Salisbury suit singles out Deadspin editor for damages

Attorneys for former ESPN sports analyst Sean Salisbury have added one of Deadspin's editors to his civil lawsuit against a major media blog company.

Salisbury's attorney, Jeffrey Tillotson of the firm Lynn, Tillotson, Pinker and Cox of Dallas, filed an amendment petition on Monday in the 393rd District Court of Denton County that identifies Deadspin.com editor A.J. Daulerio as an additional defendant in the suit.

Salisbury, a Frisco resident and former National Football League quarterback, filed a petition for a civil defamation lawsuit in a Denton County court against Gawker Media last month for publishing several false stories on their sports blog Deadspin.com that cost him several jobs, ruined his reputation and made it difficult to find gainful employment.

Tillotson characterized Deadspin's coverage as a "long-running smear campaign" against his client since January of 2007. The blog first alleged on Jan. 6, 2007 that ESPN suspended Salisbury for taking indecent photos of himself with his cell phone and showing it to several female co-workers. The post quoted a story written by CBS Sportsline columnist Mike Freeman on Dec. 27, 2006 who did not identify the analyst by name. The post also quoted The Big Lead, another sports blog, who identified Salisbury as the suspended analyst based on information from an "insider."

Tillotson said Deadspin continued to post the "lie" on four separate occasions including in posts on Sept. 11 following Salisbury's departure from 105.3 FM The Fan, a Dallas sports radio station.

Gaby Darbyshire, vice president of Gawker Media, said in response to the first petition that Salisbury and his attorneys are suing Gawker only as an example to other blogs and media outlets.

"He admits in other interviews that other publications reported the same stuff but he is coming after us because he wants to teach blogs a lesson," Darbyshire said by email. "Well, that's not how the law works, and Deadspin isn't the reason he can't get a job. Besides, the truth is an absolute defence (sic) to libel, and the gory truth will come out during the legal process."Ê

The amended petition filed on Monday seeks not only exemplary damages from Gawker, but also from Daulerio based on stories and interviews that prosecuting attorneys claim show a "pattern of publishing malicious lies with reckless disregard for the truth," the petition read.

Daulerio gave an interview with Time reporter Sean Gregory on Oct. 26 on a post he wrote titled "ESPN Horndog Dossier" in which he posted "rumors about sexual relationships and crude behavior among employees at the (ESPN) network, even singling out a few by name," according to the article.

The post was partly in response to ESPN's response to claims that baseball analyst Steve Philips had an affair with a production assistant, a story that ESPN denied to Deadspin but was later confirmed and broken by the New York Post.

When asked if he had an "ax to grind," Daulerio said, ""Yeah. That was one part of it. But I also felt a little safe and justified in doing this stuff."

Gregory also asked Daulerio if he thought it was fair for Deadspin to publish "unconfirmed rumors" about ESPN's staff members in order to make a point.

"No, I'm a human being at the end of the day with this stuff," Daulerio said in his interview. "But at the same time, did I want to cause panic around Bristol (Connecticut, the location of ESPN's headquarters). Yes. Of course I did. And I think I succeeded. I also succeeded with the fact that it was compelling blog theater to watch the entire thing go down."

Todd Harlow, a member of Salisbury's counsel, said the malice he showed in publishing the "Dossier" and his response to his actions show a direct correlation to his actions in respect to Salisbury's suit.

"He admitted, no, it's not fair in our view. He expressed a clear purpose and embarrassed people for his own entertainment," Harlow said. "We thought it was warranted adding Mr. Daulerio as an additional defendant."

Neither Gawker's attorneys nor their representatives have filed a response to either petition as of Thursday. Darbyshire, Gawker president Nick Denton and Daulerio could not be reached for an official comment by presstime.

Contact Danny Gallagher at dgallagher@acnpapers.com.

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