Judge: Suit against Clemens can proceed

A federal judge in Brooklyn ruled Thursday that Brian McNamee's defamation suit against Roger Clemens can proceed, rejecting the former Yankee fireballer's motion to dismiss.

U.S. District Judge Sterling Johnson did eliminate claims of malicious prosecution and intentional infliction of emotional distress, but upheld the personal trainer's claim that Clemens falsely asserted that McNamee lied about injecting Clemens with a human growth hormone and steroids from 1998 to 2001.

"The statements were direct and often forcefully made. There was nothing loose or vague about them," the judge wrote.

"If McNamee's allegations are proven, Clemens will have knowingly lied when he called McNamee a liar . . . These statements impugning his integrity can form the basis of a defamation action."

The judge also rejected arguments that Clemens' statements disparaging McNamee were hyperbole offered in the heat of an emotional public debate, calling them part of a "calculated" campaign to discredit the trainer.

"Clemens' statements, no matter how passionately delivered, were made in prescheduled press conferences and other preplanned public appearances," the judge wrote. "This was not a debate in which emotions might lead to exaggerated statements."

McNamee lawyer Richard Emery said the 56-page ruling sustained the core of his client's lawsuit.

"I view it as a home run," Emery said. "It didn't go over the wall, but it was an inside-the-park home run."

Clemens has a criminal trial scheduled for July in Washington, D.C., over charges that he lied to Congress when he denied using HGH in 2008 Congressional testimony. Both McNamee, of Breezy Point, and former Yankee teammate Andy Pettitte are expected to testify at that trial.

Johnson ordered Thursday that all further activity in McNamee's civil suit be suspended until the criminal trial is over and set a status conference for September.

The civil suit was sparked by a 2007 report on steroid use by former Sen. George Mitchell, an investigator for Major League Baseball, recounting McNamee's claims that he used performance-enhancing drugs on Clemens more than a dozen times.

McNamee's defamation suit alleges that Clemens, in attempting to falsely rebut his charges, said the trainer was "constantly lying," "made up a bunch of evidence," and was "unstable" and "troubled."

Clemens' lawyers have said that those statements were opinions, which can't be the subject of a defamation suit, or mere hyperbolic rhetoric.

Johnson did agree with Clemens in two areas, dismissing claims that Clemens had attacked McNamee's mental stability and that he accused him of a crime by saying that he was trying to extort money out of the multimillionaire pitcher. He found that those statements - unlike assertions that McNamee lied and manufactured evidence - had been obvious hyperbole.

Clemens' lawyer Joe Roden said they were pleased with the outcome, because Johnson eliminated all claims other than defamation, and eliminated two of the grounds of defamation as well.

"He got rid of the vast majority of the lawsuit," Roden said.