Lenny Dykstra Sued by Publishing Partner

Lenny Dykstra's having less luck as a magazine publisher than he did as an outfielder.

In January, the former New York Met teamed up with a Manhattan publisher, Doubledown Media, to start a custom magazine of financial advice for professional athletes, The Players Club. Now Dykstra and Doubledown are in a legal battle over control of the second, yet-to-be-published issue, with Doubledown accusing the baseball great of skipping out on his debts.

Dykstra struck the first blow, filing suit in federal court on April 25 accusing Doubledown of breaching their contract by withholding the issue and interfering with the magazine's business relationships. On Tuesday, Doubledown, which publishes Trader Monthly and The Cigar Report, hit back with a counterclaim alleging that it was Dykstra who breached their agreement in failing to pay more than half a million dollars he owed.

According to Doubledown's complaint, the relationship between the two parties started off "with much optimism" but "rapidly soured" once The Players Club launched.

"Over a relatively short period of time, Dykstra proved himself to be a mercurial, difficult client whose many idiosyncrasies and demanding personality imposed substantial costs on the planned publications and created excessive burdens for Doubledown," reads the suit. "At the same time, Dykstra began shirking his financial obligations to Doubledown beginning in late 2007 and continuing into 2008, repeatedly driving up expenses and increasing the overall costs of the publications at a time when he, on information and belief, lacked the cash to pay for such expenses."

Those expenses included a $400,000 launch party and the hiring of Time magazine art director Arthur Hochstein as a design and editorial consultant.* Dykstra also argued in favor of launching the title as a monthly rather than at a more inexpensive bimonthly frequency.

Doubledown claims that Dykstra asked for the company's aid in raising the money he needed to pay, "either by helping him secure a loan against his newly-purchased house or else selling a promissory note for which he had traded his car wash business."

But Dystra's original suit insists that he "has performed all covenants and agreements with Doubledown except as excused by Doubledown's breach or otherwise." Dykstra is seeking damages of $500,000.

Dykstra's attorney, Douglas Broder, was traveling and unavailable for comment. Doubledown president Randall Lane declined to comment, saying he couldn't talk about a pending case.

In February of this year, an accounting firm sued Dykstra, saying he had failed to pay $110,000 that he owed.

*Correction, 5/2/08: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified Arthur Hochstein as the former art director of Time. Hochstein remains at Time, and also consults for The Players Club.