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This season, during a particularly bad stretch for the Phillies and Ryan Howard, a frustrated Howard asked reporters, “Would you like to switch places? You want to see what it’s like?” Howard got completely skewered for these comments, with the response basically being “yes, I would like to trade places so I can make $25 million to play baseball.” But during all of Howard’s frustration, there was something else going on: he was being sued by his brother.

According to court documents obtained by David Murphy, Ryan’s twin brother, Corey, sued Ryan for over $2 million for breach of contract. It all stemmed from Corey’s role with Ryan’s RJH Enterprises LLC, the company Howard and his family created to market Ryan and further his earning potential*, but one that was merely a means for Howard’s family members to make a lot of money for doing a whole lot of nothing.

*Should’ve been called Ruben Amaro Co.

Corey described his role as “providing services to enhance Ryan’s life, leaving his field of work to assist Ryan with personal and business needs.” But he did none of that. In a counter claim, here’s how Ryan (and his excellent, superior lawyer) described Corey’s contributions:

Despite his title as “Co-Manager Director of RJH Enterprises, Marketing and Personal Support Services,” Corey procured no marketing agreements or other commercial deals for Ryan or RJH after his execution of the “Consulting Agreement” and made no serious efforts to do so.

At least $275,561.48 in RJH funds were disbursed to Corey in 2012 and 2013 alone. Corey kept no time records and provided no corroboration that he worked any number of hours. In fact, he performed no significant services.

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But was he good at dealing with people? No, he was not:

Corey and the other family members provided little to this (marketing) process, other than to conceal matters from Ryan. In fact, some potential sponsors chose not to do business with Ryan and RJH because they found the family members difficult to deal with.

Corey, who was being paid roughly $16k per month at a rate of $92 per hour, was terminated from that role in 2013. He sought $2.7 million in damages, claiming that his Consulting Agreement basically guaranteed that he would be paid until 2026. But in his counter claim, Ryan says that the so-called agreement was signed with just the worst of intents:

In or about early January 2012, Ryan served as best man to a friend of his being married in Mexico. Like Ryan, Corey and other family members were invited on a Caribbean cruise that would end at the wedding site. While Ryan was getting dressed for the wedding, Corey came to Ryan’s room.

Corey then presented Ryan with a series of agreements between RJH and family members and asked him to sign them. They included a “Consulting Agreement” with Corey as well as similar agreements with Chris and Roni. Corey told Ryan that these agreements were in his best interest. Trusting Corey as he always had, Ryan signed those documents without carefully reviewing them. Ryan was not given a copy of the “Consulting Agreement” after he signed it.

That is a frighteningly specific and detailed account of how it went down. Right about the time Ryan was struggling with his cufflinks – because cufflinks are demon buttons! – his twin brother approached him with a shady contract that basically asked Ryan to sign over his entire net worth to the moneygrubbing shitheads he calls his family. 

In the counter claim, Ryan admits that he did talk with his brothers about “having them involved in his business affairs and helping him to prepare for life after baseball,” but denies that there was ever an agreement to provide Corey with “lasting security.” And then, like any sibling argument, mom and dad got involved. And like any good mom, Ryan’s made sure everyone was sharing:

“States that Ron Howard and Cheryl Howard, the parents of Ryan and Corey, have exercised dominion and control over the records and accounts of RJH. Further states that Cheryl Howard disbursed to Corey through bi-weekly Bill-Pay automatic payments of $8,975 from RJH funds and that those payments exceeded the amounts described in the “Consulting Agreement” attached to the Complaint … Ryan did desire to terminate payments described in the “Consulting Agreement” and that he asked his legal representative to contact Corey about its termination.”

The realization that Ron, Cheryl and Corey Howard were all padding their pockets at Ryan’s expense came, quite amazingly, after Ryan watched the 30 for 30 film “Broke,” which detailed former pro athletes who had lost it all. This paragraph from the counter claim will make for a great tale in the sequel:

“Ron Howard is the family patriarch. When he gave orders, directions or suggestions to family members, they were not to be questioned. It was considered wrong to disagree with him. After Ryan reached the big leagues, Ron warned him that unscrupulous people – acting as managers, consultants, advisors, or other professionals – could rob him blind and leave him financially unprepared for life after baseball. Ron Howard told Ryan that he could avoid that possibility by putting his business, personal and financial affairs in the hands of his family members, who had “valuable skill sets” and whom Ryan could trust.”

Ryan claimed that through autopay set up by his mother without his knowledge, his mother, father, sister and two brothers were paid a total of $2,795,337.38 (roughly what Corey was suing for) in addition to the BMW, Mercedes and Aston Martin his parents received. Here’s the breakdown:

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Yuck.

The case was dismissed with prejudice last month, because it was settled out of court.

Here are all three court documents: Corey’s Complaint, Ryan’s Counter Claim, the dismissal.

Both Kyle and Jim wrote this post