Trevor Bauer appeals judge's decision to dismiss his defamation case against Deadspin
Baseball pitcher Trevor Bauer has taken his fight against Deadspin to the U.S. Court of Appeals after his defamation lawsuit against the sports website was dismissed last month by a U.S. District Court judge in New York.
His attorneys recently filed a notice of appeal in the case, meaning he is not letting go of his fight against Deadspin or its editor, Chris Baud, in his quest to clear his name as he takes his career to Japan.
He sued Deadspin and Baud in March 2022, accusing them of defaming him in an article they published about a San Diego woman’s assault allegations against him in 2021.
He also filed defamation lawsuits against four other people and publications for similar reasons – the San Diego woman, her former attorney, the sports website The Athletic and its former writer Molly Knight.
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What is this about?
Bauer took issue with how each reported or discussed the allegations of the San Diego woman after she filed a request for a temporary restraining order against Bauer in late June 2021. In Deadspin’s case, Baud wrote an article, dated July 6, 2021, that said the woman had "her skull fractured" in an incident with Bauer.
Bauer, 32, said this was false and defamatory. But U.S. District Judge Paul Crotty looked at all of this and ruled that while Deadspin’s article contained “technical inaccuracies,” they were not enough to sustain a defamation claim.
Bauer didn’t agree and now is taking his case to the Second Circuit.
What was true?
The case essentially turns on how the woman’s head injuries were described after she went to the hospital and said Bauer took their rough sex too far in May 2021. In her request for a restraining order, the woman said she had “signs of a basilar skull fracture” and significant head and facial trauma. She was diagnosed with an acute head injury and assault by manual strangulation.
Yet the same request for a restraining order also included a medical report that said she had "no acute fracture.” So technically, her skull was not fractured, though there were “signs” of it according to her court filing.
Crotty essentially said this didn’t amount to defamation.
“Whether those injuries included a skull fracture or simply `significant head and facial trauma’ and bruising does not change the nature of the accusations, nor would it produce a different effect on the mind of the reader,” Crotty wrote in his ruling issued March 1.
Deadspin's response
After Crotty’s ruling, Deadspin published an article about it.
“We at Deadspin are heartened by the decision and remain committed to reporting on and exposing violence against women by athletes, no matter how famous.
An attorney for Deadspin did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
Bauer denied wrongdoing and said his encounters with the San Diego woman involved consensual rough sex.
He was never charged with a crime, but he never pitched in Major League Baseball again after the San Diego woman filed her allegations in court. He was placed on administrative leave, then suspended last year after an investigation into the allegations of the San Diego woman and others.
After being released from the Los Angeles Dodgers in January, the former Cy Young Award winner signed with the Yokohama Baystars of the Japanese Central League.
Bauer's other lawsuits
His legal pursuits in the U.S. will continue in the meantime. The Deadspin article at issue in Bauer’s lawsuit cites reporting from The Athletic, which also was sued by Bauer and is seeking to have his defamation case dismissed. The Athletic is appealing a different judge’s decision to allow Bauer’s case against Knight to proceed. In her case, Bauer took issue with Tweets she posted about the woman’s head injuries.
“There seems to be some confusion surrounding the issue of consent but here is some clarity: it’s not possible to consent to a cracked skull,” said one of those Tweets from July 2, 2021, which since was deleted.
In another lawsuit, Bauer sued the San Diego woman and her former attorney, Fred Thiagarajah, after he said Bauer “just brutalized” his client in article in the Washington Post. The case against him was dismissed. The San Diego woman countersued Bauer in a case that remains pending.
Follow Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. E-mail: bschrotenb@usatoday.com