Big League Advance Fund recently petitioned the Superior Court of District of Columbia to confirm an arbitration award against San Diego Padres outfielder Fernando Tatis Jr., who has been ordered to pay $3.74 million to BLA.

The petition was filed Sept. 24, and it included a copy of a Sept. 11 decision and award by arbitrator Anthony J. Carpinello. The decision rejects Tatis’ request for a stay of the arbitration pending the outcome of the lawsuit he filed in California. Carpinello, a retired judge from New York, wrote that Tatis voluntarily submitted to an arbitration concerning the same issues to which he is litigating.

The dispute centers on Tatis, as an 18-year-old (and thus an adult who can sign an enforceable contract), signing an investment contract with BLA in 2017 in which he agreed to pay 10% of his future baseball earnings in exchange for $2 million. Tatis, who four years later signed a $340 million, 14-year contract with the Padres, contends he should not have to pay 10% of $340 million—which is about $34 million—since it represents about 16 times as much as $2 million.

As BLA tells it, Tatis made regular payments through 2023 but stopped paying in 2024. During that year, BLA invoked an arbitration clause in the contract in hopes an arbitrator would order Tatis to pay what he owes on the contract plus interest and attorneys’ fees and costs. Tatis brought counterclaims in which he disputed how BLA had interpreted the contract and argued key language was ambiguous. To that end, Tatis insists the BLA contract is not clear on what a player owes, because it arguably uses shifting references to the obligation.

In May, Carpinello issued an interim award in favor of BLA. Tatis sought to stay the proceedings “to continue exploring potential paths for compromise.” He also objected to the estimation of BLA’s attorneys’ fees, which Carpinello reduced from $438,503 to $250,000, a savings for Tatis of $188,505. According to public records, Carpinello has also served as an arbitrator in BLA disputes with Minnesota Twins pitcher Génesis Cabrera and former Pittsburgh Pirates first baseman José Osuna. In both instances, like with Tatis, he ordered the players to pay BLA.

In June, Tatis sued BLA in a California court. Tatis argues the contract he signed violates the California Financing Law. To that end, he contends that BLA lacks a license to operate as a lender and “preys on young, unsophisticated athletes, offering lump-sum advances in exchange for significant portions of their future earnings.”

Tatis also maintains that his contractual relationship with BLA is best understood as an “income-share agreement,” which is tantamount to a loan. 

In his Sept. 11 order, Carpinello disagreed with Tatis. The arbitrator wrote “it seems unlikely that [BLA] could ever be deemed a ‘consumer’ lender subject to licensure” in California.

For one, Carpinello reasoned that BLA “has ‘loaned’ nothing” to Tatis. The arbitrator instead concluded that BLA and Tatis agreed to a contract where Tatis was “unconditionally paid” $2 million in exchange for assigning “a portion of his future earnings if he made it to the Major Leagues.”

Carpinello noted that if Tatis, like most minor leaguers, never made it to MLB, he would have “owed nothing” to BLA.

In addition, Carpinello explained, Tatis is probably not a “consumer” within the meaning of California law when he negotiated his investment contract with BLA. California defines a consumer as someone who obtains a financial product “to be used primarily for personal, family, or household purposes.” A $2 million advance on a $340 million MLB contract “can hardly be deemed personal or for household purposes,” Carpinello wrote.

Carpinello ordered Tatis to pay $3.23 million plus $240,515 in interest, $250,000 in attorneys’ fees and costs of $14,349. BLA’s petition to the D.C. Superior Court is authored by Luke T. Cadigan and other attorneys from Cooley LLP. 

The case has been assigned to the court’s debt collection calendar. Courts generally accord a high degree of deference to arbitration awards, which is a factor that favors BLA in the D.C. court.

Tatis’ lawsuit continues in California, though the lawsuit faces the same defenses that worked for BLA in the arbitration. BLA can also argue that because Tatis agreed to arbitrate the claims underlying his lawsuit, the court should dismiss the lawsuit as preempted by arbitration.

Tatis, 26, batted .268 with 25 home runs and 71 RBIs in 155 games for the Padres in 2025. The Chicago Cubs ended the Padres’ season on Thursday with a 3-1 victory in Game 3 of their National League Wild Card Series at Wrigley Field.