New York Mets' veteran Carlos Delgado is suing the owners of a defunct sports memorabilia company for $2.4 million, claiming they defaulted on an exclusive contract.
It hasn't been a great year for Carlos Delgado.
The Mets' first baseman has missed most of the season with an injury and now he's suing four men he claims took game-used and autographed memorabilia for themselves rather than selling it on the open market as agreed.
Delgado filed suit in Nassau County (NY) court last week, seeking $2.4 million from the principal figures in Authentic Memorabilia LLC. Named in the suit as defendants are Spencer Lader, Dr. Nitin Doshi, Anish Berry and Mark E. Gelfand.
The suit claims Delgado entered into a written agreement with Authentic Memorabilia in October of 2006, "concerning the sale of sports memorabilia signed or used by the plaintiff." Delgado says the four men used the memorabilia "for their own personal purposes", then claimed they ran out of money. The suit even claims Authentic's officers filed "false and misleading tax returns so to provide personal tax benefits to themselves".
In 2007 Authentic Memorabilia marketed baseballs signed by Jason Giambi and Darryl Strawberry, who added the inscription "Everybody Deserves a Second Chance". Authentic also claimed to have an autograph agreement with pitcher Joba Chamberlain, then a Yankees rookie who had exploded onto the scene. Later that year, Lader was one of the defendants named in a $1.5 million lawsuit filed by Kansas City Chiefs' running back Larry Johnson, another client who claimed he was never paid after entering into an agreement with Spendan Sports. Copy of Delgado vs Authentic MemorabiliaCopy of Johnson vs Spendan Sports 2007
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New York Mets' veteran Carlos Delgado is suing the owners of a defunct sports memorabilia company for $2.4 million, claiming they defaulted on an exclusive contract. 