Baseball Lawsuit Round-up

July 8th, 2009. By AbiK

I have this image of a dad who takes his son to his first ballgame. The dad starts going over the finer points of the game. He’s riled up passion—a passion he wants his son to share, of course. Then, he turns to look his son directly in the eye, and taking on a more serious tone he says,

“and son, if anyone pisses you off at the game, you take ’em to court.”

Welcome to baseball American-style 2009. With that, here’s a little scorecard on the season’s lawsuits so far…

Winner: Alfred G. Rava

Loser: Cause Marketing and Good Intent

We’ve blogged about this one earlier, but to recall, Alfred G. Rava—a lawyer—was fairly miffed that, as a man, he was not given a floppy hat giveaway at an Oakland A’s game back in ’04. The floppy hats (comped by Macy’s) were part of a Mother’s Day promotion that also supported Breast Cancer awareness. Kind of a girly-day theme—with an important message. But Rava must’ve been in touch with his feminine side that day, and well, he got mad when that wasn’t obvious to the folks doling out the hats. So he sued. Sexual discrimination. And he won. The settlement was reportedly $510,000. Next up at bat…

Winner: Bradford Campeau-Laurion

Loser: Yankees Baseball and NYC

I’m patriotic. But there are times when I need a bathroom quickly, too. Guess that’s what happened when Mr. Campeau-Laurion tried to dash off to the bathroom while “God Bless America” was playing at Yankee Stadium back in August, 2008. According to a report on foxsports.com (7/7/09), Campeau-Laurion’s lawsuit claimed he was “kicked out of Yankee Stadium by a police officer” as a result of his inappropriately timed pee dash. So, he sued. A civil liberties thing.

Passions run deep when it comes to patriotism at the ballpark, particularly post 9/11, particularly in NYC. But, as the settlement would indicate, you can’t ban a bathroom break simply because a patriotic tune is being belted across the ballpark (catch the alliteration?). So, according to the report, Campeau-Laurion gets $10,001, and $12,000 in legal fees will be paid by the city of NY—note, the city did not admit any liability in the settlement. Just my 2¢, but the real reason Campeau-Laurion should’ve been ejected was, although he apparently lives in Queens, he’s a RED SOX fan. The shame of it. Next up…

Winner: Free Speech on the Internet (and Twitter), for now…

Loser: St. Louis Cardinals Manager Tony La Russa

This one’s a tough one. According to nbcsports.msnbc.com (7/7/09), the May lawsuit filed by La Russa claimed “trademark infringement, “cybersquatting” and misappropriation of his name. It claimed an unauthorized page that used his name caused emotional distress by making light of his DUI charge and the deaths of two Cardinals pitchers in recent seasons.”

No arguing that the loser who set up a Twitter account bearing La Russa’s name was acting inappropriately. Whoever he is, he reportedly tweeted stuff like:

“Lost 2 out of 3, but we made it out of Chicago without one drunk driving incident or dead pitcher.”

The Twitter account is dead now—rightfully so. And La Russa agreed to dismiss the charges—while Twitter has made the point that they did not cough up any cash “in exchange for this dismissal.”

Season’s still in play…so keep your eye on the ball and remember, if anyone pisses you off at the game, you take ’em to court (thank you, The People’s Court, for the inspiration).

Tags: Alfred Rava, Baseball, Twitter

This was posted on Wednesday, July 8th, 2009 at 10:13 am and is filed under Emerging Issues . Feel free to respond, or trackback. Read our comments policy.