NHL Lawsuit – Wednesday

Posted by on August 20th, 2014  •  0 Comments  • 

It took them 10-years, cost a player his career, allowed a player to earn millions more, and this is supposed to be justice.
 
The NHL lawsuit involving Todd Bertuzzi and Steven Moore has been settled out of court, a decade after one player assaulted the other, ending his rookie career.  It never went to trial, it was a cash payout.
 
Bertuzzi, a brute of a center, while playing for Vancouver, jumped Moore, a smallish center icemen for Colorado, from behind in a game,  Punched him into unconsciousness, fractured his neck, broke vertebrae, and ended his career.
 
The NHL suspended Bertuzzi for some 50 games and the playoffs.  He was found guilty of simple assault in court, but never served a day in jail.  It hurt his team in postseason, and it cost him 502,000-in salaries.
 
Steven Moore has never been the same since the ambush attack.  He forever has concussion symptoms, not only gave up hockey, but cannot hold a job because of headaches, eyesight problems, vertigo and emotional trauma.  A career ended at age 25.
 
Allegations of a vendetta against the Colorado player, because he had leg whipped a Canucks player earlier in the season.  Legal action that dragged coach Mark Crawford into the incident for putting a bounty of Moore’s head.  Threats of litigation against then GM-Brian Burke.
 
Moore filed a 68M-lawsuit for damages.  Tied up in red-tape, it never saw the light of day in court.  It dragged on for a decade.
 
All the while, Moore sits at home in darkened rooms, his hockey life and his work life forever gone.  Bertuzzi has played on, earning $47M in salaries as a multi-time free agent.
 
A 6’4 giant of a player, jumping on the back of a 5’10 checking center, pounding him senseless, leaving him in a pool of blood on the ice.
 
They settled, reportedly for 8M, a pittance of a fee for a rich man Bertuzzi, no where’s near enough for the damages forever done to Moore.
 
The legal system, and the NHL, you tell me who is served by this end result.
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