Fine allegations : Lawyers use Allred’s former slander lawsuit against her in ongoing case
Lawyers representing Syracuse University and Jim Boeheim are trying to use the words of celebrity attorney Gloria Allred against her.
Allred defended and won a defamation case nearly identical to the one currently facing SU and Boeheim. Lawyers representing Boeheim and the university referenced the two slander suits Monday.
The case Allred defended was closed two months ago when a judge ruled that her clients could not be sued for calling their ex-boyfriend a ‘liar’ and ‘scum’ on the Internet, according to an online article published by The Post-Standard on Tuesday.
A New York City lawyer sued Allred’s clients, a former roller derby skater and a lawyer, because they accused him of being a liar and cheater on their website, LiarsCheatersRUs.com, according to the article.
The lawsuit was thrown out by U.S. District Judge Harold Baer because the comments were ‘clearly hyperbolic,’ which readers would understand to be blatant opinion, not fact, according to the article.
This line of reasoning is the same argument lawyers for SU and Boeheim are presenting in the defamation case spurred from comments related to the allegations of sexual abuse against Bernie Fine, former associate men’s basketball coach.
Allred told The Daily Orange she declined to comment.
Many courts have held that such hyperbolic expressions of opinion are protected by the state and federal constitutions and should not be the subject of a defamation suit, according to the article.
Allred’s clients, former SU ball boys Bobby Davis and Mike Lang, claim Boeheim defamed them when he publicly accused the stepbrothers of lying about Fine molesting them. Boeheim initially stated that the men were looking to make a financial gain with the accusations. He has since apologized for these comments.
Lawyers representing SU and Boeheim wrote in court documents that Allred and her co-counsel, made of three other attorneys, have argued against the dismissal of the current case ‘while tellingly omitting’ the federal court decision in a case of their own that goes against them, according to the article.
Attorneys from both sides will appear before state Supreme Court Justice Brian DeJoseph on Friday to argue the dismissal motion. Davis and Lang will dispute the defendants’ claim that the statements were hyperbolic and sarcastic, according to the article.
Fine, who was fired from the university Nov. 27, has denied all sexual abuse allegations and has not been charged.
Published on April 24, 2012 at 12:00 pm
