A lawsuit to pay attention to
By Zach Arnold
http://www.puroresupower.com
The following notes come from an observer who followed the legal proceedings last week in Japan.
Last week, court proceedings started taking place in Tokyo District Court in the court case of power agent Miro Mijatovic (who also is an attorney) versus Seiya Kawamata, who's K-Confidence office was responsible for the disastrous Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2003 show in which several fighters did not get paid -- despite the fact that Nippon TV spent millions of dollars (USD). A summary of what took place in District Court on 11/28:
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Court case: _ibizcube (Mijatovic) vs. K Confidence (Kawamata)_
Lawsuit summary: Mr. Mijatovic is suing Mr. Kawamata for unpaid fight money for fighters Stefan Leko, Semmy Schilt, and Alistair Overeem, plus expenses, fees, and other breaches of contract arising from the Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2003 event at Kobe Wing Stadium on 12/31/2003. Kawamata denies that he signed a contract with Mijatovic.
Proceedings: Mr. Mijatovic arrived with his legal team, while Kawamata no-showed (once again in court) and instead had his attorney present. The public seating section featured several press writers and supporters of Mijatovic. Kawamata's lawyer claimed that his client didn't show up because he was currently in the US and could not leave the country due to visa reasons. The court decided to proceed in the case without Kawamata present.
Testimony: Mr. Mijatovic took the stand and was questioned by his lawyer. Main points from the deposition...
- Mr. Mijatovic said he was introduced to Kawamata by Ken Imai (Mirko Cro Cop's agent and former K-1 management) in January of 2003. Imai was K-1 Japan's managing director at that point. At the time, Kazuyoshi Ishii had been convicted of corporate tax evasion and Imai told Mijatovic that K-1 would soon collapse. Imai had plans with Kawamata for a new fight promotion called DNA, and Imai asked Mijatovic to work with him and Kawamata to bring Mirko Cro Cop into the fold as the promotion's top star.
- Mr. Mijatovic claimed that in October of 2003, Kawamata received offers for a New Year's Eve event from both Mr. Kunio Kiyohara of Fuji TV and Mr. Miyamoto of Nippon TV. Nippon TV's offer was twice as large as Fuji TV's offer, so Kawamata decided to work with Nippon TV. Imai had a close relationship with Kiyohara and was insisting that Kawamata take the Fuji TV deal. Signing a deal with Nippon TV caused a break in relations between Imai & Kawamata. Kawamata signed a 3-year, 800 million yen/yr. contract with Nippon TV.
- Mr. Mijatovic described the legal agreement in November of 2003 between him and Kawamata. Under the agreement, Mijatovic held all of the foreign rights for the Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye shows along with exclusive rights to book foreign fighters, exclusive foreign broadcast rights, and the rights to promote these events outside of Japan. Mijatovic was also to receive a cut of the profits from the Japanese events.
- Mr. Mijatovic stated that the only reason he signed a contract with Kawamata is due to Kawamata's 3-year deal with Nippon TV. Mijatovic testified that he had never been paid by Kawamata for the fight money owed to Stefan Leko, Semmy Schilt, and Alistair Overeem. He stated that Kawamata disappeared from Japan on January 1, 2004 and has not been in Japan since then.
- Mr. Mijatovic also stated that Kawamata owed him for fight money, other expenses, and for his share of profits from the 2003 event. Mijatovic confirmed that he never agreed to any contract with Kawamata for Mirko Cro Cop's appearance at the 2003 show, stating that Mirko's fight money for this event was never agreed upon and that in any event, Mirko suffered a back injury in the middle of December 2003 and could not fight.
Cross-Examination: Kawamata's lawyer asked Mr. Mijatovic a lot of questions about his relationship with Mirko Cro Cop. He then concentrated on questions about whether or not Mijatovic knew that Kawamata had been threatened and extorted by PRIDE due to Fedor's participation at the Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2003 event. Mijatovic stated that he didn't have any direct knowledge about the supposed threats. Kawamata's lawyer asked Mijatovic if he knew whether or not the Japanese police (in Kanagawa) were investigating this matter and Mijatovic did confirm that he knew about the investigation. Mijatovic was also asked whether or not he had signed an official complain to the police about DSE in February in 2004. Mijatovic stated that he had not done so.
The judge said he would give a last chance for Kawamata to show up to give evidence on January 18th, 2006 (Wednesday). Kawamata's lawyer said that he was sure that his client would attend because he was scheduled to give evidence in his case against Nippon TV on January 20th, 2006 (Kawamata filed a lawsuit against Nippon TV for breach of contract after not running a Bom-Ba-Ye show after the 2003 event and paying him for it).
The judge also noted that Mr. Mijatovic had taken a lien over the proceeds of Kawamata's claim against Nippon TV and asked Kawamata's lawyer about the progress of this case. Mijatovic's lawyers said that they would like a quick judgement so that they could proceed in legal proceedings against Nippon TV to recover the unpaid amount of money.
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Quick notes: Miro Mijatovic's attempt to take over the proceedings in the Kawamata vs. Nippon TV case is interesting because Nippon TV has been disputing Kawamata's claims. ... The big headline, of course, is Kawamata's lawyer focusing in on the alleged threats and extortion claims against DSE. Kawamata had previously stated that he was running away from threats and extortion attempts by DSE and that these claims were supported in this case by a statement from Mr. Ito, the general manager of Inoki (Office).
Als ze praten gaat het goed, als ze haten gaat het beter.
Don't get your hopes up, I'm just the wingman..
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