Fine accusers filing defamation lawsuit against university, Boeheim
UPDATED: Dec. 13, 2011 at 8:35 p.m.
Two former men’s basketball ball boys announced they will file a defamation lawsuit against Syracuse men’s basketball head coach Jim Boeheim and Syracuse University during a press conference Tuesday with their lawyer.
Bobby Davis and his stepbrother, Mike Lang, hired high-profile attorney Gloria Allred and held the news conference at the Renaissance New York Times Square Hotel in New York City to explain why they felt it was necessary to file a lawsuit now.
Davis, 39, and Lang, 45, have accused former SU associate men’s basketball coach Bernie Fine of molesting them on multiple occasions.
Allred announced the men had filed a defamation lawsuit against Boeheim in the New York Supreme Court. Although the lawsuit is against both Syracuse University and Boeheim, the press conference focused more on Boeheim.
SU is included in the lawsuit because Boeheim is an employee of the university, she said. She said the university is responsible for the acts of its agents under certain circumstances. Allred said she believes this is one of those circumstances.
‘It is now long overdue for the university to be held accountable for its actions and inactions in this matter,’ she said.
TMZ.com began streaming the conference at 2 p.m., and Allred appeared with Davis and Lang 25 minutes later. Allred opened the press conference by announcing she and the two men would make statements, but only she would answer questions.
In the lawsuit, Davis alleges that he was regularly sexually abused by Fine for nearly two decades, Allred said. Lang alleges Fine repeatedly sexually abused him after he started delivering newspapers to the Fine household.
Allred’s conference shed some new light on SU’s 2005 investigation. Allred said after Davis sent an email to the school, he flew from Utah to Syracuse to meet with a member of the human resources department. Davis met with an employee for two hours. Allred said Davis didn’t hear back from Syracuse with any follow-up questions after the initial meeting.
‘A few months after his meeting, Mr. Davis received a short, approximately three-sentence letter conveying that Syracuse University did not believe that the allegations were founded and that the matter was closed,’ she said.
The university declined to comment on the lawsuit, said Scott McDowell, director of communications for the Syracuse University Lubin House in New York City in an email. He said he was emailing on behalf of Kevin Quinn, SU’s vice president for public affairs.
The conference chronicled the timeline of Davis’ attempts to bring his story to authorities, SU and the press. Neither Davis nor Lang has asked for money or compensation in exchange for their statements or reports, she said.
Allred’s speech condemned Boeheim for his statements regarding the accusations, which she called ‘particularly disturbing.’ She repeated multiple quotes made by Boeheim following the most recent news of the allegations that were cause for the lawsuit. She also said the Syracuse Police Department and the university wronged the two men by failing to investigate the claims thoroughly.
After Allred gave her opening statement, Davis and Lang both read statements of their own.
Davis said his worst fear was that he would be called a liar if he spoke up. Davis said he worried other victims would never be able to speak up because of what Boeheim said.
‘I am filing this lawsuit because I don’t want them to be afraid,’ he said. ‘The coach has seriously hurt my reputation, but I want people to know the truth.’
Lang echoed his stepbrother’s statement and said coming forward was one of the hardest things he has had to do in his life.
After the men spoke, Allred held up a copy of the lawsuit and began to take questions from the reporters.
The conference lasted about 25 minutes. The men are seeking change, Allred said. Allred mentioned the Onondaga County district attorney’s support for Davis and Lang’s statement in a press conference held last week.
Published on December 12, 2011 at 12:00 pm
Contact Meghin: [email protected] | @meghinwithani
