A new court filing sheds additional light on the brief legal fight over the sale of the Portland Trail Blazers, and confirms that as of last week, Andrew and Peggy Cherng, the founders of Panda Express, were still seeking to be part of the group buying the team.
The lawsuit, filed in September by RAJ Sports Holding LLC, alleged the Cherngs breached an exclusivity agreement and sought to bar them from joining the investment group that offered the winning $4.25 billion bid for the NBA franchise, led by Texas businessman Tom Dundon.
RAJ Sports, a rival bidder for the Trail Blazers, owns the Portland Thorns women’s soccer team and the Portland Fire, the city’s new WNBA team. It’s led by siblings Lisa Bhathal Merage and Alex Bhathal.
The lawsuit abruptly settled on Monday, two days before the first scheduled hearing, and less than a week after Dundon said his investment group has the money to buy the team with or without the Cherngs.
The Cherngs, the Cherng Family Trust, and a “separate” investment vehicle called CFIC-W Copernicus LLC were the named defendants in the lawsuit. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
On Wednesday, the Cherngs’ first legal response to the allegations was partially unsealed. The document was filed last week, before the case settled.
In the 40-page filing, which is significantly redacted, lawyers for the Cherngs argued the exclusivity agreement exists between RAJ and Copernicus, a “related” investment entity to their family trust, but that it doesn’t apply to the Cherngs or the Cherng Family Trust. The filing said the latter two were not signatories to the agreement.
More importantly, the lawyers said there’s no basis for RAJ Sports to argue the alleged conduct forced them to “lose out on the opportunity to purchase the Trail Blazers,” because Dundon’s group has the cash to buy the team regardless of whether the Cherngs invest.
“Forcing (the Cherng Family Trust) and the Cherngs to withdraw from (or not join) the Dundon Group will not revive RAJ’s opportunity to acquire the team,” lawyers for the Cherngs wrote.
In the filing, they also said the Cherngs still wanted to be part of the new ownership group and they didn’t want to “lose out on an opportunity to own one of just thirty NBA teams.”
“(The Cherng Family Trust) is currently part of the investment group that has been granted an exclusive opportunity to purchase the Trail Blazers,” lawyers for the Cherngs wrote.
Attorneys for the Cherngs didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. RAJ Sports declined comment.
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