Umpire Joe West Wins Defamation - Damages Future Card Show Earnings

[Misunderestimated]

Well, not responding is one way to keep down attorney fees.... Of course now West has to collect on the default judgment -- not my area of law but my understanding is that it can be surprisingly difficult even with a defendant like Lo Duca who can probably afford the judgment who is elsewhere I assume.
Someone else can chime in here if they like about that issue.
West won on the integrity/reputation issue which protects his future.

[Snapolit1]

Can be a real pain in the ass to collect on a default judgment. But can be done. Go after bank account, wages, property.
Really stupid not to appear. If you have no defense put you tail between your legs and resolve the damm thing.
The fact that LoDuca is a celebrity of some sort and doesn’t appear in lawsuits against him speaks volumes about his judgment.
Many people who deliberately risk default judgments are basically advertising the fact that they have no assets.

[FrankWakefield]

West making the Hall seems a bit of a longshot to me...

Adam is right about the defamation, the event could not have happened. So Lo Duca's statement was false. Maybe it was a spring training game; NO, it did not happen.

The amount awarded seems high to me.

But what about those umpire name tags!!!! It reminds me of playing board baseball games back in high school and college days. DJing... and for a time working at a radio station that carried the Cardinals. Back in those worthless days of fun we'd divide ballplayers and play out a mini season. We'd announce parts of the game as we rolled the dice and worked our way through the lineups. We'd make up the umpire crew and announce those. Terry Tata, Frank Pulli, Bruce Froemming, Shag Crawford, Doug Harvey... those guys were regulars. I usually added Dutch Rennert into the crew, especally if I had started a good strikeout pitcher (Koufax, Gibson, Drysdale, Johnson, Waddell). Dutch would be behind the plate. In my mind I can see him slightly pause after a pitch, turn to his right, then point to the right, and hollar out "RIIIKE!!!!" loud enough for people outside the stadium to hear. It wasn't really Strike, it was RIIIKE!!! Nice to see those name plates. I don't recall any of us adding Joe West to our imaginary umpiring crews when we played Super Star Baseball, Statis Pro Baseball, or APBA baseball.

Two more occasional umpires for our crew... Augie Donatelli and Al Barlick

[Santo10Fan]

I heard Cowboy is donating the $500K to his alma mater...