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Tuesday, November 7, 2000
Sprewell suit against NBA, Warriors snubbed



SAN FRANCISCO -- Calling it a "baseless complaint," a federal appeals court declined Tuesday to reinstate Latrell Sprewell's $30 million suit against the NBA and his former team, the Golden State Warriors.

Sprewell
Sprewell

An arbitrator cut Sprewell's suspension from a year to 68 games and overturned the Warriors' decision to terminate the last three years of his contract. The legal action followed a 1997 spat with coach P.J. Carlesimo during a practice in which witnesses said the player grabbed the coach around the neck and threatened to kill him.

Sprewell's suit claimed he was the victim of racial discrimination and said the arbitrator only could uphold or reject the suspension in its entirety.

U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker first dismissed the suit in 1998, saying its allegations were too vague to prove any legal violations. He said Sprewell should consider dropping the case, but gave him one more chance to make his allegations more specific.

Walker dismissed the new complaint last year, saying the refiled suit was virtually the same as the first, meritless suit.

Sprewell's claims, even if proven, would not show that the Warriors or the league were motivated by racism, Walker said. And even if racial bias were shown, the judge said, Sprewell failed to demonstrate "a public policy that specifically militates against suspension of an employee who violently attacks his employer."

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco agreed Tuesday with Walker, who said the arbitrator had reasonably concluded that Sprewell's punishment was authorized by the union contract.

"We are obviously pleased with court's decision and trust that this will finally bring an end to these allegations," said Rick Buchanan, the NBA's vice president and general counsel.

According to witnesses at Sprewell's arbitration hearing, the all-star guard grabbed Carlesimo around the neck and threatened to kill him. After they were separated and Sprewell left the floor to shower and change, he returned and, according to witnesses, punched Carlesimo and threatened him again.

The Warriors initially suspended him for 10 games, then terminated the last three years and $24 million of his contract. The league increased the suspension to a year. But arbitrator John Feerick, after a lengthy hearing, ruled the punishment excessive and ordered Sprewell reinstated. He was later traded to the New York Knicks.

Sprewell said the 68-game suspension cost him $6.4 million in salary. His suit sought the return of $5.4 million as well as additional damages.

He argued that his punishment was not authorized by the league's union agreement, and he accused NBA investigators of destroying interview notes and doctoring evidence.

The suit's main racial discrimination claim noted that Phoenix Suns forward Tom Chambers, who is white, was not suspended for punching an assistant coach a few weeks before Sprewell, who is black, attacked Carlesimo.

The arbitrator examined the Chambers incident and others cited by Sprewell and found that differing punishments were based on the seriousness of the offense, not the race of the player, the judge said.

The appeals panel also upheld Walker's demand that Sprewell's lawyers pay $153,000.

Walker told the lawyers to pay $113,000 to the NBA's lawyers for their costs of defending against the suit, $35,000 to the Golden State Warriors' lawyers for defense costs and $5,000 to the U.S. District Court in San Francisco for "this waste of judicial resources."

ALSO SEE
NBA tells Sprewell to watch what he says




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