Some troubling comments attributed to Terry Pegula (and denied by Pegula) and Jerry Jones from SI Writer Jim Trotter’s Lawsuit against the NFL

[GASabresIUFAN]

11 minutes ago, nfreeman said:

Interesting.  I did not know that.  Thanks.

Does the privilege continue even if the pleadings are made public?

I don't think Trotter could hide from a defamation lawsuit because he made the claim in a lawsuit.  This claim wasn't an opinion but looks to be stated as a factual statement by TP.  If the claim is false, I don't think the fact he made it in a lawsuit helps him.  Otherwise, people would lack adequate recourse against false accusations.

Edited September 12, 2023 by GASabresIUFAN

[...]

46 minutes ago, JohnC said:

I'm not commenting on the veracity of Trotter's comments because I don't know. Assuming it is not true, or even if it was true, the worst approach for Terry P to take is to sue and then have this issue linger for years in the court system. As you well know as an attorney, civil cases can take years to work through the system. Right or wrong, it's not worth it to Terry P.

Uhm, if the attribution or representation of the comment is false or inaccurate and readily provable in a courtroom you bet your tushy he should take that to court. If you believe otherwise you have no idea how fast ideas and statements are spread through the public consciousness and how damaging something like this can be to a person's reputation. He sues, or threatens to sue and if the person who posted immediately doesn't retract and issue a public apology using an equally effective dissemination campaign then he proceeds fully with the suit. Assuming, of course, he didn't say it.

Edited September 12, 2023 by ...

[triumph_communes]

They will just deny and let it slide. They can’t attack, even if they had undeniable evidence it wasn’t said it’s still a losing game in public opinion to fight it. 

[PerreaultForever]

idk, you don't want it to be true, but more often than not when these things pop up they are in fact true. Context and detail are sometimes blurry, but the overall issue is usually true. Usually. 

This could explain the separation between the Bills/Sabres. 

[MattPie]

52 minutes ago, Crusader1969 said:

I can’t imagine Terry being dumb enough to think such a thing     And if he is dumb enough to think that -there is no way in hell he says it out loud 

I can certainly imagine him thinking it, growing up where he did during the decades he did. I too can't imagine he'd say it out loud. That being said, the last decade of the internet and politics should be all anyone needs to prove that purportedly "smart" people think and say some really ***** things.

[Eleven]

Yeah, the guy who married a woman of a different race and who has several brown kids is going to say something like that.  Eyeroll thingy.

[Night Train]

3 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

 

This could explain the separation between the Bills/Sabres. 

  ???   

  The preservation of the caste system ? 

[MattPie]

3 minutes ago, Eleven said:

Yeah, the guy who married a woman of a different race and who has several brown kids is going to say something like that.  Eyeroll thingy.

He wouldn't be the first dude to be into Asian women while still being racist in the more traditional American way. But, I digress. I know nothing about the specifics of this case. I hope he didn't say it. I'd even be a bit surprised if he did. But it's a possibility that we'll just have to wait and see.

[Cascade Youth]

51 minutes ago, nfreeman said:

Interesting.  I did not know that.  Thanks.

Does the privilege continue even if the pleadings are made public?

Yes.  But it's a qualified privilege, not an absolute privilege.  You *might* be able to challenge it if you can show that it was superfluous to the lawsuit and was put into the pleading in an effort to shield it from a defamation claim.  But that's a tough showing (and won't work here since it's related to the core claims).

58 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

I do not believe so.  Protected speech is from government action not private.  This is the publication by a private person of a very nasty quote attributed to another private person.  I don't believe the law cares how the publication of the information is made.

 

Sorry but you're just wrong about that.  Statements contained in a pleading in a lawsuit are protected speech afforded a qualified privilege which is a defense to a defamation claim.  Extremely hard (but not impossible) to pierce that privilege.

[GASabresIUFAN]

9 minutes ago, Cascade Youth said:

Yes.  But it's a qualified privilege, not an absolute privilege.  You *might* be able to challenge it if you can show that it was superfluous to the lawsuit and was put into the pleading in an effort to shield it from a defamation claim.  But that's a tough showing (and won't work here since it's related to the core claims).

Sorry but you're just wrong about that.  Statements contained in a pleading in a lawsuit are protected speech afforded a qualified privilege which is a defense to a defamation claim.  Extremely hard (but not impossible) to pierce that privilege.

I think you are misreading the qualified privilege.  The privilege discusses opinions made in a lawsuit, such as I believe it was Mr. X who stole my watch.  This is a lawsuit against the NFL, not TP.  In his complaint, the plaintiff states that TP said X.  That is a different matter.  I was not placed in the lawsuit as a matter of opinion.  He better have firm evidence that TP made that statement.

 

 

Edited September 12, 2023 by GASabresIUFAN

[Cascade Youth]

34 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

I think you are misreading the qualified privilege.  The privilege discusses opinions made in a lawsuit, such as I believe it was Mr. X who stole my watch.  This is a lawsuit against the NFL, not TP.  In his complaint, the plaintiff states that TP said X.  That is a different matter.  I was not placed in the lawsuit as a matter of opinion.  He better have firm evidence that TP made that statement.

 

 

I know this area of law well.  You are conflating a few different things.  Statements of opinion (generally) are not actionable under defamation law, only statements of fact.  That has nothing to do with the qualified litigation privilege.

[PerreaultForever]

1 hour ago, Night Train said:

  ???   

  The preservation of the caste system ? 

Just speculating, but what if they knew this was going to come to light? The possibility of having to sell the Bills but maybe keep the Sabres. It was just a thought. 

[qwksndmonster]

Respected, connected black journalist files racial discrimination claim against the NFL (never done anything bad or racist) and two moderators of this board instantly jump to knee-jerk claim that it's false. hmmmmm.

1 hour ago, Eleven said:

Yeah, the guy who married a woman of a different race and who has several brown kids is going to say something like that.  Eyeroll thingy.

joking?

[bg17]

1 hour ago, PerreaultForever said:

idk, you don't want it to be true, but more often than not when these things pop up they are in fact true. Context and detail are sometimes blurry, but the overall issue is usually true. Usually. 

This could explain the separation between the Bills/Sabres. 

Anything at all in the way of data to support “usually” and “more often than not”?

[oddoublee]

1 hour ago, PerreaultForever said:

idk, you don't want it to be true, but more often than not when these things pop up they are in fact true. Context and detail are sometimes blurry, but the overall issue is usually true. Usually. 

This could explain the separation between the Bills/Sabres. 

BS statement. Plenty of false allegations in recent years. 

Trotter's allegations stink of crap. Both owners happened to say an "if they dont like, then do this..." type statement. Reeks of a shallow and lazy grifting. Not uncommon this day and age. 

[SwampD]

Isn't this somewhat old news? I remember something about this when the NFL was trying to figure out the whole stupid anthem stuff. And Pegula was singled out specifically.

[Scottysabres]

Until it's determined whether or not Terry actually said these things, I believe full operational control of both the Sabres and Bills should be given to Sabrespace members. This way the organizations can focus on "WINNING", not political speak.

Disclaimer: Sabrespace members reserve the right to alter rosters as they see fit, have full access to the owners clubhouses in both organizations for the duration of the season with no charge catering of their choice as part of compensation and last but not least, have last say in all in game decisions. These expectations should be viewed as a " WINNING" recipe for the organizations, BuffaloNill exclusion clause applies.

That is all.

[Marvin]

26 minutes ago, qwksndmonster said:

Respected, connected black journalist files racial discrimination claim against the NFL (never done anything bad or racist) and two moderators of this board instantly jump to knee-jerk claim that it's false. hmmmmm.

joking?

I think that waiting for the evidence to come is the best course.

[shrader]

Taking a single sentence out of an entire conversation (or however those comments allegedly came about) is a dangerous game. Zero context provided by a twitter post? That’s a first. 
 

Either comment could have been preceded by something like “some people may say…” or “those stupid Ns…”. Those two options paint completely different pictures. I caught the beginning of My Cousin Vinny last night. Go watch what the cop uses as Danny LaRusso’s murder confession. 
 

Wait for more information before any owner is getting thrown out of the league. 
 

Edit: And also wait before giving either owner a pass. 

Edited September 12, 2023 by shrader

[qwksndmonster]

49 minutes ago, Marvin said:

I think that waiting for the evidence to come is the best course.

Doubt there will be any sort of "evidence" brought to life, just pointing out the very clear political bent of the moderators on this board.

[MattPie]

36 minutes ago, shrader said:

Taking a single sentence out of an entire conversation (or however those comments allegedly came about) is a dangerous game. Zero context provided by a twitter post? That’s a first. 
 

Either comment could have been preceded by something like “some people may say…” or “those stupid Ns…”. Those two options paint completely different pictures. I caught the beginning of My Cousin Vinny last night. Go watch what the cop uses as Danny LaRusso’s murder confession. 
 

Wait for more information before any owner is getting thrown out of the league. 
 

Edit: And also wait before giving either owner a pass. 

Fair, and we all need to slow down. I will say there aren't too many contexts where saying, "If you don't like it, go back to XXXX" is a good look.

Disclaimer: I've been known to say, "Go back Canada ya hosers; Leafs suck eh" to Canadian geese. And no, I'm not OSP.

[Night Train]

1 hour ago, oddoublee said:

BS statement. Plenty of false allegations in recent years. 

Trotter's allegations stink of crap. Both owners happened to say an "if they dont like, then do this..." type statement. Reeks of a shallow and lazy grifting. Not uncommon this day and age. 

 So I'm reading the comments were passed on to him by someone who supposedly was in on a conference call with 40 people in 2018, including TP. Investigation followed where all the other callers say that never happened on the call. 

[...]

43 minutes ago, qwksndmonster said:

Doubt there will be any sort of "evidence" brought to life, just pointing out the very clear political bent of the moderators on this board.

[shrader]

36 minutes ago, MattPie said:

Fair, and we all need to slow down. I will say there aren't too many contexts where saying, "If you don't like it, go back to XXXX" is a good look.

Disclaimer: I've been known to say, "Go back Canada ya hosers; Leafs suck eh" to Canadian geese. And no, I'm not OSP.

I’m waiting for the day that someone gets offended when I yell at the geese to go back to Canada. Fortunately Canadians don’t get offended. 

[Night Train]

2 minutes ago, shrader said:

I’m waiting for the day that someone gets offended when I yell at the geese to go back to Canada. Fortunately Canadians don’t get offended. 

They get offended. Green grenades all over the lawn !