Harold Kasselman's Blog - Posts Tagged "jim-rome"
Pete Rose sues John Dowd
In yet another interesting law suit involving a baseball star in the last two months, (Mitch Williams won his case against the MLB Network) Pete Rose will face off against John Dowd. Dowd is currently representing President Trump in the Russia collusion probe. But more importantly, Dowd was Special Counsel to former baseball commissioner Bart Giamatti in his investigation of the gambling scandal which led to Rose's banishment from baseball for life. Dowd had led the investigation which resulted in a 225 page report filed in 1989 which Giamatti relied upon.
Yesterday a Philadelphia federal judge ruled that Rose's claim for defamation against Dowd was legally sufficient to move forward. Rose is claiming that his reputation was defamed by Dowd's words during two radio interviews in 2015. In one with Jim Rome, it is alleged that Dowd claimed that a gambling intermediary friend of Rose was also “running young women down in Florida for his(Rose's) satisfaction.” In another radio interview it is alleged that Dowd claimed that this same intermediary was running girls under the statutory age for legal consent; namely that the girls were 12 to 14.
If that were true, each occasion would have been a criminal offense. As such, the words are said to be libelous or defamatory per se. In other words Rose need not prove that Dowd's words would have hurt his reputation; they are presumed to be defamatory by their very nature.
Lawyers for the intermediary have denied as early as August of 2015 that any such "running" of young girls ever took place. They have also denied that the intermediary ever told such things to John Dowd.
No date has been set for trial of the matter. Depositions and other pre-trial matters will take place.
Yesterday a Philadelphia federal judge ruled that Rose's claim for defamation against Dowd was legally sufficient to move forward. Rose is claiming that his reputation was defamed by Dowd's words during two radio interviews in 2015. In one with Jim Rome, it is alleged that Dowd claimed that a gambling intermediary friend of Rose was also “running young women down in Florida for his(Rose's) satisfaction.” In another radio interview it is alleged that Dowd claimed that this same intermediary was running girls under the statutory age for legal consent; namely that the girls were 12 to 14.
If that were true, each occasion would have been a criminal offense. As such, the words are said to be libelous or defamatory per se. In other words Rose need not prove that Dowd's words would have hurt his reputation; they are presumed to be defamatory by their very nature.
Lawyers for the intermediary have denied as early as August of 2015 that any such "running" of young girls ever took place. They have also denied that the intermediary ever told such things to John Dowd.
No date has been set for trial of the matter. Depositions and other pre-trial matters will take place.
