Norton threatens legal action, says he owns historic Excelsiors trademark
Brampton Excelsiors, Memorial Arena, 2019 (Photo: Dave Fryer)
The 2022 Major Series Lacrosse season is supposed to start next week, but it appears the only ones playing any games will be two teams of lawyers.
After having their appeal denied by a tribunal last week, MSL Commissioner Doug Luey has been busy trying to salvage an upcoming MSL season that includes Owen Sound, but not Brampton.
A month ago, the OLA demanded MSL return the Excelsiors Lacrosse Club back to Brampton from Owen Sound after the association deemed back in August that a 2018 transfer of the club to Joe Norton, owner of the Bug Juice brand, was not approved due to many concerns over the legitimacy of the agreement. Just two seasons after operating the team in Brampton, Norton moved them to Owen Sound, where they have yet to play.
The OLA has also required MSL clubs to make good on long-owed player development payments amounting to $15,000. A reasonable payment plan was requested, but has seemingly yet to be received.
Connor McClelland, Brampton Excelsiors (Photo: Dave Fryer)
If these requirements were not met, the OLA would no longer recognize the MSL executive and also suspend Luey for five years. This would leave MSL without insurance, access to association-sanctioned referees, and exclusion from the Mann Cup.
After having their appeal denied by the tribunal, Luey attempted to schedule an emergency meeting with the OLA Board of Governors. That meeting appears unlikely to take place any time soon, if ever.
Luey and Norton’s lawyers, however, have been busy writing letters over the last 24 hours.
The first was a proposal sent to Glenn McClelland, President of the Brampton Excelsiors Lacrosse Club, the group the OLA acknowledges as the rightful owners of the Major Excelsiors.
The letter, which The Lax Mag obtained from multiple sources and can be found below, ultimately asks McClelland to ignore the recent directive provided by the OLA Board of Directors (and later appeal tribunal), and instead agree to allow the 2022 MSL season to move ahead as the league previously planned. Owen Sound would play this year, and Brampton would only be permitted back in 2023, although it’s unclear in what capacity. Luey also implies that at least one team is threatening to leave the league if the proposal is not accepted.
Today, the BELC tweeted their response. They did not agree to Luey’s terms, their statement saying, “Not only did we find this proposal and its restrictive time unacceptable, but once again, it ignored the final decisions of the OLA.”
The Lax Mag has confirmed with multiple sources, that just a few short hours later, Luey sent a legal letter on behalf of Norton’s lawyers to the OLA and BELC. The letter, issued by Adair Goldblatt Bieber LLP, the same group representing the Tewaaraton Lacrosse League in ongoing litigation with the OLA, has a number of noteworthy claims and threats made by Norton.
Norton claims to have “certain inalienable legal rights in the Brampton Excelsiors Lacrosse Club”, not simply “Brampton Major Excelsiors Lacrosse Club” as was outlined in a signed Offer to Purchase from April of 2018. In addition to claiming ownership of the name “Brampton Excelsiors Lacrosse Club”, the letter also lists the club’s logo and trademarks, the website BramptonExcelsiors.ca, all social media accounts, as well as the team’s players as being owned by Norton.
While Norton’s lawyers accept that McClelland and the BELC “may run a franchise in Brampton”, Norton says he still owns the assets from the transfer of the team in 2018. The letter states, “No decision of the OLA could oblige them to surrender assets that they lawfully acquired in a corporate transaction, and paid for. The OLA can only have jurisdiction over the operations of its leagues. The OLA has no authority to take assets by corporations and distribute them to third parties.”
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Between his purchase of the team and expenses incurred afterwards, Norton claims to have spent over half a million dollars on the club. There is no further detail on what that significant sum of money had been used for. The 2018 agreement between Norton and the not-for-profit BELC indicated the team was purchased for $1,500 (CAD) and had inventory that amounted to just $2 (CAD).
The letter also threatens that if any players owned by Owen Sound, many of which did not show up to a recent Owen Sound practice, do not report to the team, they will subject to discipline. While MSL rosters are filled with pro players that compete in the National Lacrosse League, the level of play is widely considered amateur, the league itself recently describing their teams as “community amateur clubs”.
And finally, the letter threatens significant financial consequences if any previously mentioned assets are not returned or are misused by the BELC and others, although, an offer of acquiring those assets back was also included.
The Lax Mag has confirmed that Norton has been involved in a number of legal battles through his Bug Juice brand, his most recent fight with Vitasoy, a Hong Kong-based beverage company.
The Brampton Excelsiors Lacrosse Club was established in 1883 to oversee all levels of lacrosse in the city. Today the club manages the Junior A & B Excelsiors, and depending on who you ask, the Senior A Excelsiors as well. The BELC also works closely with Brampton Minor Lacrosse.