Posted By:
warshawlawBONDS' SUIT ON DECK
BY T.J. QUINN
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
Friday, March 24th, 2006
If Barry Bonds' lawyer asks a judge this morning to seize the profits from the explosive new book "Game of Shadows," the authors' attorneys will be waiting on the courthouse steps to fire back with a lawsuit of their own.
"He has no right to anyone's profits and he has no right to stop information," Eve Burton, general counsel for the Hearst Corporation, which owns the San Francisco Chronicle, told the Daily News yesterday. "I think his chances of success are close to zero."
Michael Rains, Bonds' attorney, said yesterday he will seek a temporary restraining order against the Chronicle and reporters Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams, who co-authored the book, publisher Gotham Books, and Sports Illustrated, which published an excerpt of "Shadows" two weeks ago.
Notably, the suit Rains is expected to file in California Superior Court in San Francisco is not for libel. Rather than challenge the facts in the book, Bonds' lawsuit is expected to argue that the writers got their information - including secret grand-jury testimony and investigators' notes - illegally. He wants an injunction to stop sales of the book and seize all profits from it.
The authors will countersue under California's strong anti-SLAPP ("strategic lawsuit against public participation") statute, which prevents parties from using the courts to stifle free speech. Generally the law is used to keep large corporations from suing critics to silence them.
Defendants suspect Rains is simply trying to find some way to let his client save face.
"He has to be able to say to his buddies, 'I sued 'em,' in order to resurrect his reputation," said a lawyer for one of the defendants, speaking on the condition of anonymity. "It's hard to win a libel case when the story's right."
The book's publishers also offered unconditional support for the authors.
"We at Gotham Books are shocked that Barry Bonds would take such a foolish step," Gotham said in a statement. "Any respected First Amendment lawyer in America knows that his claim is nonsense."
The book, released yesterday, says that Bonds started taking hardcore steroids and human growth hormone before the 1999 season, contradicting claims that he unknowingly took steroids provided by the BALCO lab.
Adam Warshaw, a California business and real estate attorney who has successfully sued under the SLAPP statute, said Bonds' lawsuit could easily backfire.
"(The court) is going to look at whether there's truth to these accusations. Frankly, the guy's opening a real can of worms because he's going to have to testify about whether he's done these things," Warshaw said. "It sounds to me (like Bonds is saying), 'Do something, come up with something, can't you do something to stop this?'"
Burton said that Bonds himself was recently partnered with the Chronicle in a SLAPP suit against one of his former physicians, Andrew Carver, who sued Bonds and the paper.
"We actually won that case with (Bonds) and he's about to deposit a check for it," she said.
As for the brewing legal battle, she said, "This type of litigation does not strike me as ringing with validity."
If Rains files the lawsuit today, then Hearst's attorneys will immediately file theirs, whether Bonds' request is successful or not.
Fainaru-Wada, who appeared on Sportsnet New York TV's "Daily News Live" yesterday, said he isn't worried about any legal challenges.
"We fully stand behind the reporting for the book and are confident in its accuracy," he said.