Warriors accuse suiteholder of being fake company in lawsuit

The Golden State Warriors are suing a San Francisco-based landscaping company, alleging that the company’s shareholders owe more than $4 million in rent and hospitality fees for a stadium suite they leased in 2019. According to the suit, filed Wednesday in San Francisco County Superior Court, a local landscaping company is deep in debt on an 11-year lease for a suite at Chase Center, in part because the company is allegedly “a mere shell and sham without capital, assets, stock or stockholders.”

The lawsuit specifically named Bauman Landscape and Construction, Inc., its president Michael Bauman, vice president Angela Bauman and 20 other as-yet unnamed shareholders as defendants. The Warriors allege the company that signed the lease, Bauman Landscape, doesn’t actually exist, and that the Baumans are using the nonexistent entity to avoid their contractual liabilities.

According to the suit, Bauman Landscape entered into an 11-year agreement in 2018 for a license to one of the new “Theater Box” suites at Chase Center, with Michael Bauman as the notice party and Angela Bauman signing. According to the Warriors, the contract, which officially began when the Warriors moved to Chase Center starting in the 2019-20 season, includes language that says that, in the event of a failure by the licensee to promptly make payments, the Warriors have the right to terminate the agreement and “accelerate and cause all the sums payable under this Agreement to become immediately due and payable.”

After the COVID pandemic ended the 2019-20 season early and mostly kept fans away from Chase Center during the 2020-21 season, Bauman Landscape agreed to modify the contract, the Warriors allege. Bauman Landscape agreed to push the contract back a year to cover up the missed season and tack on a 12th year, according to the lawsuit. It took their agreement to Jan. 3, 2032.

The suit says the Warriors sent a notice of default to Bauman Landscape on March 15, 2023, saying they owed $771,655.50 to the Warriors. Bauman Landscape did not make the payment, the lawsuit alleges, so the Warriors sent them a letter on Aug. 8, 2023, stating the license would be terminated and requesting payment for the eight remaining years on the contract, in addition to the two unpaid years and the late fees for those missed payments.

According to the suit, the two unpaid debts for the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons, plus a 5% late fee for the missed payments, would total $904,523.55. The Warriors asked Bauman Landscape for a total payment of $4,354,192.55 to also cover the eight future seasons Bauman Landscape had agreed to license a Chase Center suite for.

Bauman allegedly made an undated payment of $219,630.65 to the Warriors upon receipt of the termination letter, the lawsuit says.

In the lawsuit filed Wednesday, the Warriors are seeking the remaining amount of $4,134,561.90, plus 10% interest from the date of the termination letter to judgment day and for attorney’s fees. It’s unclear what the full sum of damages would be if the Warriors won the suit.

Bauman Landscape did not respond to multiple requests for comment from SFGATE on Thursday. Bauman Landscape and Construction, LLC, is listed as having an active California contractor license on the state’s website. Michael Bauman was first issued a landscaping license in 1979, with a 2008 reissue adding Angela as an officer to the license, according to the licensing board. The two are the only personnel listed as associated with the contractor’s license.