Screw a Stripper, Sue for $20 million.

[Easy Mac]

Gotta love America. Price sues for fatter strippers. Hmm, funny he doesn't sue until after Harry Potter girl sues for $100 million. Wonder how he got the idea.

Lawsuit cites seven inaccuracies in story

Associated Press



BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Fired Alabama football coach Mike Price sued Time Inc. for $20 million Friday, claiming he was defamed by a Sports Illustrated article about the strip club visit that led to his ouster.

The suit seeks $10 million in compensation -- the value of the seven-year deal Price had with Alabama, which fired him after a night of drunken carousing before an April golf tournament in Pensacola, Fla.

The suit, filed in state court, sought another $10 million in punitive damages from Time, which publishes Sports Illustrated.

Also named in the suit was Don Yaeger, who wrote the article and appeared as a guest on a Birmingham radio show to discuss the piece. Additional people who helped with the story will be added as defendants later, the suit said.

A spokesman at Sports Illustrated, Art Berke, said the magazine had not seen a copy of the lawsuit and could not comment on it.

"But we continue to stand by the story,'' Berke said.

Alabama president Robert Witt fired Price on May 3, about five days before the magazine was released for sale. Price is appealing his dismissal.

Alabama hired Price from Washington State last year after Dennis Franchione left for Texas A&M. Former Alabama quarterback Mike Shula was hired to replace Price, who never coached a regular season game at Alabama.

The lawsuit cited seven parts of the article as being inaccurate, including its report that Price had sex with two women in his hotel room after a visit to Arety's Angels strip club and used the phrase, "It's rolling, baby,'' during what the story called "aggressive sex.''

Price also denied the story's claims that he went to the club immediately upon arriving in Pensacola; that he touched a dancer while in a semiprivate area of the club; and that he fondled a waitress.

The suit also said it was untrue that a woman left Price's hotel room the next morning, before Price went to the golf tournament; that he bought drinks for female students in a Tuscaloosa bar and propositioned them; and that Alabama athletic director Mal Moore chastised him twice for "generally serving as the life of the party in too many bars.''

Price attorney Stephen Heninger said he sent Sports Illustrated a letter on May 22 demanding a retraction, but the magazine refused.

Reports of Price's behavior in Florida first surfaced on Internet bulletin boards.

In media interviews after his firing, Price, 57, denied having sex during the Pensacola trip but also said he got heavily intoxicated after a night on the town.

Price, who is married, said he went to the topless club during a night of bar hopping in Pensacola. Price said he got so drunk a woman had to ride back to the hotel with him in a cab and help him to his room.

Price said he fell asleep and denied any sex was involved. Price said the hotel later made him pay for $1,000 in room service charges a woman placed on his room tab the next morning.

[Marmel]

You have the worst signature ever.

[TroyF]

His point was that he didn't screw the stripper. If he's right and can prove that in court, SI may be in for a bit of trouble.

They are going to be in a spot where they are forced to reveal all of their sources if this doesn't get settled out of court. Price will probably be able to prove the article hurt his image without a ton of trouble. He does that and the SI sources don't check out. . .

TroyF

[mckerney]

I saw a copy of the lawsuit and here are the seven inaccuracies it stated were within the story:

1. They left out that he only went into Arety's Angels because he was looking for a church to attend and thought something with the word "Angels" in the name was sure to be one.
2. The stripper was actually 40 pounds heavier than he reported.
3. He, not Larry Eucstay was the one who came up with the, "You're way too hot to be going to that school," line.
4. He got drunk on Blatz and Natty Lite, not the Golden Draft Lite that they reported.
5. He contends that he didn't really have sex with a stripper because she didn't inhale.
6. Only $978.50 was charged to his room service account for groceries, much less than the $1000 reported.
7. He was much cockier and not to mention a helluva lot funnier than he came off as in the article.