Marlins Man aiding Miami-Dade County’s lawsuit against team
In their legal battle against the Miami Marlins, Miami-Dade County is counting on … Marlins Man.
The county, in a filing in U.S. District Court earlier this month, submitted a deposition from Laurence Leavy that backed its claim that the Marlins are not located in the British Virgin Islands. Leavy is most commonly known as Marlins Man, the orange jersey-clad, visor-wearing fan who attends many sporting events.
The Marlins — caught in the county’s fight to recuperate money from the sale of the franchise from Jeffrey Loria to the new ownership group that includes team CEO Derek Jeter — claimed they were “a citizen of the British Virgin Islands in addition to being a citizen of the United States” in an attempt to shift the case to federal court.
According to the filing. Leavy and radio host Andy Slater took a trip to the British Virgin Islands in April to visit Abernue, a parent company located in British Virgin Islands that owns part of the Marlins. In the deposition, Leavy said the location was a post office that had no Marlins or Abernue logos, stationary, letterheads or clothing.
He said he asked post office employees if the Marlins or Abernue ever gave them operating materials or instructions.
“They were totally confused and said ‘this is just a mailbox center the people here pick up their mail from the mail box, we have nothing to do with running companies out of this location,” Leavy said in the deposition.
The county sued the Marlins after Loria sold the team, when Loria claimed he made no money on the $1.2 billion sale. He bought the team for $158.5 million, according to previous court filings. As part of the County’s deal with Loria to build Marlins Park, Loria was supposed to pay the county 5 percent of the sale’s proceeds because of when it occurred.