Spurs fan and owner of San Antonio sports collectibles store What’s On Second, Juan Vasquez has filed a lawsuit against both the Golden State Warriors and Zaza Pachulia over their role in the injury of Spurs’ superstar Kawhi Leonard.
Earlier this week, Vasquez and his attorneys from Kennard Richard and Chamberlain, Hrdlicka, White, Williams & Aughtry filed a petition and a temporary restraining order in Bexar County Court. The cause of action that Vasquez, a season ticket holder, alleges is tortious interference with prospective business relations and with existing contracts for the season tickets he WOULD have been able to sell at a higher value than what they are now. Vasquez alleges that both Golden State and Pachulia both were acutely aware that an injury to a star player would significantly diminish the Spurs’ chances to pursue in the playoffs and in turn diminish the value of anything associated with the Spurs’ season, specifically season tickets (as previously mentioned) and memorabilia (to which the plaintiff owns a store and is in business with directly). In the filing, they also requested a temporary restraining order keeping Game 3 from being played at all, claiming that the Spurs players should not be subject to “inappropriate physical injury to opposing players” as they cited last year’s Draymond Green/LeBron James nuts incident during the NBA Finals as an example.
For those living under a rock, during the 3rd. quarter of Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, Leonard pulled up for a long jumper while Pachulia closed out closely to where Leonard landed awkwardly on Pachulia’s foot, re-injured his ankle and was taken out of the game and ruled out for Game 2.
The Spurs, who were up 21 at the point, went on to lose the game and subsequently lose Game 2 by 36.
Vasquez is seeking damages from the Warriors and Pachulia to the tune of $73,000. If you thought, however, that Vasquez and his attorneys came to this amount using court precedent or some advanced, sophisticated accounting, you would be very wrong:
My favorite bit is how Vasquez’ attorney describes Zaza as a party in the lawsuit:
Basically the attorney styled it as: “I don’t know where this dude lives but I’m pretty sure we can find this guy SOMEWHERE in San Antonio in the next few days.”
KSAT of San Antonio is reporting that State District Judge Norma Gonzales has denied the temporary restraining order.
Here is the plaintiff’s original petition below:
Juan Vasquez/What’s On Second, Inc. vs GSW Sports, LLC aka “Golden State Warriors” and Zaza Pachulia Plain… by The Bench Wire on Scribd
