Bernie Fine was fired from his position as assistant basketball coach at Syracuse University in 2011 after being accused of sexual molestation by former Orangemen ball boy Bobby Davis.
Now, over a year and a half after ESPN broke the story, Fine is suing the sports network for defamation. The initial court document does not outline the specifics of the accusations, but I expect that his lawsuit will be similar to one his wife Laurie Fine also filed against the network last year claiming that ESPN ran a false story that destroyed her life. Interestingly enough a part of Laurie Fine’s lawsuit has already been thrown out by a judge.
The first court hearing is scheduled for July 18th.
You don’t have to be a big time lawyer to know that the best defense for any defamation claim is the truth, (you can watch Judge Mathis and learn that) and a year after the story came out Syracuse police chief Frank Fowler said the allegations against Fine were “highly credible,” although is hasn’t been confirmed that they are true or not.
This lawsuit appears to be really frivolous. Seems like the Fines are hoping ESPN wouldn’t want to be bothered and would just settle the matter. I don’t expect that to be the case. After such damning allegations you’d think they’d want to stay as far out of the limelight as possible.