Business Law

Dallas Parks v. George Steinbrenner and New York Yankees, Inc

Case background

Dallas Parks an umpire of the American League baseball officiated a game between Toronto Blue Jays and N.Y Yankees. A press release was released by New York Yankees through its principal George Steinbrenner criticizing Park of his inability as an umpire. The press blamed Park to have misjudged the game and unfair decisions by throwing two of their players out of the game (Halsey & McLaughlin, 2012). Parks filed an action for insult against N.Y Yankees for defaming his ability of umpire. The defendants disagreed that the release was not actionable as per the constitution.

Case decision

The lower court, Bronx County, Supreme Court concurred that the statements were the expression of the opinion however; the complaint pleaded a cause of action of insult since there was no sufficient facts presented in support of the opinion. The defendants took a step of appeal to the New York Supreme Court claiming that the press release does not constitute an actionable constitutional statement and that it was purely an opinion (Halsey & McLaughlin, 2012). The N.Y Supreme Court justified it according to the meaning of the statement of pure opinion which is a statement backed up with facts and may not serve as the basis for an action. A statement of pure opinion is determined by the perception of an average person towards it. And for this case the reader would perceive it as an opinion. Thus the defendants won.

References

Halsey, B. J., & McLaughlin, J. (2012). Legal environment: Business law and business entities. Frederick, MD: Wolters Kluwer Law & Business.