Athletes are considering suing Grand Slam Teack if money not paid by the end of September. 2 athletes are understood to have withdrawn from house purchases due to non-payment of promised funds:
Matt Lawton, Sports News Reporter of the Year, Tokyo
Leading athletes to consider legal action if they do not receive nearly ??14million in appearance fees and prize money they are owed before the end of September
Athletes are considering suing Grand Slam Teack if money not paid by the end of September. 2 athletes are understood to have withdrawn from house purchases due to non-payment of promised funds:
This whole Grand Slam Track mess will come to a head right after the World Championships.
The athletes should and will sue, Grand Slam Track will declare bankruptcy, and Michael Johnson will finally stop lying about there will be a Grand Slam Track in 2026.
As they should - the whole GST failure to pay is a total disgrace.
As a future potential workplace I wouldn't sue them and if everyone sues them and they didn't have the money to pay them, I just think that means no one gets paid but this is the only organization trying to pay them what they are worth.
Athletes are considering suing Grand Slam Teack if money not paid by the end of September. 2 athletes are understood to have withdrawn from house purchases due to non-payment of promised funds:
Hmm, unless MJ or GST’s lawyers were astonishingly stupid, one would think the company will just declare bankruptcy with the athletes getting nothing but a bill for their legal expenses.
Hmm, unless MJ or GST’s lawyers were astonishingly stupid, one would think the company will just declare bankruptcy with the athletes getting nothing but a bill for their legal expenses.
I'm sure he will, and then any shred of respect he might still have in the world of T&F will be gone. He will never be asked to be a commentator for BBC or anyone else again and won't be invited to be a part of the 2028 LA Olympic Games in any capacity, not as part of the torch relay, a commentator, a medal presenter, anything. He will be nothing more than a pariah in the T&F community. He will be out, left to sit at home during future Olympics, World Championships, and USA Championships and reminisce about the days he was the king of American track and field while he polishes his medals that nobody cares about anymore. It won't be as bad as OJ Simpson in the football world, but it will be worse than Pete Rose in the baseball world.
They still could get paid if GST has errors and omissions insurance, or if people affiliated with Grand Slam have a net worth. Michael Johnson could face substantial judgments over this (civilly, from what I've seen so far don't think a crime was committed).
They still could get paid if GST has errors and omissions insurance
Errors and omissions insurance does not cover lies. Michael Johnson told people he had money that he never actually had. That's not an "error" or an "omission" that's a lie.
Take a course in corporate law. E&O has nothing to do with failure to perform under a contract. Individuals aren't personally liable in these situations except in cases involving fraud.
Athletes are considering suing Grand Slam Teack if money not paid by the end of September. 2 athletes are understood to have withdrawn from house purchases due to non-payment of promised funds:
Hmm, unless MJ or GST’s lawyers were astonishingly stupid, one would think the company will just declare bankruptcy with the athletes getting nothing but a bill for their legal expenses.
Yes the unfortunate reality. And there is no way this wasn't an LLC or C-Corp, S-Corp etc which totally separate Johnson from the mess and which means they can't come after him personally.
So what exactly do these athletes want to win a share of in a lawsuit? Zero dollars? It all sucks big time but as we have also retroactively seen when scanning and picking apart the comments of Johnson, it's does appear like he never claimed to have had that liquidity in the coffers. Hence no fraud, just bad faith bravado and hubris.
Their intent was good unless the athletes can prove that MJ or others at GST knew that the promises they made couldn't be kept. I'm not saying that's the case, but it's not as simple as you make it sound.
Errors and omissions insurance does not cover lies. Michael Johnson told people he had money that he never actually had. That's not an "error" or an "omission" that's a lie.
Yes, but unfortunately it seems like what Johnson really told people is that he had financial commitments of this money (and 30 million was the number we all heard) and unfortunately that deliberately obscure wording kind of went over everyones head. And it did because Johnson used his cache and bravado as a self-proclaimed "former Olympic hero" to by default get the benefit or any potential doubt that was always going to get this money.
So I'm not sure in legal sense of the word he "lied" or "misled" anyone - what he did was "deflect" and "manipulate" things in his favor but that won't be enough for him to be sued personally I don't believe.
I don't know what the athletes' agreements actually say, but I wouldn't be surprised if they require arbitration of disputes and waive participation in a class action. GST's online terms of service do, and that's pretty typical these days. So you wouldn't necessarily see court filings from unpaid athletes. Instead there might be non-public demands for arbitration.
As others said, enough demands might push GST into bankruptcy where the athletes would be creditors but only get pennies on the dollar, if that. I assume if GST actually had assets it probably would have paid the athletes already.
Other posters were arguing about whether there might have been fraud. GST claimed (and still claims on its website) that it “secured more than $30 million in financial commitments from investors and strategic partners.” Was that true? Did athletes sign with GST and forego other opportunities relying on the "more than $30 million in financial commitments" being true? What were the athletes or agents actually told and who told them and what information did they have? What did GST actually commit to in the athletes' contracts? Lots of interesting questions without clear answers at this point.
