PITTSBURGH – Antonio Brown’s accomplishments in the National Football League add up to quite a list, as do his off- and on-field incidents that have marred his stints in Pittsburgh, Oakland, New England and Tampa Bay.
The pros: A Super Bowl with the Buccaneers, four first-team All-Pro and seven Pro Bowl selections, more than 900 receptions and 12,000 yards and a spot on the NFL 2010s All-Decade Team.
Among the cons: Throwing furniture from his 14th-floor apartment and nearly hitting a child, sexual assault allegations by his former trainer, damaging his feet in a cryotherapy chamber, skipping practices because wouldn’t change to a helmet that met NFL safety standards and, just this Sunday, taking off his Tampa Bay jersey and walking off the field in the middle of a game.
Brown’s time with the Buccaneers appears to be over and whether any team will give him another contract – and whether he wants one – remains to be seen.
Though he left the Steelers in 2018, another list can be compiled from court documents in Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas that would be of interest to Pennsylvania’s legal observers. It includes a dispute over dead piranhas and a battle with the other of one of his children.
Robert Leo v. Antonio Brown
Leo, Brown’s former personal attendant, filed a complaint in September 2019 that said Brown owed him $16,630.76. Brown paid Leo a weekly wage plus reimbursed him for expenditures made on a Capital One credit card.
The complaint said Brown failed to make those reimbursements while an interest rate of 27.15% kept the total rising. The court’s arbitration award ruled for Brown in the amount of $18,392.84 in February 2020.
Victor Prisk v. Antonio Brown
An orthopedist claimed Brown owed him $11,500 for services he performed at an agreed upon rate of $500 per hour. When Prisk made his demand, Brown texted “Bro I owe u money? Surprising to me sad these days with people like u. We never discussed any money about anything even got u email upon plan to get a gym In Pittsburgh now I owe you sad these days bro see U in court.”
Prisk’s case was only mildly successful after Brown’s lawyer, Sean O’Connell of Robb Leonard Mulvihill, argued Brown never hired Prisk. An arbitrator awarded Prisk only $1,500 in February 2020 despite an invoice detailing hours spent on house calls and office visits.
Asian Tropical Fish Hatchery vs. Antonio Brown
Aqua World Pet Super Center in Pittsburgh claimed Brown bought 50 piranhas as a result of his participation on an Animal Planet show called Tanked. The company first installed a 650-gallon salt water aquarium at Brown’s house, then a separate 250-gallon tank for the piranhas.
Aqua World said Brown neglected its directions to keep the tank clean and fish alive. Just before Christmas 2018, Brown called Aqua World to report a foul smell and dead piranhas, the complaint says.
More than 40 dead, half-eaten and molded piranha carcasses were found during a house call in the middle of the night, the company says. The agent worked until around 4 a.m. that night but Brown refused to pay, the company says.
The company sought and was awarded $2,071.61.
Silver Pines Homeowners Association v. Antonio Brown
The HOA went to court to collect $1,525 in fees, and Brown’s legal team apparently never responded. Pending is a request for default judgment filed in April that seeks $5,939.02.
The case is one of more than 10 filed regarding his property’s financial obligations, with the others involving tax payments and assessments.
Shameika Brailsford v. Antonio Brown
Ex-girlfriend Brailsford, with whom Brown had a child in 2007, claimed he shut her out of her Hampton Township residence in violation of a landlord/tenant arrangement.
She said Brown was obligated to pay $5,000 a month in child support, so he deducted the $1,500 monthly rent from that amount. But in 2016, they did not sign a new lease and Brown stopped deducting the $1,500 from his child support payment, she said.
In November of that year, the property’s basement flooded with sewage. She said Brown failed to respond to her attempts to reach him and she lived several weeks with the sewage.
Brown eventually sent a plumber but permanent damage to the house had already been caused, she said. Months later, his child support obligations doubled as a result of a new contract, but Brown only paid the original $5,000 in response to Brailsford’s complaints on social media about their custody arrangement, the complaint said.
In July 2017, Brown’s lawyer told Brailsford he would force her to leave the property unless she could buy it for $200,000, she says. In October, he changed the locks and destroyed “some of Plaintiff’s belongings, and placing the majority of which into trash bags strewn around the Property.”
A quick ruling by Judge Alan Hertzberg ordered Brown to stop “refusing plaintiff unfettered access” and to hand over the keys to the new locks.