Tiger Woods' Company Sued Over Memorabilia Dispute
A sports memorabilia retailer is suing Tiger Woods' company, ETW Corp., for allegedly breaching a contract.
Gotta Have It Golf alleges that ETW breached a licensing agreement by not providing a specified number of autographs and photographs of Woods, according to the Miami Herald.
Woods himself received a subpoena to testify in the civil lawsuit. What will the memorabilia company's lawyers have to prove in order to win?
Breach of Contract Alleged
One big money-maker for professional athletes and celebrities is the ability to license their image or products for use by other companies.
Licensing agreements are governed under contract law. So if one party doesn't complete his end of the bargain, then there's likely a breach of contract. When a contract is breached, the non-breaching party may be entitled to damages or cancellation of the contract. A court can also order the party who failed to deliver on the contract to perform his contractual obligations.
The memorabilia lawsuit claims that ETW didn't hold up its end of a licensing agreement that required the company to provide a certain number of autographs and photographs of Woods to Gotta Have It Golf, reports the Miami Herald. So the terms of the contract iself will play a key role in the lawsuit's outcome.
Woods Receives Subpoena
A trial in the memorabilia lawsuit is already underway, and Woods received a subpoena to testify in court.
A subpoena is a court-ordered request for a person to appear in court or to produce documents or evidence. If the person who receives a subpoena doesn't comply with its terms, he may be subject to fines or even jail time.
Woods' testimony was scheduled for Monday (March 10), according to the Herald, but it's not yet clear what may have transpired in court.
Gotta Have It Golf is suing ETW for $2.75 million for breach of contract, including $1 million in attorney's fees.
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- See You in Court, Tiger! Woods Slapped with Trial Subpoena (Golf.com)
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- Rachel Uchitel, Tiger Woods' Mistress, Returns Some of Hush Money (FindLaw's Celebrity Justice)
- Pop Artist Ke$ha Faces Breach of Contract Lawsuit (FindLaw's Celebrity Justice)