Court throws out Nash lawsuit over continued use of ex-NBA star’s name

A lawsuit filed by Steve Nash against his former business partners over the continued use of the ex-NBA star’s name in connection with a chain of fitness facilities has been thrown out of court.

In his suit filed last October in B.C. Supreme Court, Nash alleged that there had been a breach of contract between his holding company, B& L Holding Inc., and SNFW Fitness B.C. Ltd, which runs the clubs.

He sought an injunction that would prevent SNFW from using his name or image in the future, as well as an award for damages.

But the defendants applied to have the case dismissed before it could go to trial.

In a ruling released Wednesday, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Nitya Iyer agreed with the defendants that Nash’s notice of civil claim failed to disclose a proper cause of action.

Court heard that in November 2006 B& L entered into an agreement with Vancouver Bay Clubs Ltd. (VBCL), creating a licensing agreement allowing the use of Nash’s name on the clubs until March 2022. In December 2009, VBCL sold some of its assets to FWG, one of the assets being the Nash licensing agreement.

In September 2014, CH Fitness Investors, one of the shareholders of FWG, gave notice that it intended to sell all of its shares in FWG to SNFW.

The next month, B& L and Nash’s agent sold their shares in VBCL to Mark Mastrov, the owner of the NBA Sacramento Kings, and Montreal businessman Leonard Schlemm, both of whom were shareholders in FWG.

Nash signed the sales agreement and acknowledged that SNFW had acquired all rights to the license deal, noted the judge.