SHAW IS FOUND IN CONTEMPT HE FACES $5,000 DAILY FINES UNTIL ITALY TIES ARE SEVERED

July 20, 1990

SHAW IS FOUND IN CONTEMPT HE FACES $5,000 DAILY FINES UNTIL ITALY TIES ARE SEVERED

Unless he does an about-face in the next 24 hours, it will cost Brian Shaw $5,000 for every day he remains in defiance of a court order.

A federal judge yesterday found Shaw in contempt of court for refusing to obey a June 27 order to sever all ties with Il Messaggero. Shaw, whose behavior was termed "unacceptable" and "incomprehensible" by US District Court Judge A. David Mazzone, was given one day to terminate his Italian contract before the fines begin tomorrow. Thus far, Shaw has shown no inclination to obey the court, and Mazzone found that baffling and infuriating.

"This court will not, as an institution, tolerate his refusal because I consider it to be an affront and an insult to the legal process," Mazzone said. "He has insulted this court. He has done what we can not allow people to do. It is unacceptable and incomprehensible to me."

The fines will continue, Mazzone said, "until such time as he makes an application to this court in writing to be purged of this order." Asked to be more specific by Shaw's attorney, Mazzone said, "I can't help him. This is a blatant disregard of the court's order. I want him to obey my order and he knows what my order is."

Mazzone also granted permission to the Celtics to send a notification letter to Il Messaggero, terminating Shaw's contract with the club. The Celtics promised to do so by the end of the day. Officials representing Il Messaggero already have stated they will disregard such a letter because Shaw has not signed it, and because they believe Shaw has a valid, enforceable contract with them. That contract, in their opinion, remained in effect unless Shaw sent a termination letter between June 20
and July 20.

Shaw's Boston-based attorney, Laura Carroll, talked afterward with her client and said, "He's aware of the contempt decision and he's thinking about it. He knew it was coming, but it's always disheartening when it does come. And it's a lot of money. But he wasn't surprised. We'll talk again today."

Carroll said an appeal might be forthcoming, particularly since she saw no need for a contempt finding if the Celtics sent the termination letter. She termed the fine "middle of the road. It appears to be what one would expect in civil contempt, a daily fine."

In court, Carroll told Mazzone that Shaw was fully aware of the circumstances and had been briefed beforehand on the likely outcome."He is taking this seriously," she said. "He doesn't have a cavalier attitude about it. There is animosity towards the Celtics. He does not intend to play basketball for them."

Shaw's agent in Los Angeles, Jerome Stanley, refused to comment on the decision. Should Shaw remain in defiance of the court's rulings, Mazzone said he would entertain a motion from the Celtics that would prevent Shaw from leaving the court's jurisdiction.

Mazzone ruled June 27 that an NBA arbitrator had acted properly and legally in ruling that Shaw's Celtics contract, which runs through 1994, was valid and enforceable. The arbitrator also had ordered Shaw to sever all ties with Il Messaggero on June 20, and prohibited him from playing for anyone other than the Celtics through 1994.

Mazzone upheld those decisions as well, but put off ruling on any contempt motion until the matter went through the appeals process. On Monday, the 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the June 27 order and the Celtics immediately went back,
seeking a contempt charge.

The Celtics also had asked Mazzone to give them permission to send the termination letter. Mazzone at first said he was not interested in granting that motion because he thought it would lack enforcement in Italy. However, Section 8 of Shaw's Il Messaggero deal states that the agreement "shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia."

Mazzone granted that request and then sought advice on how he should deal with the contempt motion. Celtics attorney Neil Jacobs initially came up with no monetary figure, but said Shaw should not be allowed to benefit financially by continuing to defy the order. Jacobs then suggested a figure of $1.35 million, which he arrived at by adding Shaw's signing bonus ($450,000) to his 1990-91 salary with Il Messaggero ($900,000.)

The judge bashed Shaw some more -- "my priority is this court and that its order not be insulted. That's what Mr. Shaw is doing" -- and then did some quick arithmetic on the bench before announcing his fine: $5,000 a day beginning tomorrow. Jacobs also said the Celtics, who have sued Il Messaggero for trying to induce Shaw to break the Boston contract, would notify the team to stop its attempts to get Shaw on its roster for next season. Any further attempt to get Shaw to play in Italy would constitute continued interference, Jacobs said.

While Shaw was getting hammered in the United States, he received better news from Italy, however meaningful that may be. According to Enzo di Chiara, the American-based foreign relations counsel for Gruppo Ferruzzi, which owns Il Messaggero, the Italian Basketball Federation has approved Shaw's contract with the Rome team. The notification came after FIBA, the sport's international governing body, had sided with the Celtics and the NBA in the Shaw dispute and told the Italians that Shaw was ineligible to play for Il Messaggero in 1990-91.

"The issue is ended," di Chiara said. "There is no treaty between FIBA and the Italian federation on these grounds. FIBA can't tell us what to do. Once Brian is enrolled, and he is enrolled, FIBA has no jurisdiction. They cannot penalize us or punish us."

Di Chiara said the Italian federation ruling was so decisive and carried such clout that Il Messaggero decided to stop trying to get the country's courts to approve the agreement.