(Apologies to Alan Partridge for the use of the above headline). Given the number of insurance companies featuring former Oz cast members as pitchmen, shouldn’t one of televisions more murderous convicts be selling us on the importance of slander insurance? In Brooklyn Friday, lawyers for Roger Clemens’ former trainer, Brian McNamee, came to terms with The Rocket’s insurance carrier over a defamation suit filed in 2008. From Newsday’s Jim Baubach :
The actual settlement amount, which was not revealed, will be paid by AIG, which is Clemens’ homeowners insurance, Clemens attorney Chip Babcock said. He said it’s standard for homeowners policies to include coverage for defamation lawsuits.
“No one disputes insurance paid for it,” McNamee attorney Richard Emery said.
Clemens was not present in court Wednesday and Babcock said the pitcher did not have authority over the settlement negotiations, which were between McNamee and the insurance company.
“Clemens was a bystander, if you will, in the settlement,” Emery said, “but it does get him off the hook from going to trial in October.”
McNamee, of Long Beach, sued Clemens for defamation in 2008, saying the pitcher slandered him by saying his former trainer lied about having injected the pitcher with PEDs in 1998, 2000 and 2001. Clemens denied the accusations, including under oath before Congress, and in 2012 was acquitted of perjury and obstruction charges that stemmed from his denials.