Most of you will say that all is fair when steroids are involved, but it’s still worth pointing out that MLB’s civil lawsuit against Anthony Bosch and Biogenesis -- a suit which has basically zero legal merit and which isn’t really a contested lawsuit given that Bosch and MLB are now working together -- is still active. And MLB is using it to discover evidence in its investigation of the Biogenesis players.
The latest: A-Rod’s famous cousin, Yuri Sucart, was in court yesterday challenging MLB’s right to take his deposition in the case. The Miami Herald reports on it. The upshot: Cousin Yuri argued that the state court lawsuit is invalid as a means of MLB vindicating its rights under the Collective Bargaining Agreement (remember: the suit is for alleged interference with that contract) because the Collective Bargaining Agreement is governed by federal law. The judge actually suggested that this argument is valid, but said that as a non-party Sucart can’t challenge it so he’ll have to appear at a deposition.
The judge also wondered why none of the actual defendants -- like Tony Bosch -- are challenging the suit on those grounds. Well, the answer is simple: it’s an essentially fake, non-contested lawsuit in which the primary defendants are now on the same side as the plaintiffs so of course they’re not going to challenge it. It’s a sham and it should not exist, but no one seems to care.
We talked last week about the gloves-off, get-tough nature of MLB’s investigation. Whatever you think of that, let us not forget that part of it involves the misuse of the court system in an effort to handle its employee discipline and public relations problems.