Judge says Mark Geragos owes nothing in Nike extortion malpractice lawsuit
A jury in July found $100,000 in damages but no liability or causation by Geragos.
A judge ruled this week that attorney Mark Geragos won’t pay anything in a malpractice lawsuit over Michael Avenatti’s Nike extortion scheme after jurors found $100,000 in damages but no liability or causation.
Avenatti’s former client Gary Franklin sought millions of dollars from Geragos for his work with Avenatti in the negotiations with Nike executives in 2019 that led to Avenatti being convicted of three federal felonies.
Jurors on July 16 said Franklin suffered $100,000 in non-economic damages, but they rejected fraud and fraudulent concealment claims against Geragos.
The jury also concluded Geragos provided “knowingly substantial assistance or encouragement” to Avenatti when Avenatti harmed Franklin, and that Geragos knew of the harm, but they concluded Geragos’ conduct was not a substantial factor in Franklin’s harm. They also concluded that while Geragos owed Franklin a fiduciary duty, he didn’t breach it.
Geragos’ lawyer Sean Macias told me at the time that Geragos wasn’t liable for the $100,000, but Franklin’s lawyer Trent Copeland said Geragos “can’t run” from the verdict and said he could ask the court to “reconcile” the verdict or order a new trial.
Copeland, a partner at Ellis George LLP, apparently changed his mind, because he didn’t oppose Macias’ motion for judgment in Geragos’ favor, and he signed the proposed order. The motion argued that given the jury’s findings on liability and causation, there “is simply no legal foundation for the jury to have also found that Defendant Geragos was liable to Plaintiff for non-economic damages.”
“If Defendant Geragos’ acts or omissions were not a substantial factor in causing the Plaintiffs losses, whatever he claims they are, or if Defendant Geragos did not intentionally fail to disclose facts to Franklin, Geragos cannot, as a matter of law, be responsible for his claimed losses, economic or non-economic, and the award must be vacated and judgment entered in favor of Geragos,” according to the motion.
The motion said the jury’s verdict form “clearly shows no award for ‘economic damages,’” and for non-economic damages, “the jury’s markings reflect a ‘0’ which was redrawn numerous times.”
“However, right after this ‘0,’ the jury ultimately wrote in ‘$100k,’” according to the motion. “The jury’s award of $100,000 for non-economic damages has no foundation in the evidence nor does it follow from their findings that the Plaintiff failed to prove each essential element of his claims.”
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Steve Cochran signed a judgment on Tuesday that clears Geragos of all claims and says Franklin “shall recover nothing.”
Copeland has not yet responded to my email seeking comment. Geragos referenced another civil trial I covered recently when I texted him for comment.
“To quote and paraphrase the Great Cardi B ‘don’t ever think that I’m gonna give you my money….I work hard for my money, don’t you ever think that you’re gonna sue me and I’m just gonna settle. It’s not gonna happen,’” Geragos texted me.
Franklin, a youth basketball coach in California, testified first in Avenatti’s federal criminal trial in New York City in 2021, then again in the week-long trial over his lawsuit against Geragos in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
He said he retained Avenatti, not Geragos, because he wanted to disclose two Nike employees pressuring him to funnel payments to players. He said he didn’t know Avenatti enlisted Geragos to help and added his own demand of $15-$25 million when Nike already was willing to pay Franklin $1.5 million. Franklin never got that much money: Nike settled his case in in 2022 — three years after Geragos’ and Avenatti’s meetings — for $160,000.
Jurors saw a video deposition in which Avenatti denied Geragos acted as a mediator.
Avenatti is incarcerated in the federal prison on Terminal Island, near Long Beach, with a release date of Sept. 8, 2028, after Senior U.S. District Judge James V. Selna in June resentenced him in his California federal wire fraud case in June.
Geragos testified he was working as a mediator between Nike and Avenatti and wasn’t obligated to do what was best for Franklin. Macias also argued in his closing there was no real offer from Nike to Franklin because the meetings were actually “an FBI sting.”
Geragos also said he would have acted differently if he knew of an email Avenatti wrote that said, “I will make it clear to Nike that if they don’t promptly agree or we don’t come to terms regarding the above, I will seek justice by immediately going to the FBI.”
Geragos testified, “That’s the definition of extortion” and said he never saw the email.
“I never would have been involved if I had seen this. And if I had been … I would have told him that’s extortion,” he said.
Jurors deliberated about five hours before returning the split verdict with damages but no liability.
My previous article has more details on the trial:
Other coverage:
Court documents:
July 16 verdict form
Sept. 2 motion for judgment
Sept. 16 judge’s order
Transcripts from the trial are available below for paid subscribers. Your paid subscriptions make my work possible.