Moore Rebuked Bertuzzi’s Settlement Offer
November 6, 2007 by Jeanne Dupuis
Filed under NHL, News, Players
*sigh* Todd Bertuzzi was never one of my favorite players but all of the recent activity with the Philadelphia Flyers players getting suspended, I’ve had to rethink my position a bit on the whole situation. The thing is that, if I remember correctly, Steve Moore got away with a not-so-nice hit on Naslund and the lack of discipline on the NHL’s behalf made the whole thing worse. Then, Moore started another fight in a game weeks later which, ultimately, would be the last game he would play. I do believe that, in today’s NHL, Moore would have been suspended for his first hit on Naslund and the refs certainly would have been more vigilant during that second game.
Am I excusing Bertuzzi? No. But I am arguing that he acted in a way that many in the game still do (and understandably so, in some cases). I mean, if this Naslund hit had happened to a player on your favorite team and he went unpunished, you’d be pissed off too. Heck, you might even want someone to rough the offending player up a bit. That’s what happened. With the team piling on to Bertuzzi and Moore after the hit, it’s hard for me to believe that we can 100% be sure that it was the hit that hurt Moore and not the subsequent pile on.
Anyway, Big Bert has a criminal record, was put on probation, lost wages, paid fines and is still being sued for $15 million by Steve Moore. Here’s what I read this morning:
Lawyers for Todd Bertuzzi offered $350,000 last year to settle the $15 million lawsuit brought by Steve Moore, the former Colorado Avalanche player whose career was halted by Bertuzzi’s on-ice attack in 2004, according to a report in the Toronto Star.
The report cites court documents, in which Moore’s attorney, in a letter to Bertuzzi’s attorney, said a December 2006 meeting between both sides arranged by NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and deputy commissioner Bill Daly was “a complete waste of time” and that the settlement offer “was calculated to be an insult and was an insult.”
more after the jump!
The letter, dated March 29, 2007, is labeled “strictly personal and confidential” but was filed as a public record as part of a motion filed by Orca Bay, the Vancouver company that owns the Canucks, according to the report.
“In the context of everyone meeting in good faith, I entered the boardroom and extended my hand to everyone there,” Moore’s lawyer, Tim Danson, wrote to Bertuzzi’s lawyer, Geoffrey Adair, according to the Star. “Your client refused to shake my hand and effectively turned his back on me … I was shocked by such disrespect. I then turned to everyone and said with enormous disappointment, ‘What’s this — what a great way to start the meeting.’ I was met with complete silence.”
“To then receive a joint offer from Mr. Bertuzzi and Orca Bay in New York for $350,000 was quite a shock and certainly sent out all the wrong messages,” Danson wrote.
Danson also wrote that in July of last year, Adair made an informal offer to settle the case for $1 million — an offer Moore’s side declined, but took as a good-faith starting point, “albeit exceptionally low,” according to the report.
Danson declined to comment on the letter, other than to say it should not have been filed as a public document, according to the Star.
Adair said the Danson letter “does not accurately reflect the facts of the case,” but declined to elaborate further, according to the report.
During a March 8, 2004, game, Bertuzzi, then playing for the Canucks, punched Moore in the side of the head, then drove his head into the ice from behind. Moore was taken off the ice on a stretcher and hospitalized with three broken vertebrae.
In a previous game, a hit by Moore on Bertuzzi’s teammate Markus Naslund sidelined Naslund for three games with a concussion. At the time, Bertuzzi said he was glad that the teams had two games left to play that season, and then-teammate Brad May said Moore had a “bounty” on his head, although he later said he was kidding.
After the hit, Bertuzzi was suspended for the remaining 13 games of the 2003-04 season and the playoffs. He now plays for the Anaheim Ducks.
Moore has not played since the attack.
Adair said Moore’s complaint might not reach a courtroom for 12 to 18 months if it goes to trial, according to the Star.
Tags: todd bertuzzi, steve moore, attack, lawsuit
If the Avalanche retaliated every time Peter Forsberg got a dirty hit at the same level Bertuzzi attacked Moore, there wouldn’t be any players left in the NHL. They’d ALL be permanently disabled. $350,000.00 is an insult and indicative of the player’s belief that Moore was a third rate player. What galls me is that Bertuzzi is out there playing for teams like the Red Wings (no surprise here) or the Ducks and making tons of money while Moore deals with his disability. The settlement offer was a joke. If Bertuzzi agreed to it, then that shows what a low-life thug he is.