Clemens sues ex trainer over steroid allegations

Houston Chronicle:

In a defamation lawsuit filed Sunday night, Roger Clemens claims Brian McNamee, his longtime trainer and chief accuser of steroid abuse, was threatened with jail if he didn't connect the pitcher to steroids.

The lawsuit was filed electronically with the Harris County civil courts Sunday evening just before CBS locally aired Clemens' interview on 60 Minutes.

"I don't know if I'll ever get the naysayers back. I don't know what I'm going to get. Maybe some of my name back," a frustrated Clemens said Sunday. Clemens said this lawsuit will not keep him from testifying before Congress, which he plans to do without asking for immunity or invoking any rights.

The former Houston Astro is being called to testify about McNamee's allegations that the trainer injected Clemens with steroids and human growth hormones between 1998 and 2001.

The lawsuit doesn't request a specific dollar amount and Clemens' Houston lawyer, Rusty Hardin, said they filed the suit not to get money, but to clear Clemens' name and discover how the allegations against Clemens came about.

Hardin said they want to learn exactly what was done and not done by federal agents and other investigators who helped U.S. Sen. George Mitchell implicate Clemens in a report on steroid use for Major League Baseball.

"This has ruined Roger's reputation with a large percentage of the public," said Hardin.

"All of McNamee's accusations are false and defamatory per se," the lawsuit states. "They are not true, and they injured Clemens' reputation and exposed him to public hatred, contempt, ridicule, and financial injury. McNamee made the allegations with actual malice, knowing they were false."

Clemens' lawsuit also asks a Texas court to declare that he has not defamed McNamee. McNamee's New York lawyers have threatened to sue Clemens for defamation, depending what Clemens said on 60 Minutes.

Hardin said Clemens, following the advice of his lawyer, agents and others, waited almost a month since the Mitchell Report was made public to sue McNamee.

"We kept thinking McNamee might change his mind and come to his senses and admit he was lying," Hardin said. But, Hardin said, instead McNamee arranged to talk to Clemens Friday and, rather than getting back to Clemens as promised, their conversation was leaked "with spin" to Newsday.

The lawsuit first details all the McNamee allegations in the Mitchell Report. The lawsuit said a link between steroids and Clemens' success "is untrue and maliciously ignores Clemens' consistent record-setting performances before and after" the years McNamee alleges the wrongdoing.

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This is an aggressive litigation strategy that accomplishes more than is obvious on the surface. First it puts the case in Houston where Roger lives and even if the case is removed to federal court, it is still likely that the case would be in Houston. Roger is still very popular in Houston which means he has a shot at getting a favorable jury, although this story suggest mixed reviews for his 60 Minutes performance. The case also preempts a threatened case by McNamee and puts McNamee to the task of defending his allegations in Houston rather than New York.

It also appears to challenge the McNamee team's description of events last Friday in a phone conversation between the two. McNamee's lawyers claim that Clemens initiated the call. Clemens' lawyer is claiming that McNamee arranged the call and then leaked the contents to the media. This is definitely going to be a case about credibility.