While I mourn the outcomes of the Supreme Court’s 2013-14 term, I got a giggle at this lawsuit filed by the now-infamous sleeping Yankees’ fan. Andrew Rector was caught on camera at the April 14 Yankees v. Red Sox game in New York, slumped over asleep right in the stands. When the ESPN commentators saw Rector, he became a topic for many jokes, to say the least. Watch the video here. (My favorite part is the friend chowing on chicken fingers.)
Rector’s feelings were hurt. Rector filed the suit against ESPN, Shulman, Kruk, the New York Yankees and Major League Baseball (MLB) for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress. We have covered these torts extensively in all of my classes, so I will leave the legal analysis to you. All I will say is that based on how both teams are playing, who can blame Mr. Rector for taking a quick nap?
One Comment
Sara Baik posted on April 23, 2015 at 10:33 pm
So in reading more about this case from different articles, Rector claimed that the announcers called him “fatty” and “stupid,” when in fact, the announcers commented on how he can possibly sleep through the game. This claim can be dismissed from this point because the defamatory statement was proven false. Here, I kind of wonder–can the case be reversed so that Rector is charged for some form of defamation? Rector communicated a false statement that may have harmed the reputation of the announcers (although I don’t think that the announcers would have suffered injury). I think that overall, this lawsuit was a bit exaggerated on part of Rector because he wanted $10 million for getting his feelings hurt. Videographers capturing fans and announcers commenting on what they see is what often happens in a ball game, so the context of the situation should also support why Rector’s lawsuit doesn’t work.