Back in November, the attorneys for Roger Clemens and his former trainer, Brian McNamee stood in front of Judge 
Keith Ellison in a federal court in Houston to state their cases regarding the viability of Clemens’ defamation suit.McNamee’s legal team had filed a motion to dismiss the case and if any of it survived they wanted it moved to New York.
His lawyers argued that the majority of the statements alleged by Clemens to be defamatory were made by McNamee in New York. But it wasn’t surprising that the case had been filed in Texas. Clemens and his legal team reside there.
The venue of a case helps the local party by keeping costs down for appearing in court. No airline trips are necessary. Local knowledge of the courts and the judges also plays a big part in where a case is filed. McNamee was the one who might be hurt both in the pocket book and on the familiarity scale.
He won a big victory today when Judge Ellison issued his opinion on the dismissal and removal motions.
Ellison agreed with McNamee that with respect to the statements made in New York, the case should be heard there. As for the merits of the defamation claims, the judge ruled in favor of McNamee again.
He said that McNamee’s statements to George Mitchell came within an exception to the defamation case law which protects words spoken by a person who is required to speak in the course of an investigation or in court.
The judge ruled that because McNamee was under investigation and working with federal prosecutors on a potential plea deal for his part in trafficking illegal steroids, his statements to Mitchell should be protected.
He was required to cooperate and speak truthfully to Mitchell if he was to avoid prosecution.
What does that leave for Clemens’ side? Well they can appeal Judge Ellison’s decision or just move on to New York, re-file the case and see if the New York court’s precedents provide for the same ruling on the protection of McNamee’s statements. Of course this might all get dwarfed if a grand jury comes back with an indictment against Clemens.
They are also left with a clear path to continue the claims in Houston against McNamee regarding the former trainer’s statements made to pitcher and former client, Andy Pettite. Those are still actionable but might be refuted once Pettite is deposed and says on the record what he said in front of microphones more than one year ago.
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