Couple updates in the Jim Boeheim defamation lawsuit so let's catch up.
We're all keenly aware of the allegations in Bobby Davis and Mike Lang's latest affidavit, claiming that Bernie Fine's wife Laurie had sex with multiple Syracuse players over the years and demanding personal information for players and university folks to follow up and verify the accusations.
Boeheim's lawyers shot back with a Motion To Dismiss on Wednesday.
Lawyers argue Boeheim's remarks were his opinion and therefore non-actionable, according to court papers. The papers also highlight Boeheim's public apology 10 days after the initial statements.
An additional argument used in the motion is that the "imprecise language" and "sarcastic, hyperbolic" tone of Boeheim's language negate any possibility of a factual assertion. Both the sarcasm within the statement "So, are we supposed to what? Stop the presses 26 years later?" and the hyperbolic nature of the statement "a bunch of a thousand lies he has told" express an opinion, according to court papers.
They also shot down the Laurie Fine allegations as a desperate attempt to generate headlines, noting that even if it were true, consensual sexual relationships have no bearing on this suit.
"Plaintiffs’ application is nothing more than a transparent effort to generate headlines through the gratuitous publication of irrelevant sexually explicit allegations and should be denied," the defense lawyers wrote. "Simply put, whether or not Laurie Fine... had consensual sexual relationships with of-age Syracuse basketball players between 1992 and 1997 is irrelevant to Boeheim’s state of mind in 2011," the lawyers wrote.
A hearing will be held Friday morning at 10 a.m. at State Supreme Court in New York County and we may know a little more about where the next round of legal wranglings will take place and what can and can't be admissible.
Meanwhile, Zach Tomaselli is somewhere suing a dog. Probably.