The USTA is "resigned to settling" with tennis player Eugenie Bouchard in her concussion suit but has "adopted a seemingly hard-line stance as a prelude to negotiations," according to sources cited by Peter Bodo of ESPN.com. If the case "does find its way to court, it isn't likely to be for months." The USTA this week said that any claims of "'ongoing or permanent' injury are inconsistent with Bouchard's own 'admissions' on social media and 'public commentary.'" Yesterday, Bouchard "reacted to the USTA's rebuttal to the lawsuit filed on her behalf following the concussion she suffered when she slipped and fell in a physiotherapy room at the U.S. Open in September." Bouchard: "They're being really aggressive with me." Bouchard's attorney Benedict Morelli said, "To imply that (Bouchard) was OK because she didn't ask for help or was on social media afterward is absurd" (ESPN.com, 11/17). The NATIONAL POST's Scott Stinson writes under the header, "Eugenie Bouchard's Lawsuit Against USTA Shaping Up To Be A Tough, Taxing Fight." If the lawsuit was "intended to elicit a quick settlement and perhaps an apology from the USTA, the response was the end of that plan." A settlement is "still possible, but so is a civil trial." At which point it "becomes increasingly hard to see why the Bouchard camp thought this was a good idea in the first place." If it proceeds, there is a "possibility of a jury trial, with Bouchard as the key witness," sometime next season (NATIONAL POST, 11/18).
