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Prior History: Canadian American Ass'n of Professional Baseball, Ltd. v. Ottawa Rapidz, No. 1:09CV93, 2009 WL 1658504 (M.D.N.C. June 11, 2009) [U.S.A.], noted in 2010 Annual Review at 510.

Related Case: Canadian American Ass'n of Professional Baseball, Ltd. v. Ottawa Rapidz, 686 F.Supp.2d 579 (M.D.N.C. 2010) [U.S.A.], noted in 2011 Annual Review at xxx

Note: In 2008, the Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball, Ltd. (League) denied the request of Ottawa Professional Baseball, Inc., owned by Momentous.ca (Franchisee), to withdraw from the league. Instead, League terminated Franchisee's right to operate the baseball team and was awarded, through arbitration, the right to draw on US$200,000 letter of credit posted by Franchisee. The motion to confirm the arbitral award was on appeal in North Carolina state court at the time of this proceeding.

Franchisee sued League in the Ontario provincial courts claiming that League breached the contract by illegally terminating Franchisee's membership in the baseball association. The Ontario Superior Court of Justice dismissed the action. The Ontario Court of Appeal of Toronto, Ontario, in an opinion by Laskin, J.A., dismissed the appeal. The court ruled that although League filed a motion to defend in the provincial court, jurisdiction was not established because the contract expressly designated that disputes would be arbitrated and enforced in North Carolina state courts.

[JEB/njh]

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