Not Only Could He Not Buy the Dodgers …

LOS ANGELES (CN) - A sports consultant claims in court that the Marriott hotel in downtown Los Angeles wrongfully had him arrested after a client who had hired him to help acquire the Dodgers reneged on an agreement to pay his $20,000 tab.

Dean A. Bonham sued Michael Fox, his company Fox International Sports Management, and the Marriott Los Angeles, in Superior Court.

Courthouse News could not find contact information for Fox or his company, who are not alleged to be or to be associated with the famous actor of the same name.

Bonham claims Fox hired him in late 2011 to help raise capital to buy the Dodgers. Bonham, a U.S. citizen who lives in France, claims Fox booked him into a room at the JW Marriott Los Angeles L.A. in early February this year, using a credit card to authorize the stay.

But Fox became "incensed" over Bonham's failure to secure Fox a portion of fees from another client, according to the complaint. Fox refused to keep paying for his stay at the hotel, on the pretense that Bonham had been late for a meeting, Bonham claims. He says the Marriott then demanded that he pay the $20,000 tab.

When Bonham refused, the hotel called the police, and security "detained him against his will" until the cops arrived, according to the complaint.

"At that time, plaintiff was handcuffed, taken into LAPD custody and escorted into the police cruiser located in front of the high profile Ritz Carlton hotel where the Marriott general manager and several other employees were observing the foregoing events transpire," the complaint states.

Bonham says he was booked at county jail for defrauding an innkeeper. While he was detained, he says, he witnessed an overdose and was forced to share a holding cell with a group of men that included four armed robbers, two drug addicts and a "two hundred and fifty (250) pound young man accused of assault and battery."

The complaint adds: "Plaintiff also witnessed others urinating and vomiting on themselves and was subjected to threats and intimidation attempts by other arrestees because he was well dressed and not nearly as 'tough-looking' as other inmates."

Bonham says he was released in the early hours of March 24. He says that in early April, a Marriott employee told him that Fox had settled the bill and that the hotel would to drop the charges.

On April 20, however, Bonham was arraigned and pleaded not guilty, according to the complaint. Bonham says prosecutors later dropped the charges against him.

"Plaintiff was banned from all Marriott properties worldwide; he has been forced to disclose his arrest and the pending charges to numerous high profile, important clients; and incur legal fees in connection with criminal defense representation," the complaint states.

Bonham says the incident "will undoubtedly haunt plaintiff for the rest of his life."

In March, Guggenheim Partners, a Chicago-based financial services firm, paid a record $2 billion for the troubled Dodgers baseball franchise. The group's bid was headed by basketball legend Earvin "Magic" Johnson, 52.

It is not clear from the complaint how much headway, if any, Fox made in his bid to raise capital to acquire the franchise.

Bonham is represented by Bobby Samini with ASG Samini Law Group of Costa Mesa. He seeks punitive damages for fraud - intentional misrepresentation, negligent misrepresentation, promissory estoppel, false imprisonment, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and violation of the California Business and Professions Code.

Neither the law firm nor the Marriott immediately responded to requests for interviews.

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