The Los Angeles Rams are asking a judge to confirm an arbitration panel’s award of nearly $300,000 against a Santa Monica company that allegedly breached its contract to the team by failing to pay all rent due on a SoFi Stadium luxury suite.
The NFL team filed court papers on Wednesday with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Peter A. Hernandez in advance of a July 31 hearing requesting him to affirm the three-member arbitration panel’s conclusion that Ocean Avenue Ventures LLC should pay $295,365, plus about $23,245 in interest. The company did not participate in the arbitration, according to the Rams’ court papers.
The Rams and Ocean Avenue signed a five-year agreement for a lease of the suite in September 2013, but the company defaulted in the third year, according to the Rams’ court papers, which further state that any disputes about the lease were to be referred to arbitration.
After providing Ocean Avenue with multiple opportunities to cure the default, the Rams sent the firm a notice of dispute in June 2023, but the company ignored the communication as well as other team attempts to resolve the disagreement, the Rams’ court papers states. The arbitrators found Ocean Avenue in breach last Aug. 2, the team’s pleadings further state.