Kukla's Korner Hockey
Moore lawsuit to reach trial sometime in 2012
by George Malik on 03/07/11 at 09:02 AM ET
Comments (3)
If there’s anything worse than what Todd Bertuzzi did to Steve Moore seven years ago Tuesday, it’s the fact that, six years on, Moore has yet to see a settlement or be able to move on with his life because his attorney, Tim Danson, is set upon putting the entire NHL and the game of hockey on trial to secure the maximum settlement possible and the maximum spotlight possible for the attorney who came to fame in the Karla Homolka case in the mid 90’s.
I’m not defending Bertuzzi’s actions by any means, but I’d like to think that after seven years, the victim in this case can stop having to live like a victim and start moving on with his life as simply Steve Moore, the human being instead of Steve Moore, victim of a horrific act of stupidity, but the Toronto Sun’s Steve Simmons, who’s both advocated for Moore and acted like nothing less than a hack while salivating over the possible headlines and fame he might earn for covering Moore’s legal plight since the outset, has gone gone Pavlovian over the following news:
[T]he matter has been officially set for trial. Maybe it will begin late this year. More likely, the expected two-month trial that is certain to rock the hockey world, will find its way to court in early 2012. Already, some national networks have talked about applying to have the case televised live, which is highly unusual by Canadian judicial standards.
But this is not just a hockey story anymore. It’s about a career ruined and a life seemingly placed on hold. It’s about a Harvard graduate still having headache issues almost every time he thinks. It’s about the premeditation of an on-ice stalker. And now, with brain injuries and concussions and head shots being so much the focus of the problems of pro hockey, the trial arrives with new information about the largest single issue facing the sport. Moore’s case is considered by many to be the single largest civil suit involving professional athletes in Canadian legal history. And with each passing year, the price has gone up.
“It has been very difficult for the process to take this long,” said Tim Danson, the lawyer representing Moore in his action against the Detroit Red Wings’ winger. “But actually, we needed the passing of time to fully understand the magnitude of the brain injury. This (incident) just didn’t terminate his NHL career. It impacted everything in his life. It impacted his future and his future employment. We’ve had years to look at this now and because Steve Moore has exceptionally high intelligence and is a Harvard graduate, we needed to evaluate all the factors involved. If we went to a jury too early, you wouldn’t have had the answers. It has been a lot of years and a lot of tests and we’ve learned a lot about the brain. I can’t really go into details right now because that will be a live issue at the trial.”
So if this is about a person’s life, and where he earned his diploma factors into the equation instead of the fact that he’s spent seven years waiting for his lawyer to find appeasement, what really matters, to Simmons, at least?
But this will be a case for the headlines if not the ages, right from beginning to end.
Fame and fortune, publishing rights and book deals. There’s moralizing and holier-than-thou Simmons for you, right there.
This should be about Moore getting a good chunk of Bertuzzi’s earnings and moving on. Seven years is far too long for someone to have to live as a victim instead of just a human being, and that’s truly sad for everyone involved.
A value of a human being’s life is in being allowed to live it, and Moore hasn’t been able to live his in anything other than suspended animation. The rest of this crap shouldn’t matter one bit, because we’re talking about people here, not headlines—and the fact that Todd Bertuzzi, too, is a human being like you and me should no longer serve as some sort of bizarre, terrifying revelation—but it does.
Filed in: | KK Hockey | Permalink
Comments
Great article - I totally agree.
Simmons’ writing bothers me greatly and I also felt the need to blog about the efforts to publicize within any care or attention to the reputations of those involved.
Thanks for the post - I enjoy your work!
Posted by Iain Murray on 03/08/11 at 02:14 AM ET
Have fun
Posted by Alex on 03/28/11 at 07:52 PM ET
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His attorney can’t do anything without Moore agreeing to it. So, it may be that it’s about Moore listenting to good counsel and deciding to make his case a spectacle to get the most impact and actually effect some change. And, also, a bigger payday since it is the rest of his life he’s worried about financing, not just getting a quickie payout of 20% of Bertuzzi’s earnings or something.
As for the publicity and notoriety, if that’s what you’re worried about, stop writing about it. Oh, you can’t. Because it’s news. Because it’s noteworthy and important. It SHOULD be a big deal, so journalists would be stupid to ignore it or even to downplay it’s significance.
Sorry Malik, lame post. The first of your posts that I haven’t enjoyed though, so you’re still batting close to 1000
Posted by awould on 03/07/11 at 05:23 PM ET