The battery of lawyers employed by the Major League Baseball office in the Yerin Flores Sánchez case appeals to the fact that the gunpowder that will settle the lawsuit in its favor is represented by the knowledge in the courts of the internal investigations that caused the suspension of the former prospect, 17 years ago.
In 2005, Flores signed a contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks would pay him US$40,000, but the experts from the MLB they found that he would have used the documentation of a younger brother, Reylin, they suspended him and the then player sued the MLB for RD$50 million in damages.
In 2007, the Second Chamber of the Civil and Commercial Chamber of the National District sentenced Big leagues to the payment of RD$5 million, but the league appealed and began a long process where the parties resorted to different courts that ended in the Supreme Court of Justice with the most recent ruling lowering the compensation to RD$2 million.
The league’s legal staff is headed by Juan Francisco Puello Herrera, the president of the Caribbean Baseball Confederation, and includes Alan Solano Tolentino, Cinddy Liriano Veloz, María Cristiana Santana and Héctor Alies. They understand that the fact of having lowered the compensation is a gain, but they appeal to a final ruling that will reduce that payment to zero.
In the sentence of September 9, 2021 issued by the SCJ, it is recognized what may have been an omission of the lower courts and that it may change the course of the case. Hence its forwarding to the Third Chamber, which is preparing to present a ruling that the former player’s lawyers anticipate will not be the last resort to exhaust.
“The fact that the Major League Baseball Association Office of the Dominican Republic Inc. does not approve a contract should not be considered a civil fault,” he says.
“The appeal did not weigh the documents and testimonies contributed to the debate, since it erroneously limited itself to detracting from the investigations carried out by the Major League Baseball Association Office of the Dominican Republic Inc., without taking into account the documentation that served as a basis. and the declarations of the parties.
The SJC ruling also mentions that the court that favored the former prospect incurred a lack of grounds, “because its considerations are dictated in generic terms, without precisely explaining the rigors and procedures necessary to grant validity to said reports.”
In its numeral “C”, the sentence certifies having verified that during the investigation process the existence of identity theft was verified in which Reylin Flores took the birth certificate of her brother Yerin. According to Alies, with Arizona it was not the only team that the then-prospect incurred in the practice, which is punishable by up to a year of disqualification from signing.
The investigation
Yerik Pérez, a lawyer who serves as director of the office of the MLB in the country, he joined the entity in 2009 in the investigation team and has served as a witness in court.
Pérez, on the phone with DL from the United States, explained that the case is of great importance for the league, which is why he has appealed to invest long hours and resources to seek a sentence that demonstrates the commitment that is assumed.
“We do not take these issues of identity fraud investigations very seriously, not only because of what this represents for the teams and for our office, but also because of the reputation that it has brought to Dominicans. About this case, I know it well,” Pérez said.
A case that represents what until the beginning of the last decade represented a headache for the teams, but which has been practically eradicated with a project implemented by Sandy Alderson in 2010 that included direct work with the Central Electoral Board.
In a 2008 Houston Chronicle report, Lou Meléndez, then vice president of the MLBsaid that when the league office was opened in Santo Domingo, in December 2000, over 50% of the signatures had irregularities with the
data they supplied.
It was the headache of the teams after the use of controlled substances.
