Chelsea Player Adrian Mutu, Appeals to Circuit Court
.jpg)
Soccer player Adrian Mutu was recently ordered to pay approximately $22 million to the English Premier League's Chelsea Football Club, for breaching his contract by testing positive for cocaine use in 2004. The League originally found that Mutu was in breach of contract, and a Switzerland arbitration panel upheld the League's finding. In 2008, FIFA ordered Mutu to pay Chelsea the fee it had paid to Mutu's former team, as well as Mutu's signing bonus and his agent's fee. After Mutu exhausted his appeals, Chelsea filed suit in the United States District Court, Southern District of Florida, to enforce the award. Mutu claimed the penalty clause was unenforceable, but the Court rejected this claim.
Since the United States favors arbitration agreements in international contracts, Mutu had to prove one of the defenses to enforcement of the arbitration decision - in this case, that enforcement would be contrary to the public policy of the United States. Since there was a relationship between the penalty clause and the actual damages suffered by Chelsea, the Court decided that enforcement did not violate public policy.
Mutu has since appealed to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, but it does not appear that he will be successful.
My name is Christopher Fusco. I am the managing partner of Callahan & Fusco, LLC with offices in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.