ALLEGED MOSS VICTIM’S LAWYER SPEAKS
Posted by Mike Florio on January 17, 2008, 8:57 p.m.
A statement was issued on Thursday by the lawyer for Rachelle Washington, who has obtained a temporary restraining order against Moss and who hopes to convert it to a permanent injunction on January 28.
Here’s the full text of the statement, courtesy of Tom Curran of NBCSports.com:
“For the past 11 years, Ms. Washington has cared deeply for Mr. Moss and has been there for him throughout all of his trials and tribulations. However, she refuses to be further disrespected by him. It has never been her intention to hurt Mr. Moss in any way. However, she has suffered mental and physical harm as a result of his actions. She simply wants him to take responsibility for what he has done. As a battery victim, she has shown great strength throughout this entire ordeal.
“Ms. Washington has been unfairly characterized as someone simply seeking financial gain. In fact, it was Mr. Moss’ representatives who first contacted our office to offer a ’six figure’ settlement with hopes of not having this incident become public record.
“We have heard Mr. Moss’ statement regarding the incident. He has acknowledged that he was at Ms. Washington’s Florida residence and that he was ‘guilty’ of an ‘accident’ which occurred. However, Mr. Moss fails to mention how his reckless and degrading conduct rendered Ms. Washington unable to drive her vehicle to seek medical attention. As the evidence will show, there is serious doubt that Mr. Moss is capable of recalling with clarity the exact details of what transpired that evening. As Mr. Moss has previously stated, ‘Do your homework and check his resume.’
“We look forward to presenting all of the evidence at the court hearing on January 28, 2008.”
We’ve got a lot to say about the situation, but I needed a good topic for my Friday SportingNews.com column. So it’ll all be there at some point tomorrow morning.
MOSS LAWYER FIRES BACK
Posted by Mike Florio on January 17, 2008, 10:00 p.m.
Tim DiPiero, the long-time agent and lawyer for Patriots receiver Randy Moss, has taken the gloves off regarding the ongoing legal brouhaha involving his client.
Here’s the full text of an e-mail message that DiPiero sent to Mike Reiss of the Boston Globe on Thursday night, and possibly to other members of the media regarding communications with the lawyer for Rachelle Washington:
“My communications with Mr. McGill began last Wednesday. He told me that Randy had intentionally hurt his client’s hand and wouldn’t take her to the hospital and that if Randy didn’t pay up, he would go public and file suit in Florida for battery. He gave me until 3 pm Friday to let him know. He demanded that I not come up with ’something like $50,000 or $75,000,’ but something with ’six figures.’ He had told me that the x-rays on her hand or finger were negative. I explained that it was my understanding that what occurred was the result of a horseplay-type accident and Randy was sorry it had occurred and he would pay for her medical bills and pain and suffering and that I would prefer to turn this over to his homeowners’ insurance coverage as we normally do with accidents. He said he was not interested in insurance or what her injuries were. He said he was evaluating the claim based on what Randy stood to lose. He threatened that Randy would suffer large amounts of money in future salaries and endorsements and what he claimed would be game suspensions.
“He also threatened that his client had lots of ‘dirt’ on him. Making such threats is clearly unethical, and in my opinion, criminal. When I tried to ascertain the extent of her injuries, he said that he didn’t know and that it didn’t matter as I just needed to make an offer big enough that she would take it. I sought the assistance of a skilled attorney and friend, Joe Friedberg of Minneapolis, who contacted a friend of his, Richard Sharpstein in Miami, to assist me. Each of them tried to talk to McGill and they both experienced the same attempts to shake down Randy. In fact, he tried to intimidate me by telling me that I would be blamed if the suit got filed. He said in a threatening tone that ‘it behooved me’ to make a big offer and he told me, ‘don’t blow it.’ On Friday afternoon, I contacted the FBI and the US Attorneys’ Offices here in Charleston about his threats. McGill claimed to be driving to the courthouse to file the complaint. I asked if by six figures, he meant $100,000 and he told me to quit ‘nickel and diming’ him. The filing time passed on Friday and he was upset that he had not filed before the Patriot game on Saturday. He kept pushing me to make a big offer. We asked him for a figure and after refusing for awhile, he gave us one, ‘$500,000, take it or leave it.’
“People who know me in West Virginia know that I have had a long relationship with Randy and that I care a great deal about him. His success this year on and off the field has been something those of us who are close to him have enjoyed immensely. The private, glowing reports I have received from folks in the Patriots organization about his daily work ethic and rapport with everyone there made us ecstatic for him, given the difficulties he’s had. The Patriot family has come to know him as we do. With this big game coming up and with the media frenzy that I figured would follow, as it has, I admit that I thought about advising Randy to just pay the $500,000. I knew that Randy, given all the positives this year, would not want this situation to hurt the Patriots, especially now, and to be a distraction for his teammates and would pay much more than he should for the sake of the team. Because I’m too close to the situation, I had to listen to the advice of Mr. Friedberg and Mr. Sharpstein who advised me, correctly, that to pay such an outrageous amount was not the right thing to do. We tried to meet with Mr. McGill on Monday, but he refused to do so. I still didn’t want Randy to face all this craziness, and naturally we wanted to settle this thing and were willing to pay an exorbitant amount to do so, so when he asked for an offer on Monday, we said, something to the effect, ‘you said six figures, how about $100,000?’ He said it had to be $500,000 or nothing. We told him to forget it. He had his client file the domestic petition the next day.
“I don’t want to add to the media frenzy, but I must respond to Mr. McGill’s recent inaccurate statement. I want the U. S. Attorneys Offices in Miami and Charleston, the Prosecuting Attorney of Dade County and the Florida State Bar, whoever has jurisdiction over Mr. McGill’s conduct, to know that I am ready to meet with any and all of them and to testify regarding the blatant threats and attempts to extort money from my client.”
