The Miami Marlins lost their bid to stay out of a local courthouse in a fight over profit-sharing with Miami-Dade County, as a federal judge tossed the case back to Circuit Court with a warning that Derek Jeter and partners “face an uphill battle” proving foreign ownership in the case.
Lawyers for Jeter’s front office claimed the ownership of the team held corporate citizenship in the British Virgin Islands because a holding company with a stake in the franchise was based there. They then cited international contract agreements in trying to move the case away from an elected judge in Miami-Dade to the federal court system.