Lindsey Miller denied any participation in the Great Maroon Conspiracy. Rebel Rags sued Mississippi State football players Leo Lewis and Kobe Jones for defamation in Lafayette County Circuit Court on June 9. The complaint also named Lindsey Miller and several John Does as defendants. Lindsey Miller is the stepfather of Laremy Tunsil. A NCAA Notice of Allegations charged that an unnamed Ole Miss booster gave free merchandise to two unnamed players in violation of NCAA guidelines. The President of Rebel Rags, Terry Warren, didn't take kindly to such allegations and made his displeasure quite known in the complaint.
Mr. Miller filed a motion to dismiss on July 6, while the two players filed motions to sever each one from the other defendants. Rebel Rags responded with a massive 389-page barrage of arguments and exhibits on July 21. Mr. Miller responded today with a response to the Rebel Rags response to his motion to dismiss the Rebel Rags complaint. (Not quite as good as saying cash is as good as money but I tried.)
Rebel Rags argued the discovery rule supported its defamation claim. The discovery rule states the statute of limitations doesn't begin to run on a claim until when a victim knew or should have known that he had a cause of action due to the injury. Rebel Rags claimed it was the victim of lies and conspiracy among the defendants, but didn't learn of the alleged wrongdoing until the NCAA issued its amended notice of allegations on February 22, 2017.
Lindsey Miller said that 389-page Briefbuster was a nice shot but you missed me. He argued the two exhibits included in the response were absent from the complaint and thus should be excluded. Mr. Miller presents the normal defense used in such responses: the complaint doesn't state a claim upon which relief can be granted. Rebel Rags rests its complaint on the argument that some John Does put Lindsey Miller up to lying to the NCAA about Rebel Rags after July, 2015. No actual date is cited, just a time frame of a little more than eighteen months. However, Rebel Rags says it didn't know of the allegations until after February 22, 2017. Mr. Miller's attorney, Matt Wilson, argues the discovery rule does not apply to civil conspiracy.
The response concedes that the discovery rule can apply to defamation claims, but it doesn't apply in this case since Rebel Rags never states when the conspiracy occurred. Mr. Miller then makes his key point:
Mississippi law is clear. A defamatory statement must have "the capacity to injure the plaintiff's reputation." See Speed v. Scott, 787 So.2d 626, 631 (Miss. 2001). The Complaint makes no mention of how Mr. Miller's alleged statement that Rebel Rags had given its own property away would hurt Rebel Rags' reputation. Although giving free items to a student athlete may be a violation of NCAA rules, the Complaint is silent as to how NCAA rules would apply to Rebel Rags. Thus if Rebel Rags is not governed by NCAA rules, then without further explanation, a defamatory statement to the NCAA about Rebel Rags would be incapable of causing harm to Rebel Rags.
Next up on the plate is the matter of the Great Maroon Conspiracy:
The Response to Jones attempts to paint the picture of a conspiracy to destroy the Ole Miss football program that involves Mr. Jones, Coach Dan Mullen of the Mississippi State University (hereinafter "Mississippi State") football team, and Mr. Steve Robertson, a journalist with ties to Mississippi State. However, neither the Response to Jones, nor the Response to Mr. Miller's Motion to Dismiss, nor the Complaint provide any factual basis to support the notion that Mr. Miller was involved in any conspiracy prior his interviews with the NCAA.
Evidence? Mr. Miller asks if there is any evidence that he participated in any conspiracy:
According to the Response to Jones, Mr. Miller stopped talking to the NCAA prior to January 22, 2016. Therefore, if there had been a conspiracy between Mr. Miller and anyone else, such a conspiracy would have occurred prior to January 22, 2016. In fact, such a conspiracy necessarily would have been formed in 2015 prior to when Mr. Miller allegedly defamed Rebel Rags. 4 After all, just as the conspiracy to kill President Lincoln predated his assassination, any conspiracy to defame Rebel Rags would have necessarily predated Mr. Miller's statements to the NCAA about Rebel Rags.
Rebel Rags has compiled various news articles, internet postings, and hearsay statements from Ole Miss football coaches to create the narrative that Messrs. Lewis and Jones have conspired with Coach Mullen, Mr. Robertson, and others to target Ole Miss and Rebel Rags. However, Rebel Rags presents no such evidence to support its contention that Mr. Miller was involved in any alleged conspiracy.
For example, Rebel Rags should have internet posts, or phone records, or emails, or text messages, or photographs of Mr. Miller and the John Doe defendants entering the same steakhouse minutes apart, or recordings provided by participants who were wearing a wire during their meetings, or videotaped statements from persons hiding behind screens with their voices altered, etc., etc. Put simply, if Rebel Rags knew of a mafia-like conspiracy involving "mafiosos" like Mr. Miller and "dons" like the John Doe defendants, then on the day it filed the Complaint, Rebel Rags should have had a modicum of evidence to support such a wild conspiracy theory. As such, Rebel Rags should have had no problem articulating the same in its pleadings. Nevertheless, in three pleadings filed with this Court, Rebel Rags has presented no such evidence, let alone any factual narrative to support its conclusory allegation that Mr. Miller has conspired with anyone to harm Rebel Rags.
Kingfish note: Just like The Great War. The more fronts open up, the harder it is to control the war.
35 comments:
Meanwhile: The FBI is in Oxford. Fact.
@ 6:43 -- The FBI has an office in Oxford, they are always there. Fact.
I think you miss the point, dumbass. The FBI is on campus at TSUN. Oh, wait, maybe they always are. They are investigating in connection with the Freezus-Whore scandal and its possible connections to both interstate transportation of whores, interstate telephone conversations regarding sex for sale and providing prostitutes to under-age recruits and student athletes.
Is that better? Dumbass.
Wait, 8:31. Is Rosebowl reporting this? Otherwise, I ain't buying it.
The FBI is in fact on the Ole Miss campus. They are trying to figure out who shot that bullet that is in the Lyceum !!
You Rebs have been, not only wrong, but blindsided the entire way in this beginning with "there is no investigation". So if I were you I'd think strongly about sitting back, shutting pie holes and pray nothing else comes out. I'd wish you luck, but I've still got more popcorn flavors to eat and rueing to do.
The comment section is always a reliable source of information about confidential investigations [thumbs up].
Ohhhhh...the FBI is in town....Ohhhhhhh, again...this is so scary.
Is James Comey leading this investigation now?!? :D
@7:18--Not surprising the FBI has to keep an office in Oxford given it's history.
I guess Miller's attorney completely missed the line in the case that says civil conspiracy doesn't "stand alone" i.e. it takes on the sol of defamation i.e. it is subject to the discovery rule. I literally did not legal research; I got that from his brief.
How is Lindsey Miller pay for all of this legal work?
The Rebels were an inch away from the NCAA going away. And then Freeze offended Lindsey Miller. Draft night circus never happens if the Lindsey Miller incident went away quietly. That one comment by Freeze defending Tunsil against the step dad led to the complete unravelling of a program and his family.
So, to recap and bootleg off 12:02's post:
The NCAA was an inch from going away without Miller being pissed.
The NCAA was half a quarter-inch away from leaving town without Tunsil making his draft night comment.
Freeze was well into preserving his job until he and the university told Nutt's lawyers to go pound sand with the apology request.
Bjork had his job cinched up before he told Vitter 'you don't know jack-shit about football'.
The boosters were all home-safe until knowledgeable folks started invoking public-information-requests.
The Freeze-Faithful were comfortable as enablers until they saw their preachers peeking out the blinds and locking the doors.
@11:59 am- He isn't. Miller was referred to his attorney by Rosebowl because Wilson is a state alumnus and donor.
Seems to be the same arrogant "I'm better than you because I went to Ole Miss" mentality is the same arrogance that's going to get them in trouble with the NCAA and other alphabet agencies.
Good grief, 1:28...we are better than you! Are you serious!!!
NOBODY carries the mantle as "little brother" or "little sister" in this State better than a fan, student or alum of Mississippi state! Even USM is a rung higher.
Bless your poor, ignorant bottom-dweller-of-the-SEC hearts...you just don't know any better as the color maroon has degraded further your diminutive brains.
All of the Dawg posters better have fun now. When the NCAA is through with us, they are simply going to drive to Starkville and start their investigation into your basketball program and how suddenly all of these 4 and 5 stars have fallen in love with TSBU
2:04, you just proved 1:28's point. Sorry you have to be told this.
Bama's arrogance with Vandy's trophy case. Yeah, Bubba. Y'all are Number 1!! That ACT average of 25, whew. Harvard of the South. ROFLMAO. You're Mississippi's Big Sister- greasy, sweaty, broad bottomed, adorned in that redneck red from pigtails to barefeet, waddling down the Midway, gnawing on a corndog. Screeching "Hotty Toddy!" Good Lord, you are sad.
"...waddling down the Midway, gnawing on a corndog..."
Don't be dissing on my corndog........
2:31, are you serious? Have you no idea who Ben Howland is or the number of former college players that he has in the NBA? 3x Final Fours and Naismith Coach of the Year...when you can put a HS senior on the phone with Brodie and he says "go with Coach Howland-he's the real deal," you've got some pull.
just in case you didn't know ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Howland
So 2:31 can't see a difference in a football coach who's best landing spot was Arky State vs a bball coach, who took UCLA to multiple Final Fours, with multiple players in the NBA? You may want a refund on that UMiss education of yours, assuming you aren't the typical sidewalk fan who just latched onto the term Rebels and just loves OM for the old south will rise again mentality of it and never actually attended school there...
I graduated from college (both undergrad & graduate) here in MS, but I attended neither MSU nor OM. Actually, I didn't attend any of the public universities, and no, I don't think that makes me any better or worse than anybody else. After reading & listening to the constant bitching back & forth between the fan bases of those two universities, particularly over the current situation at OM, I'm so glad that I'm not affiliated with either one. I went to college to get an advanced education, period! College athletics may be big business, but when you boil it down to the bone, it's nothing more than entertainment. And in the grand scheme of life, it's meaningless! Whether your team wins or loses, who cares?! Life goes on! If we as a state spent just a small fraction of the time, money, effort, etc., etc., etc. that we spend following college sports on things that really matter (family, our religion, our health, poverty, education, just to name a few), we wouldn't be at the bottom of every bad national statistic. Our preoccupation & downright obsession with college athletics is pathetic.
4:06...other than a liberal professor in every classroom, what is your particular obsession?
12:40 yeah that's one interpretation. Point is the school almost squeaked through. And then Freeze had to put on the persona. And he picked the wrong step dad.
@5:47, maybe 4:06's obsession is raising a good family, making a positive contribution to society, and ignoring things that don't matter.
Yes, its fun to go to a football game and watch real talent strive for a victory - what's not fun is when people make it the center of their lives, and do unethical and illegal things to perpetuate the idea that a bunch of overpaid whiners and never-gonna-be pro athletes are more important than the rest of us. After college sports "fame" fades, are these folks able to adapt to the real working world?
My Hoghead Goodness,
Please some one flowchart this out for me.
I can't get my head around it!
Houston Nutt the previous Ole Miss coach who got a 3.5 million $ buyout turn Hugh Freeze in by finding a Whore's telephone number on freezes phone. (Could it have been a butt call?) He Haw! Is this what happened? Please help me.
Heck, I need to go bust a beer!
Johnny - You already had too many. Can you not understand the words, "Pattern of Behavior revealed in the phone records"? Hee Haw Yo Ass! Holler for momma to bring you a sweat rag.
Ole Miss is about to have a banner season to the dismay of many...hide and watch little brother...hide and watch.
Your scalps, as well, are going to be on the NCAA totem pole when all is said and done.
See y'all in the "Land That Fun Forgot" come this November...can't wait!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IDC-0NYSF0
Somebody venture to tell me how many SEC teams would come out squeaky clean if the NCAA pursued them in the way described in Godfrey's piece yesterday on SB Nation about Donte Mincrief and his brothers car?
NCAA saw player with brand new car he didn't own. Went a little overboard, as did Godfrey but probable cause a little understandable.
Kingfish...try to do a little better research if you're going to try and report some news here...you're reminding a lot of us of the crappy reporting and innuendo that has gone on these past 4 years with no proof. The car was used.
So a black fellow driving a nice car is now grounds for investigation and asking banks and hotels for private information? Don't think that article didn't make some folks at other schools nervous.
Five year old car. A black man cannot drive a five year old car without the NCAA trying to pry info out of bank tellers.
Thought it was brand new. I stand corrected.
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