FULL COURT PRESS
FITNESS FACILITIES: Former NBA star files injunction to prevent former partners from using his image
Ex-NBA star Steve Nash sues former business partners over use of his name and image at fitness centres
After a falling out with his business partners, Steve Nash is going to court, seeking an order preventing his name or image from being used in relation to 21 fitness facilities around B.C.
In a notice of civil claim filed in B.C. Supreme Court, the former NBA star alleges there was a breach of contract between his company, B& L Holdings Ltd., and SNFW Fitness B.C. Ltd., the company operating the facilities.
The Arizona company owned by Nash also names as defendants Nash’s business partners, Mark Mastrov, the owner of the NBA Sacramento Kings, and Leonard Schlemm, a Montreal businessman.
Nash, who played for the Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Lakers, was named the NBA Most Valuable Player in 2005 and 2006, the only Canadian to have been so honoured. In 2007, he was awarded the Order of Canada. He is also an eight-time NBA all-star and serves as a player-development consultant with the Golden State Warriors.
Nash’s fitness chain started with one location in downtown Vancouver in 2007. In 2009, Nash and his partners announced they had bought the Fitness World chain.
At the time of the purchase, it was estimated the combined number of Nash-branded clubs and Fitness World facilities raked in about $50 million annually. Marketing experts called the expansion a strategic brand-building move for Nash.
The lawsuit came after Mastrov bought the Kings in May 2013, but was required by NBA bylaws to stop carrying on business with Nash, who played for the Lakers at the time.
In July 2014, Mastrov, without notifying Nash, resigned as an officer with a B.C. company connected to the clubs named FWG Acquisitions Ltd., and transferred all his shares to Schlemm, according to the suit. Within days, SNFW was incorporated and in September 2014 B& L received notification it was required to sell all its securities to SNFW, the writ says. B& L did not sell its shares in FWG Acquisitions to SNFW, instead selling half its shares to each of Schlemm and Mastrov, it says.
The writ says since October 2014, SNFW has operated the fitness facilities throughout B.C. under the name Steve Nash Fitness World.
“B& L Holdings Inc. has received no compensation from SNFW Fitness B.C. Ltd. for the use of the name “Steve Nash” to promote these fitness facilities,” it says. Steve Nash has not, since Oct. 14, 2014, had any involvement with the operation of the fitness facilities. He has not been a member of the board of directors of SNFW Fitness B.C. Ltd. He has not signed an affidavit certifying that he endorses the fitness facilities in any way."
In addition to the alleged breach of contract, the suit says Mastrov and Schlemm “misrepresented to the plaintiff that the plaintiff was required to sell its shares causing damage to the plaintiff.”
Unspecified damages are being sought in addition to the injunction preventing the use of Nash’s name in connection with the clubs. There are a total of 19 Steve Nash locations in the Lower Mainland, one in Kelowna and one in Victoria.
Nash’s connection to the clubs dates to November 2006 when his company entered into an agreement with a firm named Vancouver Bay Clubs Ltd. that owned two fitness facilities known as Steve Nash Fitness Clubs. Schlemm and Mastrov had, before taking shares in Vancouver Bay Clubs Ltd., developed and sold a chain of fitness facilities known as 24 Hour Fitness.
No response has yet been filed to the lawsuit, which contains allegations that have not been tested in court. The defendants could not be reached for comment.
It’s not the first time the chain has been embroiled in controversy. In recent years it was found that a career drug-trafficker had struck a deal to run cafes in several of the Nash-branded gyms. Frederic Wilson, whose history in the drug trade dates back more than two decades, opened Better Body Cafes inside Steve Nash Fitness World locations in both Surrey and Langley.