More than four years after he filed a lawsuit against Utah-born professional golfer Tony Finau and his family asking for more than $16 million in what he says are unpaid expenses, loans and percentages of winnings, it appears that Salt Lake City businessman Molonai Hola will get his day in court.
Judge James Brady of Utah’s 4th Judicial District Court has scheduled an eight-day jury trial for the case to begin on Oct. 2, 2024, in Provo. Only one of Hola’s three initial claims from his original lawsuit filed in September 2020 has survived, but the former Salt Lake City mayoral candidate and University of Utah football player was “thrilled” when Brady’s ruling came last week after a pretrial conference with attorneys representing both parties.
“It has been a long time, but it does feel good to get this court date,” Hola said. “It is a good story that has happened to Tony, and how he grew up here in our backyard and has been so successful. It is a little sad that it has come to this, but I think it is important that something like this has happened so we can make things right.”
The Deseret News reported last August that Finau, 34, a Utah sports icon who has made more than $50 million in winnings, appearance fees, endorsements (according to Spotrac.com), was being sued by at least two different investors, in separate lawsuits, for repayment of loans and other work and services they say they provided to Finau and his family from 2006 to 2009. That’s when the teenage golfing phenom and his brother, Gipper, were just getting their professional starts in the sport.
The second lawsuit, filed by Utah County businessman Dave Hunter in May 2021, was dismissed by the district court, but was appealed to the Utah Court of Appeals, which heard oral arguments on it last August in Salt Lake City. Hunter said last week that he expects a decision within the next year.
Hunter and Hola are not working together; Finau’s Salt Lake City-based attorneys — John A. Wirthlin and Stewart O. Peay — moved to have the two cases consolidated shortly after Hunter’s was filed, but court documents show their petition was unsuccessful.
Contacted after the trial date was set on the Hola complaint, Finau’s representatives again declined to make the golfer available for comment. Finau’s manager, Chris Armstrong of the Wasserman Media Group, told the Deseret News via email that the most recent development that the lawsuit will go to trial is “quite simply a standard element in the legal process” and that Finau’s position has not changed.
Hola is being represented by Salt Lake City attorneys Joshua S. Ostler and Patrick Shea.
“I think it is accurate to say it is a victory (for Hola) that there is going to be a trial. As far as just getting a trial date, I wouldn’t necessarily characterize that as a victory,” Ostler said. “We have always assumed that as long as we had claims, we were going to get a trial date. It was just a matter of getting through the discovery phase, and the judge was finally satisfied that we are close enough to being done with discovery that, yes, let’s calendar a trial date and we can work towards that.”
The complaint
In his initial complaint filed in September 2020, Hola says he bankrolled the brothers for several years — from 2006 to 2009 — before Tony made the PGA Tour full time in 2014.
“Mr. Hola’s financial assistance alone totaled approximately six hundred thousand dollars ($600,000),” the original complaint alleges, saying that Hola made mortgage payments on the family’s home in Salt Lake City’s Rose Park neighborhood, paid for medical insurance and medical bills, paid golf-related travel expenses for the brothers, including tournament fees and for caddies and equipment, and for golf apparel.
Hola’s lawsuit also claims when the Finau family’s Rose Park home was condemned, he paid for them to lease a new home in Lehi, and bought furniture and new wardrobes for Gary, Tony and Gipper Finau. Additionally, Hola says in court documents that he bought the family a new Chevrolet Suburban, paid living expenses and related fees for them to reside in Florida for a year and receive golf lessons from “world-renowned golf instructor David Leadbetter” and introduced them to Dieter Esch, a onetime Park City resident and co-owner of the Wilhelmina International talent and modeling agency.
Esch, who has been deposed in preparation for the trial, served as the Finaus’ agent for a while and helped broker a sponsorship agreement with Callaway Golf for the brothers early in their pro careers.
Esch testified that he believes Hola is due more than $5 million from the Finaus, according to the deposition made available to the Deseret News last August, and will be called as a witness at the trial, Ostler said.
He acknowledged that the judge dismissed two claims — tortious interference against the Wasserman Agency and breach of contract by the Finaus — but a third claim of “unjust enrichment” has survived.
That claim of unjust enrichment — which Hola alleges in the original complaint totals nearly $600,000 — is what October’s trial will mostly be about, Ostler said.
“So our contention is ... they shouldn’t be able to just take money and services from someone for three years, which were always intended to propel them to the PGA Tour, and then when Tony makes the PGA Tour they say, ‘Sorry, we are not going to pay you back,’” Ostler said.
In their first motion to dismiss all three complaints — and get the venue changed from Salt Lake County to Utah County, which was granted — Finau’s attorneys argued that the unjust enrichment claim should be dismissed because the “alleged verbal agreement” happened more than 16 years ago and the statute of limitations on such an agreement would have caused the agreement to expire.
Seeking damages
In a meeting with the judge on the case’s status in September, the Finaus’ attorneys acknowledged that they will likely file a motion to limit the amount of damages that Hola can recover, court documents show.
Ostler declined to specify a dollar amount Hola will seek at trial, given that two-thirds of his original complaint was thrown out. But he said the plaintiff “hasn’t necessarily moved off” the original claim for $16 million. Ostler referred to Esch’s estimation that Hola is due more than $5 million.
One of the claims that was thrown out, the breach of contract claim against the Finau family, called for Hola to receive “20% of Tony’s and Gipper’s earnings as professional golfers,” which Hola said was part of the original agreement from 2006. The original claim filed in 2020 asked for $16 million because it was based on Tony’s winnings at that time.
Tony Finau staying on PGA Tour
In December, Tony Finau squelched rumors that he was poised to leave the PGA Tour and join the Saudi-backed LIV Golf League, which had just secured a commitment from one of Finau’s best friends in pro golf, former No. 1 golfer in the World Golf Rankings, Jon Rahm.
“As this year comes to an end I am grateful to play the game that I love and to have the opportunity to compete at the highest level,” Tony Finau wrote on Instagram. “I’m excited for 2024 and looking forward to playing my 10th season on the PGA Tour! … Thank you to my partners for your continued support.”
Rahm’s deal with LIV Golf is reportedly for more than $300 million. Industry insiders believe Finau could sign on with the controversial new league for upwards of $100 million.
Finau tied for 38th at The Sentry tournament in Maui, Hawaii, two weeks ago and won $96,000. He will be heavily featured at The American Express tournament this weekend at La Quinta, California, because that financial company is one of his major sponsors.
Utah-born pros Zac Blair and Patrick Fishburn — whom Finau has helped financially in his quest for a PGA Tour card — are also in the field.
Next steps
Among potential witnesses is Marcus Burbank, Tony Finau’s former caddie.
Burbank said he began caddying for Tony Finau in 2013 and was on the bag in August 2014 when Finau won the Web.com Tour’s Stonebrae Classic, a win that propelled the Utahn to the PGA Tour.
Burbank said Finau had paid him for his caddying work through 2014, but fired him just before the Sony Open in January 2015 after he had already made travel plans and paid for some friends and family members to also attend the event in Hawaii. The abrupt dismissal cost him thousands of dollars in prepaid travel expenses, he said.
The former golf professional at The Ranches and Thanksgiving Point golf courses in Utah — he’s now a real estate agent — says he kept quiet about his experience with Finau for eight years because he was still involved in local golf and “couldn’t afford to be that outspoken against Utah’s golden boy, Tony.”
Burbank said after learning through media reports that lawsuits were filed that he heard from Hola’s team, who in turn put him in touch with his attorneys.
“Tony was my brother, man. And I still love him like a brother. But he wouldn’t have got there without me. No one can take that away from me,” Burbank said. “I was inside the ropes, at the highest level. It was great. I would love to see him win still. But there’s been an issue.”
An issue that should finally be resolved in October.
