Legal News

Former Ram, Others, Sue Patriots Over Alleged Videotaping

By Dan Slater

Two days after Roger Clemens tesified before Congress about alleged steroid use, allegations of illicit activities in sports stand to tarnish another dynasty.

Lawyers for a former St. Louis Ram, Willie Gary, and others filed a complaint today against the New England Patriots and the Patriots’ coach, Bill Belichick. Here’s a copy of the complaint and a press release from the plaintiffs lawyers. The suit, a putative class action filed in federal court in Louisiana, seeks more than $100 million (that’s not a typo) for alleged “fraudulent videotaping” of the Rams walk-through practice prior to the 2002 Super Bowl. In addition to Gary, the putative plaintiffs are ticket purchasers and the 72,922 attendees of the Super Bowl. Here’s an early story from the Boston Herald.

This suit is based on allegations that a team employee recorded the Rams walk-through practice on the Saturday before Super Bowl XXXVI at the Louisiana Superdome. The Patriots won the game 20-17. Here are earlier NYT stories (here and here) on the imbroglio.

The Patriots and the NFL have said there is no evidence that the 2002 taping occurred.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on February 15, 2008 (boomark / email).