Steve Nash gym owners go on legal offence against former basketball superstar
VANCOUVER — A chain of fitness clubs accused of using Steve Nash’s name without permission is going on the offensive and suing the former basketball superstar’s company for allegedly damaging its reputation.
SNFW Fitness BC Ltd., which runs 21 gyms across British Columbia, has filed a counterclaim in B.C. Supreme Court, asserting that it retained the legal right to use what it calls the “Nash endorsement” after parting ways with its famous frontman in 2014.
“SNFW has and continues to suffer loss, damage and expense, including but not limited to damage to reputation and the cost of rebranding the SNFW business in the context of … Nash’s public repudiation of the Nash endorsement,” says the counter lawsuit, which was filed in late 2016.
Nash’s Arizona-based company, B & L Holdings, filed a lawsuit against SNFW Fitness in October, accusing it of illegally using Nash’s brand after his relationship with two business partners fell apart two years earlier.