Fernando Tatis Jr. plans to appeal after a San Diego Superior Court judge ruled against his effort to void a future-earnings agreement tied to money he received as a teenager in the Dominican Republic. The Padres star said the fight is not finished after Judge Judy Bae confirmed a tentative ruling that found his legal challenge came too late.
The decision leaves Tatis owing the Big League Advance Fund just under $3.74 million, according to Courthouse News Service. That total includes the unpaid balance after he stopped making payments at the end of 2023, plus interest, attorney fees, and other costs.
What the court decided
Bae ruled that a party challenging the legality of an entire contract must raise that issue before arbitration begins. In this case, Tatis filed his lawsuit in San Diego nearly a year after arbitration had already started, according to a BLA attorney cited by Courthouse News Service.
The judge still agreed with Tatis on one key point. Bae found that California law applied to the dispute, even though Tatis signed the deal overseas with a company based in Delaware.
How the deal was structured
Big League Advance gave Tatis $2 million in October 2017 in exchange for 10% of his future earnings. After Tatis later signed a 14-year, $340 million contract with the Padres in February 2021, the company says it is owed $34 million.
The agreement has become a larger legal and public issue because Tatis was 18 when he signed it in the Dominican Republic. His legal team has argued that Big League Advance acted like an unlicensed lender and used unfair tactics to push teenagers into investment deals.
Tatis says the case is about more than his contract
Tatis has framed the dispute as part of a broader fight over how young players are treated in financial arrangements tied to their baseball careers. In a June 2025 statement, he said he was “fighting this battle not just for myself but for everyone still chasing their dream and hoping to provide a better life for their family.”
He added that the goal was to help protect young players who do not yet know how to defend themselves from “predatory lenders and illegal financial schemes.”
Why California mattered in the ruling
Bae wrote that Delaware’s role in the dispute was limited because the agreement was negotiated and signed in the Dominican Republic. The judge also noted that the contract was largely carried out in California because Tatis made payments while playing for the Padres.
“The court has an independent obligation to review illegal contracts so long as it was raised before the arbitrator,” Tatis’ attorney, Maurice Mitts, said during Friday’s proceedings, according to Courthouse News Service. Bae’s ruling on California law still leaves the core timing issue in place, which is why Tatis now plans to appeal.
Tatis declined further comment and referred questions to his legal team, which could not be reached. The next step will likely determine whether the Padres star can keep pressing his challenge to the agreement that tied a share of his future income to the money he received before becoming a $340 million player.
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