Jeff Weaver smoking pot, plus lewd behavior from the Tigers causes a lawsuit

[DannyAlmonte]

Judge chides Tigers for 'shameful' behavior
In lawsuit opinion, he criticizes players for vulgar treatment of flight attendant

By Fred Girard / The Detroit News


DETROIT -- Several Tigers players engaged in "shameful and disgraceful" behavior toward a former flight attendant, calling her vulgar names after she complained about marijuana use on the team plane, a judge said in a ruling on the attendant's sexual-harassment lawsuit.
U.S. District Judge Lawrence P. Zatkoff criticized the "hubris of the players, engaging in behavior that would be rightfully deemed unacceptable if performed by anyone else in society ... simply because of their ability to hit a ball with a bat and run around the bases."
In the lawsuit, Lisa Kesner of Lima, Ohio, claimed that Tigers players showed hard-core pornography on laptop computers during flights on the team plane. She also claimed former Tigers pitcher Jeff Weaver used marijuana in the plane's restroom, and that current player Matt Anderson called her profane names after she told him marijuana use was not permitted on the plane. She also accused player Bobby Higginson of profanity.
With his harsh words, Zatkoff noted that the Tigers organization and other defendants in the lawsuit didn't try to deny the allegations. But he dismissed 29 of the 30 complaints made by Kesner, 37.
He ruled the single complaint of sexual harassment against Olympia Aviation can proceed to trial, set for Aug. 1. Now dissolved, Olympia Aviation was a company owned by Tigers owner Mike Ilitch.
Higginson and Anderson said Monday they had no recollection of the events Kesner alleges. "I kind of know who the lady is," Anderson said, "but it was never a big issue in my life."
None of the players is named as a defendant in Kesner's suit. Efforts to interview the other players named were unsuccessful Monday.
In May 2001, Kesner sued the Tigers, three Ilitch holding companies and Olympia Aviation, the Ilitch arm that handled charter flights for the Tigers and Red Wings. She claimed sexual harassment, sex discrimination, retaliation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, defamation and tortious interference with a business expectation.
Zatkoff ruled that whether Olympia Aviation provided a "hostile working environment," as defined by the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, is a matter for a jury to decide.
Kesner's other complaints were dismissed because Tigers officials did not know of some of the problems and took action to correct others. Kesner declined to be interviewed Monday; her attorney did not respond to a message.
In her lawsuit against Olympia Aviation, Kesner alleges the harassment began on her first flight with the team in April 2000, when a group of players was showing hard-core pornography on their laptop computers in such a way that she and another woman attendant could not help but see it.
Then, and afterward, players called her vulgar names and made frequent sexual innuendos, her lawsuit said. She said Doug Brocail and Gregg Jeffries, then players with the Tigers, asked her if she would perform sexual acts with her husband "in a van." Other players inappropriately touched or rubbed her breasts or buttocks, according to the complaint.
The treatment worsened, according to the suit, after a flight in July 2000. Kesner said that she saw Weaver -- traded this month to the Yankees -- walk out of the lavatory, and "saw a smoke cloud and smelled burnt marijuana following him out."
Her suit says that when she told Weaver and his seatmate, Anderson, that smoking marijuana on the flight was not permitted, Anderson responded by barking profanities at her and calling her vulgar names. She alleges that later in the flight Higginson, confronted and chastised her for reporting the marijuana smoking. Another player, Brad Ausmus, also confronted Kesner, and allegedly called her vulgar names for reporting the incident.
Kesner said when she complained to a supervisor at Olympia Aviation, she was told she would have to go along with the players' conduct because it was "their airplane."
"The terrible treatment (Kesner) had to endure while working on the baseball players' airplane can be found to be outrageous," Zatkoff ruled. "Defendants do not deny the fact that the players yelled at and called the plaintiff a (profane name) -- an absolutely awful name to call any woman, let alone a woman who happens to be the mother of two children -- repeatedly after she confronted pitchers Weaver and Anderson about the marijuana smoking incident.
"In addition, the court notes that these men, heroes to many young boys and girls, use illegal drugs."
Major League Baseball tacitly condones such behavior, Zatkoff wrote: "While the leagues occasionally condemn a token athlete, such as Darryl Strawberry, for drug abuse or other socially unacceptable behavior, there are likely a large number of athletes who use drugs and who are not punished."
Responding on behalf of Major League Baseball, former Tigers president John McHale, now an executive with the commissioner's office, said illegal drug use is an issue of great concern, and owners have presented a comprehensive program to the players union to deal with it.
"But with all appropriate respect," McHale added, "I don't see any ... evidence that would support the judge's conclusion."
Zatkoff said the Tigers' attorneys did not deny that Higginson chastised Kesner because he and other players "could be tested for drugs."
"This raises the question," Zatkoff said in his ruling, "why would he be concerned about drug testing if nobody on the team used drugs?"
Zatkoff pointed out that "not all professional baseball players are so boorish." In her lawsuit deposition, Kesner described players Wendell McGee and Todd Jones as gentlemen, as were all the Red Wings players, who also fly on the Ilitch DC-9

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[Carissa]

Originally posted by DannyAlmonte
With his harsh words, Zatkoff noted that the Tigers organization and other defendants in the lawsuit didn't try to deny the allegations. But he dismissed 29 of the 30 complaints made by Kesner, 37.

He ruled the single complaint of sexual harassment against Olympia Aviation can proceed to trial, set for Aug. 1.