A judge has confirmed an arbitration panel’s award of nearly $300,000 against a Santa Monica company that allegedly breached its contract to the Los Angeles Rams by failing to pay all rent due on a SoFi Stadium luxury suite.
On Thursday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Peter Hernandez signed an order that affirms 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’ lawyers’ 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’ attorneys’ pleadings, which further stated 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’ attorney’ court papers stated.
The arbitrators found Ocean Avenue in breach last Aug. 2 and the NFL team then moved to have the judge affirm their findings, the team’s pleadings further stated.