Agent Blasts Dickerson for Lawsuit

Jack Rodri, the former agent for Eric Dickerson, said Wednesday that the $12.5-million lawsuit filed against him last week by the Ram running back is “totally unfounded” and that whatever financial troubles Dickerson has were brought on by Dickerson himself.

“Eric is on the road to financial disaster,” Rodri said. “If he was smart, he’d drop the lawsuit, come back and beg me to manage his money.”

The suit, filed last week by Dickerson in Los Angeles Superior Court, charges Rodri with, among other things, breach of contract, negligence, misrepresentation and fraud. The suit claims that Rodri’s mismanagement has caused Dickerson serious “cash flow and liquidity problems.”

But Rodri, who is in the process of filing a counter-suit, said Wednesday that Dickerson’s cash-flow problems began after he fired Rodri in May of 1986. Since then, Rodri said, Dickerson has bought a $1-million home in Malibu, a $100,000 Porsche and an interest in a thoroughbred race horse.

“A house, a horse, that’s a lot of

cash flow,” Rodri said.

Dickerson hired Rodri and Ken Norton, former heavyweight boxing champion, in 1985 to negotiate a contract extension with the Rams. Rodri and Norton formed Ken Norton Personal Management Agency, Inc., and made Dickerson their only client.

After staging a 46-day holdout in 1985, Dickerson rejoined the team, then signed a three-year extension with the Rams the next December. The total value of the contract is estimated at $900,000 a year.

Rodri said that he had set up a long-term financial plan for Dickerson, but that the running back was more interested in a quick payoff. Rodri contends that led to his firing a year ago.

“One day, he just came by the office and said he wanted his files,” Rodri said of Dickerson. “There was no warning, other than that he called about 50 minutes before to see if I was in the office. He picked up everything that was his.”

Rodri described Dickerson as “impulsive” and “ruthless,” claiming the Ram back is looking for a scapegoat for a financial mess he created himself.

“He wanted more benefits from his money now, rather than later,” Rodri said. “I hadn’t set him up that way.”

Dickerson’s suit alleges, in part, that Rodri structured Dickerson’s contract to the agent’s personal advantage, that he invested a substantial amount of the player’s money without Dickerson’s consent, that he charged Dickerson a percentage of incentive bonuses to which he was not entitled, that he charged Dickerson $24,000 for offices supplies such as Manila folders and pens, and that he did not inform Dickerson that Dickerson was required to pay 25% of the premium on a $4-million insurance policy taken out by the Rams.

Rodri denied every charge.

As far as Dickerson’s contract is concerned, Rodri said, he was entitled to 10% of the back’s first-year earnings, 5% the second and 2% in the third year. The suit alleges that Rodri benefited by taking Dickerson’s $500,000 signing bonus in 1986, the year in which Rodri received his highest percentage of earnings.

Rodri claimed that Dickerson was obsessed with getting $1 million in the first year. (Dickerson received $400,000 in base salary in addition to the bonus.)

“It was an ego thing,” Rodri said of Dickerson.

Rodri also said he will prove that he never invested money without Dickerson’s approval.

Rodri admitted collecting a percentage of Dickerson’s incentive bonuses but said that it was agreed that the company would receive 10% of all outside income earned by Dickerson, including signing bonuses.

Rodri also said that the $24,000 charge went for far more than Manila folders and pens.

“That was a charge for the overhead for his total financial life (for one year),” Rodri said.

A portion of that money was used for Dickerson’s mortgage payment, gas bills, insurance premiums, answering fan mail, and also included monthly checks for $1,000 that were sent to Dickerson’s Aunt Viola in Sealy, Tex., Rodri said.

According to Rodri, Dickerson gave Rodri power of attorney in 1986. “Eric wanted me to do his ‘whole financial life,’ ” Rodri said. “And in order to sign his checks, I had to have control of his bank account.”

Rodri said that Dickerson was apprised of every major decision and produced several canceled checks bearing Dickerson’s signature on important transactions. He also said that he had gained little from his association with Dickerson. He said that Ken Norton Personal Management Agency, Inc., has received a total of $88,000 from Dickerson and that Rodri personally has received only $20,000 to date for his services.

Norton is also suing Rodri, who said that Dickerson and Norton have conspired against him. He said that although Norton’s company was named in Dickerson’s suit, Norton was not personally named.