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Bernie Lee’s Client’s Wife Wants Half Of His Commission

Bernie Lee, a basketball agent who has been featured on this blog in the past, is now the defendant in a pending lawsuit.  On November 15, the Complaint in the case of Ashley Merritt v. Bernie Lee was filed in a circuit court in the state of Wisconsin (full Complaint is attached at the bottom of this post).

Ashley Merritt is Scott Merritt’s wife.  Scott Merritt is a professional basketball player who currently plays for Link Tochigi Brex in the Japan Basketball League (JBL).  Ashley claims that she and Lee had an oral agreement to act jointly to negotiate Scott’s professional contract for the 2010-2011 season (I assume it is 2011, as the attorney who drafted the Complaint wrote “2100”), and split the agent commissions 50/50.

Lee received a commission of $13,700 from the JBL team.  Ashley Merritt now wants half of that, or $6,850 to be exact.  The four states causes of action are: breach of contract, promissory estoppel, unjust enrichment, and intentional misrepresentation.

I don’t think Ashley Merritt has even the slimmest chance of winning this.  My favorite is the third cause of action for unjust enrichment.  Good luck to Ms. Merritt in proving that she conferred a benefit on Bernie Lee by “assisting with contract negotiations.”  I would love to know what that benefit entailed.  And better yet, Scott Merritt has no free will.  Ashley Merritt “brought her husband, as a client” to Bernie Lee.  Quite the runner/handler we have here.  Are we sure that she is not somehow connected to the Cameron Newton drama?

By Darren Heitner

Darren Adam Heitner, Esq., is a preeminent sports attorney and the founder of Heitner Legal, P.L.L.C., a Fort Lauderdale-based law firm specializing in sports law, contract negotiations, intellectual property, and arbitration. He earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Florida Levin College of Law in 2010 and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, magna cum laude, from the University of Florida in 2007, where he was named Valedictorian of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Admitted to practice in the state bars of Florida, New York, and the District of Columbia, as well as multiple federal courts, Darren also serves as a certified arbitrator with the American Arbitration Association.

As an adjunct professor, Darren imparts his expertise through teaching Sports Law at the University of Florida Levin College of Law and Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) at the University of Miami School of Law in the Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law LL.M. program. His scholarly contributions include authoring several books published by the American Bar Association, such as How to Play the Game: What Every Sports Attorney Needs to Know, and numerous articles in prominent publications like Forbes, Inc. Magazine, and Above the Law. His thought leadership in NIL has earned him recognition as one of the foremost experts by The Wall Street Journal, USA TODAY, and On3, and he has been lauded as a “power player in NIL deals” by Action Network and a “top sports trademark attorney” by Sportico.

Darren’s passion for sports law led him to establish Sports Agent Blog on December 31, 2005, initially titled “I Want To Be A Sports Agent.” The platform, created as a New Year’s resolution, has grown into a cornerstone of the sports agency community, offering in-depth analysis of industry trends, legal disputes, and agent-player dynamics. His commitment to the field is further evidenced by his representation of numerous athletes and sports agents, as well as his prior role as an Adjunct Professor at Indiana University Bloomington, where he developed and taught a course on Sport Agency Management from 2011 to 2014.

Darren’s contributions have been recognized with prestigious honors, including the University of Florida’s 40 Under 40 Award, the University of Florida Levin College of Law’s Outstanding Young Alumnus Award, and designation as the best lawyer in Fort Lauderdale by Fort Lauderdale Magazine. He remains an active voice in the sports law community, sharing insights through his weekly NIL newsletter and his X posts, engaging a broad audience on legal developments in sports.

6 replies on “Bernie Lee’s Client’s Wife Wants Half Of His Commission”

I’m not sure I share Darren’s skepticism. I’ve seen scammers sue over $50,000 or $100,000 or more, but this is presumably a non-contingency lawsuit for $6,850. There might be more here than meets the eye.

Right, but that was my point. The plaintiff is very likely spending money out of pocket upfront, so it doesn’t look like a blatant cash-grab attempt. There are plenty of scammers in civil court, but not many sue for less than $7,000.

Darren just saw that you had this posted, someone just sent it to me. 1. its a joke, Scott Merritt is easily one of the nicest human beings/most reasonable professional I have ever met, literally, his wife on the other hand……

Scott`s wife is a lawyer with clearly too much time on her hands and got one of her law school professors and a friend of her fathers from Marquette to file this suit for less then a handshake on her behalf. Clearly its a joke.

For Scott, I took from him playing in the d league, coming off of the worst yr statistically that he had in that league, to where his career is today. The 1st yr I worked with him as a client I got him 3 different jobs, he got cut from one for poor performance, the 2nd the president of his team could not get along with his wife (shocking) and the 3rd is where he finished the yr. To get Scott into Japan which is the perfect market for him I used a relationship with Duane Casey to get introduced to the coach of his team in Japan Tom Wisman who signed Scott. Scott had a good but not great personal yr but his team had great sucess.

Coming into the end of Scott’s 1st yr in Japan it became clear that I just could not work with his wife and they terminated me, which was fine. When Scott’s season was over his coach quit and his team approached me to find them a new coach, this is what an agent does, an agent controls situations. I did so and got them to hire the coach of my choice and in turn the choice became mine wheter or not Scott would have been re signed. If I wanted to, I could have had them sign Wilt Chamberlin’s ashes, literally, but because of my respect for Scott I decided to help him. Scott and his wife approached me about assisting Scott to return to the same club as he had no other options in Japan and against my better judgement I did. Not only that but I negiotiated a 55k raise for Scott, the teams 1st offer was a 10k raise. I do all of that and in the end I get sued to pay someone for doing absolutely nothing….lesson learned such is our business.

Pls write 10 more stories abt me being awesome so when a person googles my name this link isnt the 2nd one on the list!

all the best.

Bernie
http://www.leebasket.com

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