An $10 million defamation lawsuit by a sleepy Yankee fan against ESPN’s Dan Shulman and John Kruk was tossed by Bronx Supreme Court Justice Julia Rodriguez yesterday, not the first time Sir Kruk has fallen somewhat sort of Sir Oscar Wilde. From the New York Post’s Laura Italiano :
“The announcer’s comments lasted barely longer than a minute, and did not rise to the level of defamation, which requires “extreme and outrageous conduct [which] intentionally or recklessly causes severe emotional distress to another,” wrote the judge, Bronx Supreme Court Justice Julia Rodriguez.
Rector had further argued in his lawsuit that Major League Baseball “set the stage” for others to mock and defame him by posting the clip of his napping online, allowing commenters to have a field day. But MLB made no defamatory statements directly, Rodriguez ruled in dismissing the suit.
“Clearly, nothing shown or said which can be attributed to any of the defendants during the Telecast, on MLB.com or on YouTube concerning the Plaintiff rises to the level of an act of extreme and outrageous conduct,” she wrote.