An attorney for ESPN is calling new testimony from Laurie Fine on what was said in a taped phone call “absurd on its face,” according to court documents filed Wednesday.

In a September 2014 deposition, Fine claims that the taped conversation between her and Bobby Davis, the primary accuser of sexual abuse claims against her husband, was about loaning money.

Bernie Fine, the former SU associate men’s basketball coach, was accused in 2011 by Davis and Mike Lang of molesting them while they were ball boys at the university. Fine was fired by SU but was never charged after an almost yearlong federal investigation. He has denied all wrongdoing.

ESPN published the 2002 phone call, which Davis recorded to try to prove his argument.

Laurie Fine sued the network in 2012, claiming that ESPN aired statements that were false and defamatory, including one where ESPN said she knew her husband was sexually abusing ball boys. She also claimed that ESPN doctored the tapes.

Lawrence Fisher, Fine’s attorney, could not be reached for comment

Nathan Siegel, ESPN’s attorney, has since motioned for the lawsuit to be tossed out, saying that Fine no longer alleges the tapes were doctored. Siegel said he couldn’t comment on the lawsuit, but when asked how the testimony would impact her case, he said the “papers speak for themselves.”

In the motion, Siegel said Fine told Davis on the phone that she “knew what was going on” and that Bernie Fine needed male companionship that she couldn’t give him. Fine believes these statements were a part of a conversation about financial loans and NCAA recruiting violations, according to the testimony.

Davis told Fine in the tape that he called her husband a pedophile but that Bernie Fine “still tried to grab him” in an office at Manley Field House. She responded saying, “Because I think he thinks that maybe you accepted it because you still went back up there. You know how sometimes I can tell you, ‘I hate you, I hate you, I hate you,’ and the next thing you know I’m in bed with you.”

Fine claims in the deposition that she wasn’t fully listening on the phone and that she didn’t think they were talking about sex.

Published on October 1, 2015 at 12:18 pm

Contact Annie: apalme05@syr.edu