MLB veteran umpire Joe West narrowed his defamation lawsuit, settling his case with
The Action Network over purportedly slanderous comments made by Paul Lo Duca during a podcast. While settlement removes defendant
TAN, West now accuses Lo Duca of ignoring the suit against him and seeks default judgment from the court.
In October 2019, West sued
The Action Network and ex-player Paul Lo Duca after Lo Duca made statements that, according to West, "impugn the integrity, honesty and professional fitness of Mr. West and affect his profession as a Major League Baseball umpire."
Related Post:
Joe West Sues Paul LoDuca Over Bribery Claim (10/22/19).
Amongst Lo Duca's purportedly slanderous statements were claims made on a podcast produced by
The Action Network that strongly suggested West accepted a bribe from Mets pitcher Billy Wagner in exchange for favorable ball/strike calls, as well as claims that West ejected Lo Duca "eight or nine times" during his career.
Fact checks both by
Close Call Sports and West's legal team indicate Lo Duca's ejection claim was false—West ejected Lo Duca just once in his career—and that West never actually served as home plate umpire for any game Wagner pitched while Lo Duca was on the Mets.
As West's team wrote in the original complaint, "As a result of the foregoing Plaintiff was damaged in an amount to be determined at trial."
Related Post:
Pants on Fire - Paul Lo Duca's Joe West Accusation (5/10/19).
On January 27, 2020 Judge John J. Kelley ordered that West's team could serve Lo Duca with a copy of the summons and complaint via his
Barstool Sports e-mail address because service using more traditional methods, including at least four New York addresses, failed.
On January 29, West's attorney Nicholas J. Zaita submitted an affidavit swearing that he served LoDuca at the Loduca@barstoolsports.com e-mail address.
On February 28, Zaita and
The Action Network's attorney, Jeffrey G. Landis, stipulated the discontinuance of West's case against
The Action Network. In the joint filing, the parties wrote that West's lawsuit "hereby is settled and dismissed, with prejudice, as to the Defendant The Action Network, Inc.
only."
Lo Duca's deadline to appear or answer expired on March 9—with Lo Duca having failed to appear or answer.
By March 20, with Lo Duca still having failed to respond to the lawsuit, the Supreme Court of the State of New York updated its procedures in response to the COVID-19 outbreak and impending NY "stay at home" order. This update postpones all civil trials indefinitely.
On March 23, West's team requested that
The Action Network be removed from the lawsuit (due to the settlement) and that the court, on April 30, 2020, grant West default judgment against Lo Duca because Lo Duca quite simply has repeatedly failed to respond to the lawsuit.
Nearly two full months after West served Lo Duca at his BarstoolSports e-mail address, Lo Duca has yet to respond to the court.
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