Sens owner Melnyk facing counterclaim for $1 billion

OTTAWA — The battle between Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk and business partner John Ruddy over a proposed new downtown arena has escalated.

Ruddy and Trinity Development Group Inc. are seeking more than $1 billion in damages from Melnyk and Capital Sports Management Inc. after filing a counterclaim on Tuesday.

Last month, Melnyk filed a $700-million lawsuit against Ruddy, Trinity and others after the two sides couldn’t come to terms on a plan to redevelop land at LeBreton Flats, which was slated to include a new National Hockey League arena as well as other developments.

In the counterclaim, Trinity calls Melnyk’s lawsuit “meritless” and says “the claim against John Ruddy is especially scandalous.” It goes on to say “CSMI’s and Melnyk’s true aim is to have the City of Ottawa or Trinity fund and build the $500-million Event Centre for the Ottawa Senators hockey team, with the Senators getting

30 years’ free rent. CSMI also wants the valuable naming rights and an unreasonable degree of control over the LeBreton project.”

Melnyk’s group, in its lawsuit, claimed Trinity was developing an adjacent property that was in direct competition with LeBreton. The National Capital Commission, the crown corporation that controls the land at LeBreton, said last month that the Melnyk-Ruddy RendezVous LeBreton group had until January to resolve internal partnership issues, or it would look for other options to develop the site.

Ruddy, in a statement, said he hopes to continue working on LeBreton.