Laurie Fine yesterday announced her plans to sue ESPN in federal court "for libel over its coverage of the sexual abuse allegations against her husband, fired Syracuse University assistant basketball coach Bernie Fine," according to John O'Brien of the Syracuse POST-STANDARD. Laurie Fine said that ESPN reporter Mark Schwarz and producer Arty Berko "tried to capitalize financially on the Penn State sex abuse scandal last year by broadcasting false and uncorroborated allegations from former SU ball boys Bobby Davis and Mike Lang." Fine said her husband approved of her filing the lawsuit "100 percent" (Syracuse POST-STANDARD, 5/17). USA TODAY's Jeff DiVeronica notes the suit "charges Berko and Schwarz of irresponsibly reporting accusations against Bernie Fine." The lawsuit alleges ESPN "distorted the ... sound quality and voices and otherwise spliced and/or deleted portions" of a secretly taped phone conversation Laurie Fine had with Davis. ESPN VP/Communications Mike Soltys said, "The suit is without merit, and we stand by our reporting." The suit "asks for compensatory and punitive damages to be set by a jury." Laurie Fine's attorney, Lawrence Fisher, said that he "had been in discussions, not negotiations, with ESPN about resolving the case." Fisher said that the suit "could be filed in federal court in Syracuse, N.Y., in the coming days" (USA TODAY, 5/17).
