Ex-Syracuse coach’s wife lawsuit tossed

SYRACUSE, New York, March 27, (AP): A judge found that ESPN did nothing malicious in its reporting of claims that a former Syracuse University assistant basketball coach abused two ball boys decades ago and his wife had a relationship with one of them.

The libel case came down to whether the wife, Laurie Fine, was a public or private figure. As a public figure she would have to show malice in the 2012 lawsuit she filed against the network, but as a private figure she would have to show a lesser legal standard of gross irresponsibility.

US Magistrate Judge David E. Peebles threw out the lawsuit Friday after concluding Fine was a public figure because she had served as a radio personality, had easy access to the media and invited public attention to herself and her views about protecting at-risk youth. Peebles dismissed defamation claims against ESPN Inc and an ESPN reporter and producer. Fine is married to Bernie Fine, a one-time assistant Syracuse coach who was fired by the university in November 2011 after allegations of child molestation against him surfaced in the immediate aftermath of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal at Penn State.