Don Imus Sued by Rutgers Basketball Player

[Midnight Mike]

Don Imus Sued by Rutgers Basketball Player
Star Center Kia Vaughn Names Imus, NBC, CBS in Civil Suit
Aug. 14, 2007 —

Don Imus is facing his first lawsuit from a player on the Rutgers Women's Basketball team for derogatory comments that cost him his job as a radio host in April, ABC News has learned.

Kia Vaughn, star center for the Rutgers Women's Basketball team, has filed a lawsuit against Imus for libel, slander and defamation -- the first civil suit to be filed against the former radio host. Vaughn is asking for monetary damages of an unspecified amount.

"This is a lawsuit in order to restore the good name and reputation of my client, Kia Vaughn," said her attorney, Richard Ancowitz, in an exclusive interview with the ABC News Law & Justice Unit.

The suit names Imus individually, but it is also waged against MSNBC, NBC Universal, CBS Radio, CBS Corp., Viacom Inc., Westwood One Radio and Imus producer Bernard McGuirk.

Today's suit refers to terms used by Imus April 4 -- including referring to women on the team as "nappy headed" -- as "debasing, demeaning, humiliating, and denigrating" to Vaughn and her fellow players. "There's no way these bigoted remarks should have seen the light of day," Ancowitz told ABC News.

"Don Imus referred to my client as an unchaste woman. That was and is a lie."

Of the networks that aired "Imus in the Morning," the lawsuit alleges that they "wrongfully, intentionally, willfully ... created, tolerated and maintained an atmosphere in which the making of outrageous statements and comments was acceptable, encouraged, and/or rewarded for many years prior to this occurrence and/or overtly encouraged the statements made."

The lawsuit alleges that use of the slanderous terms was intentional and motivated by greed and financial gain: In using insults against otherwise innocent people, Imus would get higher ratings, making more money for him and his employers. Among other infractions, the suit alleges that Imus violated the players' civil rights.

Robert Baker, a civil trial lawyer in California, says the high visibility of Imus' comments would help Vaughn in court.

"Everyone knows how unwarranted those comments were. It makes it easier for them to win their case," Baker told ABC News.

"She has a slander per se case -- the word itself was something derogatory. She doesn't even have to prove that she was damaged."

Earlier today, The Associated Press reported that Imus had reached a multimillion-dollar settlement with former employer CBS over his firing. ABC News has learned that Imus could be back to broadcasting as early as January, and is being courted by major media outlets. That settlement, said Ancowitz, rewards Imus while leaving little justice for the women of the Rutgers basketball team.

"He's come out smelling like quite the rose. But what about these young women? How does Imus' victory affect their self-esteem? Where do they go to get their reputations back?"

Ancowitz said the timing of today's lawsuit had nothing to do with Imus' possible return to the airwaves. Vaughn herself was not available for comment. The 20-year-old, 6 foot 4 inch New York native is in the midst of exams before starting her junior year at Rutgers University this fall.

Vaughn's lawyer said that some of the money from any damages awarded in the lawsuit would be used to create a scholarship program to study the effects of bigoted and misogynistic speech on society.

Imus' attorneys would not comment on the case. NBC and MSNBC refused to comment on a lawsuit neither had yet seen. CBS News did not immediately provide comment.

[flyboy 28]

"This is a lawsuit in order to restore the good name and reputation of my client, Kia Vaughn"

By demanding money. Yeah, that's a great strategy. :roll:

[PhilDernerJr]

restoring her good name? Though what he did was wrong, I didn't know Imus was so influential as to ruin this girl's reputation. I also thought she was just some high school kid before all this.

But you gotta make money somehow, right?

[hiss srq]

Give me a break. This girl is trying the get rich quick scheme. Nappy headded hoe lives on.

[Midnight Mike]

"He's come out smelling like quite the rose. But what about these young women? How does Imus' victory affect their self-esteem? Where do they go to get their reputations back?"
.

Smelling like a rose, the guy lost his job!

Lost Reputation? The team never lost their reputation, but, by going through with the lawsuit, they will certainly will lose it...

Kind of funny, Don Imus apoligized, the team accepted his apology, the coach on behalf of the players accepted his apology, and now we have a lawsuit....

[adam613]

Smelling like a rose, the guy lost his job!

Don Imus never smelled like a rose. That's why he had listeners in the first place! :)

Lost Reputation? The team never lost their reputation, but, by going through with the lawsuit, they will certainly will lose it...

The lawsuit will get dismissed if they try to go forward with it. At best, Imus was expressing an opinion, which is generally protected under slander laws. If we're lucky, the judge will sanction her lawyers for filing it.

[T-Bird76]

the lawsuit will never go to trial, CBS and Imus will settle out of court. They'll throw some money at her and she'll keep quiet for a few 100 grand. She may not be a ***** but she is certainly a napped headed opportunist.

[Alex T]

Maybe, I am the odd man out.

But I have been involved in name calling..and it does hurt.

It really makes you doubt yourself and wonder are you really what they say they are?

I think she is right to sue and make it well known. Money wise, I don't know, maybe around one grand or so would be justified.

But look at you guys continuing to call her nappy headed yourselves. I would definetly never do that, you claim what he did was wrong, yet you go on ahead and use the nappy headed term yourself.

Who knows what she is really feeling, along with the other team members, they could be devastated or humiliated or not.

But they were degraded big time, and publicly also.

Alex

[PhilDernerJr]

When the insults come from an idiot that no one respects and everyone says is stupid, your self esteem must be pretty darn low as it was to be hurt by that.

If someone respected and in a position of power said it, i can understand. But who cares about Imus?

If you are confident in yourself, it's tough to be insulted about things, because you are confident that the "insults" are not true. If someone called me fat, I wouldn't get insulted, because I know it's not true. That's where the inferiority complex comes into play.

[Alex T]

Phil--

Good Point, I see what your saying.

I do not know Imus well at all in terms of how he is with the public, but one can agree what he said was not a very nice thing obviously.

As for me the insults made to me were stuff I am and what I had done, most of them in terms of my being deaf. Those comments WERE true or meant for something that WAS true.

It certainly wasn't a OMG UR FAT comment for someone like me who is extremely thin and not large at all.

However, this isn't about me, but kind of swaying the direction to show that maybe people DO have low self esteem and maybe were trying to work on it, then someone like Imus comes along and ruins anything left.

Of course I do not know the whole story but like I said sharing some words to show other sides.

Alex

[hiss srq]

Has anyone noticed that the Add on this topic is an add asking for a vote on whether Imus should come back? I find that rather ironic.

[moose135]

Has anyone noticed that the Add on this topic is an add asking for a vote on whether Imus should come back? I find that rather ironic.

Phil can give a definitive answer, but I assume they are context driven - they scan the page for certain key words and drop in an appropriate ad from an inventory of ads.

[Alex T]

Which also shows the ad placement is INDEED working for the website :twisted:

Alex

[Midnight Mike]

Has anyone noticed that the Add on this topic is an add asking for a vote on whether Imus should come back? I find that rather ironic.

Phil can give a definitive answer, but I assume they are context driven - they scan the page for certain key words and drop in an appropriate ad from an inventory of ads.

Moose

Don't mention tampons & condoms, never know what will pop up! :lol:

[Tom_Turner]

Too much litigation in America.

But Imus did bring it on himself.

Agree with Tommy. Will be settled out of court.

Tom