Los Angeles Dodgers’ three-time MVP Shohei Ohtani and his agent, Nez Balelo, are seeking to dismiss a lawsuit accusing them of being responsible for the firing of a Hawaii real estate investor and broker from a $240 million luxury housing development.
The Associated Press reports Ohtani and Balelo were sued last month Aug. 8 in Hawaii Circuit Court for the First Circuit by developer Kevin J. Hayes Sr. and real estate broker Tomoko Matsumoto, West Point Investment Corp. and Hapuna Estates Property Owners. The lawsuit accused the baseball player and his agent of “abuse of power” that allegedly resulted in their being dropped a development deal by Kingsbarn Realty Capital, with whom they had a joint venture deal on Hawaii’s Big Island.
In legal papers filed this weekend, lawyers for Ohtani and Balelo said Hayes and Matsumoto acquired rights for a joint venture in 2023 where they owned a minority percentage to use Ohtani’s name, image and likeness under an endorsement agreement to market the venture’s real estate development at the Mauna Kea Resort. The lawyers claimed Ohtani was a “victim of NIL violations,” adding that the plaintiffs “exploited Ohtani’s name and photograph to drum up traffic to a website that marketed plaintiffs’ own side project development. They engaged in this self-dealing without authorization, and without paying Ohtani for that use, in a selfish and wrongful effort to take advantage of their proximity to the most famous baseball player in the world.”
The lawyers added Hayes and Matsumoto filed their lawsuit after “Balelo did his job and protected his client by expressing justifiable concern about this misuse and threatening to take legal action against this clear misappropriation.” They called Balelo’s actions “clearly protected speech.”
Kingsbarn separately called the allegations “completely frivolous and without merit.” Lawyers for Hayes and Matsumoto did not immediately comment on the dismissal request.
Photo courtesy of Shohei Ohtani’s Instagram page
