Bell 407 helicopter in fact belongs to Telemicro.” The evidence included records of Telemicro shipping and receiving parts and paying for repairs. According to Thursday’s order, Telemicro did not respond to MLB’s petition.
Gorenstein’s recommendation will be reviewed by US District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil. Telemicro has the right to file written objections.
MLB’s pursuit of a helicopter occurs about a decade after billionaire Paul Singer of Elliott Capital Management secured a court order to obtain a $10 million ship belonging to Argentina’s navy after Argentina failed to make payments on a bond. The ship was seized while docked in Ghana.