French esports organization apparently suing Superstar European AD carry for violation of contract
The League of Legends offseason is when players typically look for fresh starts and better opportunities. Steven “Hans Sama” Liv, a former Team Liquid marksman, however, may have a nightmare during this free agency period.
According to esports journalist Jacob Wolf, the 23-year-old professional player is reportedly being sued by Athletes Representation & Consulting (ARC), a French esports agency, for allegedly breaching his contract by joining a rival organization and failing to pay commissions while playing for Rogue.
Scoop: An esports agency is suing @Hanssama in French court.
It alleges he breached his representation agreement by signing with a competitor and did not pay commissions for a part of his @Rogue and all of his @TeamLiquid deal. https://t.co/TFVTMNjXlI
— Jacob Wolf ð (@JacobWolf) December 6, 2022
These problems allegedly surfaced around the end of 2021 when Rogue and the esports agency met to talk about the prospect of selling Hans Sama’s contract to an LCS club before the new year. Two teams, Cloud9 and Team Liquid, were finally identified by Rogue and ARC as being interested in Hans Sama’s talents and prepared to pay for his buyout.
But as ARC started talking to Liquid, a rival agency named Proxy ended up getting Hans Sama a new contract. The star wanted Liquid to be his next stop, so Rogue accepted a cheaper buyout than what C9 had suggested. However, Hans Sama violated the terms of the agreement that said ARC was his only representation by engaging with Proxy.
Nathan Laprade, the founder of ARC, stated, “We profoundly regret this situationâwhich is unusual in the history of our agencyâbut we must confirm that we have a dispute with [Hans Sama] concerning the circumstances under which our partnership stopped. We were compelled to put the case before a civil court so that an impartial third party could evaluate the circumstances since we were unable to come to an amicable compromise with [Hans Sama]. There is no personal connection, and we believe [Hans Sama] feels the same way.
Hans Sama is still looking for a team to join in 2023 while this situation develops. Since the end of the competitive season, he has been connected to a few European rosters, including well-known LEC team G2 Esports.