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Update: Howard A. Kusnick PA v. Kellin Deglan – SPORTS AGENT BLOG
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Update: Howard A. Kusnick PA v. Kellin Deglan

The Texas Rangers selected Kellin Deglan with the #22 overall pick in the 2010 MLB Amateur Draft.  The 6’2 catcher was one of the more intriguing players on the Canadian high school baseball circuit, who was seen as pretty raw, but had quite a bit of potential, especially with a powerful bat.  The fact that he is a left handed hitting catcher also had to improve his draft stock.

Deglan had been committed to play at Florida International University, but ended up choosing to sign out of high school.  Double Diamond Sports Management served as his advisors for the Draft.  Deglan signed for $1 million, and Double Diamond expected to receive its advising commission of 5%, which comes out to $50,000 in fees.

On July 2, 2010, Howard A. Kusnick of Double Diamond Sports Management filed a Complaint against Deglan for failure to pay a 5% commission on the contract Deglan signed with the Rangers (click here for the court docket).  On September 14, 2010, Deglan filed a motion to dismiss and/or for a more definite statement.  Kusnick responded by filing a motion for default against Deglan one day later, but the notice of default was not entered based on the court’s finding that a pleading was filed by Mr. Deglan.

On December 8, 2010, Kusnick amended his Complaint.  Deglan filed another motion to dismiss on December 27, 2010, this time based on the Amended Complaint.  Interestingly, on March 16, 2011, the judge granted Deglan’s motion to dismiss Kusnick’s Amended Complaint, and gave Kusnick 15 days to file and serve a new Amended Complaint.  I assume that the Amended Complaint was dismissed without prejudice.

The 15 day period expires tomorrow.  At the time of writing this post, the docket does not indicate that Kusnick has filed and served Deglan a new Amended Complaint.

Meanwhile, Deglan appears to be struggling in the Minors.  In 22 games for the Class A Short-Season Spokane Indians, Deglan had a batting average of .159 and only 1 homerun.  Perhaps he will pick up his game once he does not have to focus on the lawsuit where he is named as the Defendant.

By Darren Heitner

Darren Heitner created Sports Agent Blog as a New Year's Resolution on December 31, 2005. Originally titled, "I Want To Be A Sports Agent," the website was founded with the intention of causing Heitner to learn more about the profession that he wanted to join, meet reputable individuals in the space and force himself to stay on top of the latest news and trends.

Heitner now runs Heitner Legal, P.L.L.C., which is a law firm with many practice areas, including sports law and contract law. Heitner has represented numerous athletes and sports agents as legal counsel. He has also served as an Adjunct Professor at Indiana University Bloomington from 2011-2014, where he created and taught a course titled, Sport Agency Management, which included subjects ranging from NCAA regulations to athlete agent certification and the rules governing the profession. Heitner serves as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Florida Levin College of Law, where he teaches a Sports Law class that includes case law surrounding athlete agents and the NCAA rules.

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