Laurie Fine’s attorney says Board of Trustees’ report may help libel suit
The evaluation of Syracuse University’s 2005 investigation into sexual allegations against Bernie Fine is expected to help Laurie Fine’s libel suit against ESPN, said Lawrence Fisher, her attorney.
Fisher said the report compromises former SU ball boy Bobby Davis’ credibility and should help in the libel suit Fisher and attorney Kevin Tucker filed on behalf of Laurie Fine.
“The SU Report helps Laurie Fine with her lawsuit against ESPN by revealing additional information about the dishonest character of Bobby Davis,” Fisher said in an email. “Specifically, the report sheds more light on his false and misleading accusations.”
In May, Laurie Fine filed a libel lawsuit against ESPN, claiming its reporters had maliciously and falsely reported she had witnessed her husband molesting children and that she had sex with Davis and other members of the SU men’s basketball team.
New York state libel law requires that the plaintiff prove falsehood, unauthorized publication to a third party, negligence and special harm or defamation, according to citmedialaw.com.
A special committee of the Board of Trustees released a 52-page report on Thursday evaluating university officials’ investigation into a child molestation complaint against former associate men’s basketball coach Bernie Fine by Davis. The report also evaluated the law firm the university hired, Bond, Schoeneck & King.
The report faults Davis for not notifying BS&K of the secretly taped phone conversation between Davis and Laurie Fine, which alludes to her knowledge of Davis’ sexual relationship with Bernie Fine. If Davis had, the “progress and outcome of the inquiry might have been dramatically different,” according to the report.
“If the tape was authentic and not contrived — matters about which we express no opinion — it would have provided at least some ‘substantiation’ for Davis’s claims that BSK otherwise found lacking,” according to the report.
The report also specifically notes that Peter Jones, a member of BS&K, only asked Davis for details of Fine’s alleged abuse once.
“Although Jones had a few additional telephone conversations with Davis over the next three months, the September 16, 2005 meeting was the only in-person meeting between Davis and either BSK or other University representatives, and the only occasion on which Davis was asked to provide details regarding Bernie Fine’s alleged abuse of him,” according to the report.
David Rubin, a media law professor and former dean of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications said he disagrees that the report will help Laurie in her lawsuit.
“I don’t see that the 2005 report affects Laurie’s libel suit against ESPN one way or the other,” he said. “ESPN had no knowledge of the 2005 investigation or its outcome. It obviously had no knowledge of the Paul Weiss report. Therefore, anything ESPN reported cannot be connected to either the 2005 BS&K investigation or the Paul Weiss investigation of the 2005 report.”
