A libel suit filed against ESPN by the wife of former Syracuse University basketball coach Bernie Fine in the wake of sexual abuse allegations has withstood the cable network’s dismissal motion.
Northern District Judge Lawrence Kahn (See Profile) ruled that Fine v. ESPN, 5:12-cv-0836, may go forward because he could not determine that ESPN’s reporting was definitively a “fair and true” account of a telephone conversation between Laurie Fine and Bobby Davis, who had accused the coach of sexually abusing him when Davis was a ball boy for the Syracuse team.
