UCI, McQuaid & Verbruggen in lawsuit against Landis

[theswordsman]

Press release - Legal case initiated against Floyd Landis

Date:


04.05.2011
Description:

The International Cycling Union (UCI), its current President, Mr Pat McQuaid, and one of its former Presidents, Mr Hein Verbruggen, have lodged a case in the Swiss courts against Mr Floyd Landis regarding repeated, serious attacks against their characters.

By this step, made necessary by numerous unacceptable public statements by Mr Landis, the UCI is seeking to defend the integrity of the cycling movement as a whole against the accusations of a rider who, by breaching the Anti-doping Rules, caused cycling serious harm.


UCI Press Service

http://www.uci.ch/Modules/ENews/ENe...es/UCI/UCI5/layout.asp?MenuID=MTYxNw&LangId=1

 

[Benotti69]

i hope someone 'sponsors' Landis for that fight.

 

[Barrus]

Anyone here has any understanding of Swiss defamation law?

Anyway, I guess the case is quite useless, mostly due to the fact that it would probably be difficult to ensure execution of the verdict in the US, and even if it succeeded, how would Landis be able to pay the damages?

 

[Dr. Maserati]

This begs some question.

..the UCI is seeking to defend the integrity of the cycling movement..

Ah, what integrity does the UCI have?

The International Cycling Union (UCI), its current President, Mr Pat McQuaid, and one of its former Presidents, Mr Hein Verbruggen, have lodged a case in the Swiss courts against Mr Floyd Landis regarding repeated, serious attacks against their characters.

If as they say it is a "serious attacks against their characters" why are they not taking an individual action against FL, why does the UCI have to foot this bill?

 

[nevada]

I'd happily stump up some cash to help Floyds defence.

 

[Cloxxki]

Doesn't strike me as very smart, taking on a man who has already shown that he has absolutely nothing to lose, nor anything to hide. He invented a new artform to express the stupidity of the situation, while staying very close to truthful facts he would be prepared to testify under oath on.

Also, what about the Feds? They can't have their prime witness and informant, even one-time double agent, be engaged in a pointless lawsuit like this? They need his attention. Can't they ask the Swiss to sit out the current US cases to see what evidence surfaces? Floyd might be forced to use evidence yet undisclosed due to the running cases, to defend himself against the Swiss. Like shooting a guard while he's cleaning his gun inside-out.

 

[JPM London]

i hope someone 'sponsors' Landis for that fight.

Well, he could write a book about his experiences and sell it to fund his defense - wait a minute...

Like the rest of you I also find it hard to believe this can stick to anything. First off the difficulty of proving he actually damaged cycling's "integrity" - whatever that means. Actually, let alone successfully defining the crime so that it makes sense and can be evaluated by a court is some hurdle.

And even then, he should quite easily be able to show he has not damaged this fancy integrity in any higher degree than the claimants themselves and that while he has been shown to have doped, that is no different from all the riders who are not being sued by misters bike kings and it's also quite difficult to see how he can be punished for detailing how the actions of many people, including himself AND the two stooges, that are burying the sport in the mud.

 

[L'arriviste]

I could understand the UCI trying to silence Floyd, but what I dislike is how McQaeda and Verdruggen get to personally ride on the same ticket. The UCI is an organisation while those two cretins are individuals, so I hope the UCI is not paying their legal fees.

 

[hrotha]

My guess is they'll go as far as they dare without actually going to court. I hope Landis stands firm and there's no out of court settlement, that would probably force the UCI to withdraw.

 

[Digger]

+1 to Cloxxki and Hrotha.
Floyd is making fools out of them and the emails on Velocitynation are a fine example.
I can see them playing a game of bluff but nothing more. 'Against their characters'.

 

[Kennf1]

Don't know anything about Swiss law, but how would these jokers ever establish damages? Are they going to claim that the UCI became less profitable, or there was a decline in bribe money?

 

[sniper]

Does someone here have enough time and energy to write an official open letter of complaint against the UCI and in support of Landis (in his role as whistleblower), and put in on a website where cyclingfans can sign the letter?

The letter should complain about the lack of support Landis receives as a whistleblower.

 

[The Valley]

"Its current President, Mr Pat McQuaid, and one of its former Presidents, Mr Hein Verbruggen, have lodged a case in the Swiss courts against Mr Floyd Landis regarding repeated, serious attacks against their characters"

I think they've done plenty over the last ten years to impugn their own characters beyond repair, without any help from anyone else.

You can hardly make two chumps like McQuaid and Verbruggen look any worse than they managed by themselves - they are both a disgrace to our sport.

 

[Granville57]

Not sure what the endgame is here.
How can the UCI leverage this in any positive way? ANY extra attention given to Floyd is only going to make them look bad. He has proven the ability to up the ante and take joy in gleefully humiliating them. Do they think something like this ridiculous "lawsuit" is going to squelch him?

The only thing that comes to mind is that LA & Co., or other concerned parties, could use any pending suit in their further attempts to discredit FLandis.
"Well, here's a guy who's currently involved in an international case against him...no credibility...blah, blah, blah..."

That's the only thing I can take away from this at the moment.

"Don't poke the crazy guy"
-Floyd

 

[DirtyWorks]

I could understand the UCI trying to silence Floyd, but what I dislike is how McQaeda and Verdruggen get to personally ride on the same ticket. The UCI is an organisation while those two cretins are individuals, so I hope the UCI is not paying their legal fees.

Don't set your expectations too high. Pat and Hein are pretty consistent in their ability to mix their personal business with the UCI's.

 

[Merckx index]

Well, looks like Python spoke just a little too soon:

let's condense the news about the 'bad boy' landis credibility:

- 'we like our words against his' but... we wont challenge his words, and

- 'The UCI itself threatened to sue Landis after the former rider said that it helped cover up positive tests. A legal firm representing the governing body issued a letter on February 7th demanding a retraction from him within a 15 day period. He declined to do so and, almost three months later, no action has been initiated.http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/82...Armstrong.aspx

i now know whose credibility i'd short sell...

If this suit actually goes somewhere, maybe we will finally see the evidence that UCI really did cover up positive tests, or give warnings to riders about tests. Would love to see all that raked out into the open.

 

[socalvelo]

UCI is a joke. McQruggen make themselves look like children and it just shows other cyclists that if they speak the truth, they will be punished for it.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

True change needs impartial oversight and new leadership that is not beholden to playground bullies.

 

[Zweistein]

This isn't about Landis. This is about trying to plug other leaks on this sinking ship.

 

[rata de sentina]

Don't you actually need a reputation in order for it to be damaged?

All in all this is actually quite funny but probably just more meaningless bluster from the kings of that kind of stuff. When Pat and Hein go to the shooting range the targets are pictures of their own feet.

 

[DirtyWorks]

Not sure what the endgame is here.
How can the UCI leverage this in any positive way?

The end game is to discredit Floyd by breaking him financially by just keeping the case going any number of ways. He capitulates and Pat and Hein get to write the press release that puts the UCI in the most favorable light. This is a very common tactic in the U.S.

If I were the Pat and Hein, the complaint is structured such that Pat and Hein's affairs do not intersect with the complaint. It would be fun if Swiss law allowed the complaint to expand in an effort to collect evidence for both parties. Any Swiss litigators care to weigh in?

 

[Granville57]

When Pat and Hein go to the shooting range the targets are pictures of their own feet.

This comes to mind

I have another question as well:
Is this really the type of attention the UCI wants on the eve of the Grand Tour season?

 

[thehog]

The endgame has nothing to do with covering up with positive tests or receiving damages. Its to flush out Floyd and for him to show what evidence he has. Theirs is no end game. Just tie the boy up in legal proceedings. Floyd will ignore this letter. The UCI have already had this action “out on the wire” with the headline “UCI sues Landis”. We all know its going no where. Its up to the UCI to prove that they’ve been damaged by the accusations. I’m not sure if Floyd has said anything which could be considered “damaging”. The UCI Is not a brand name. It doesn’t really sell a product per se. Has McQuaid been personally damaged by the accusations? I don’t think so. Has Hein? Potentially. But if he went to court he’d have to demonstrate how he has been damaged even when he’s no longer the President. Perhaps he didn’t take a bribe from Armstrong – it would be up for Floyd to prove that he did. Floyd would merely state what he heard from Armstrong – Do you think either party will call Armstrong to appear? Floyd may. Would he show? Of course not. This really won’t get any traction. I can see it burning up some time but that’s about it.

 

[red_flanders]

Does someone here have enough time and energy to write an official open letter of complaint against the UCI and in support of Landis (in his role as whistleblower), and put in on a website where cyclingfans can sign the letter?

The letter should complain about the lack of support Landis receives as a whistleblower.

One could try something like this:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/create.html

 

[Granville57]

The end game is to discredit Floyd by breaking him financially by just keeping the case going any number of ways.

But if Floyd doesn't have any finances (as we are led to believe), or just simply ignores them (or taunts through Grey Manrod), how can they break what is already "broken," if we assume the perspective of an unemployed, fringe, loose cannon?

How is this in any way "enforceable"?

 

[SpannerBender]

I hope someone 'sponsors' Landis for that fight.

Please Novitsky come up with the goods! I'm getting to the point where I'd rather see McQuaid go down than Pharmstrong.