Sports In the Courts Blog : New York Attorneys & Lawyers Specializing in Sports Law & Legal Analysis

Floyd VanHooser, a prison inmate and one of four men who accused former Syracuse Associate Basketball Coach Bernie Fine of having sexual relationships with them when they were children, has admitted that he lied. VanHooser said he wanted to get back at Fine because Fine did not hire a lawyer to help VanHooser fight a criminal conviction. In December, VanHooser told The Associated Press that Fine began sexually abusing him when he was 14 years old, and the abuse continued as an adult, when the contact included sex acts for money.

In a prison interview on Friday, VanHooser said that he and Fine had a sexual relationship as adults for many years, and it continued until last summer. VanHooser said Fine first approached him for sex when he was in his 30s, and that he was usually high on heroin when they had sex. Additionally, on Thursday, The Post-Standard, a Syracuse newspaper, received copies of two letters dated Nov. 29 that VanHooser wrote and mailed to Fine. In the letter VanHooser stated, "In a statement I gave, I told a lot of lies about Bernie Fine. None of what I said was true. Bernie has been nothing but good to me over the years. He was the only thing I had close to a father. He never did anything wrong. He is a good man."

Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick, without seeing the letters, said he was not surprised that VanHooser admitted he lied about Fine. In fact, last month Fitzpatrick, referred to an unnamed fourth accuser in the Fine case as someone serving a life sentence in prison and a persistent felon. He said that person's claims were not credible.

VanHooser is serving 16 years to life at Clinton state prison near the Canadian border for several burglaries of Syracuse-area homes. He was sentenced in October as a persistent felony burglar.

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As admitted by legendary basketball coach, Jim Boeheim, he should not have called Bobby Davis and Michael Lang “liars” and “out for the money and nothing else.” Boeheim has now recanted these statements and apologized.

Both Davis and Lang claim that they were sexually abused, as children years ago, by now fired Syracuse Assistant Coach Bernie Fine. These allegations cannot be locally prosecuted as the statute of limitations has run but they are the subject of an ongoing federal investigation.

In response to Boeheim’s comments, Davis and Lang, through celebrity attorney Gloria Allred, commenced a lawsuit against Syracuse University and Jim Boeheim for damages on a claim of defamation. Now, normally calling someone a liar can be construed as an attack on a person’s reputation. However, in the case, the plaintiffs’ are claiming that the words used by Boeheim are much worse because of the speaker is in the Syracuse community.

Davis and Lang argue that they were damaged by being verbally attacked by Boeheim who is more than prominent and powerful figure in Syracuse. They noted that Boeheim has “star status” in Syracuse and because he is “elite.”

In sum, Davis and Lang are alleging that not only the words uttered by Boeheim were damaging to their reputations but this offense has been compounded by the star-like status of a very powerful speaker. 

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Earlier this week WVU sued the Big East Conference in order to allow it to leave the Big East and join the Big 12 effective June 30,2012. This is just the latest development in the ongoing saga of whether the Big East will continue to exist and be eligible for an automatic berth into the BCS Championship Series. WVU is seeking to be allowed to join the Big 12 earlier than the 27 month waiting period that is contained in the bylaws, which WVU signed. WVU is alleging that the Big East has breached the bylaws with its members as it is not a viable conference and has not done its part to ensure that the Conference receives an automatic berth in the BCS. Therefore, WVU is seeking to leave the Big East and be eligible to play Big 12 football starting in fall 2012. WVU is also arguing that TCU, a member of the Big East in theory for what seemed like a minute, was allowed to leave for the Big12 without having to wait 27 months. However, TCU had never officially joined the Big East when it decided to leave. Therefore, TCU was not subject to the mandatory 27 month timeline. Also, Syracuse and Pitt who are headed to the ACC have not challenged the mandatory waiting period, however, I have no doubt that they will challenge it should WVU prevail. Late last week, the Big East also filed suit against WVU to bar it from leaving the Conference and to enforce the bylaws. Good thing there are some hot issues off the field to keep everyone distracted from the product that's on the football field. This conference realignment promises to become more litigious before all the pieces shake out.

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