Jim Boeheim is in the news again and for something that is even worse this time. A lawsuit has been reinstated against him and this one will be around for a while.
New York’s highest court reinstated the slander lawsuit filed by two former ball boys against coach Boeheim. Mike Lang and Bobby Davis say he slandered them in 2011 by calling them liars out for money when they accused former Orange assistant coach Bernie Fine of molesting them as children.
The suit was dismissed last year by a judge, ruling Boeheim’s comments were not assertions of fact but opinions protected from defamation lawsuits. A midlevel court agreed.
Fine denied the allegations and never faced criminal charges.
The Court of Appeals ruled unanimously that they cannot conclude Boeheim’s statements were “pure opinion” and that there is “a reasonable view” that Lang and Davis would be entitled to recover damages for what they went through.
Attorney Mariann Meier Wang said the case will return to the state trial court in Syracuse, where the discovery phase can take to almost a year.
“Now we get to prove our case and we get to prove that Mike Lang and Bobby Davis were sexually abused as children. We look forward to proving that and that Jim Boeheim made false statements that were defamatory and denigrating of them.”
Judge Jenny Rivera stated that, “Here Boeheim stated that Lang and Davis lied and did so for monetary gain, and that Davis has done so in the past.” Boeheim’s assertions that Davis previously made the same claims, for the same purpose, communicated that Boeheim was relying on undisclosed facts that would justify his statements that Lang and Davis were neither credible nor victims of sexual abuse.”
She added that denying knowledge of facts or prefacing some statements by saying “I believe” were “insufficient” to transform his statements into pure opinion because a reasonable reader in context could still view his statements as supported by undisclosed facts.
This lawsuit could come back and really hurt Jim Boeheim. If Lang and Davis prove to be telling the truth then this could turn interesting. Boeheim might be forced to step down as head coach. This is a huge distraction, and it is the last thing he needs. Stay tuned for more news as it becomes available.