BREAKING NOW: Judge refuses to push back trial. See the breaking details here.
A battle being waged in a courtroom could cause problems for the UCF Knights on the football field this fall, depending on how a judge rules following a new filing in the Ereck Plancher case, which blasts UCF’s lawyers for making statements in a motion to delay the trial that are “misleading, out of context and simply wrong.”
The lawyers representing the Plancher family, whose son died in 2008 following an intense football workout supervised by Coach George O’Leary, allege UCF wants to push back the trial so it can have the chance to conduct further dissection of Plancher’s heart — a move that would cause “unnecessary emotional distress” for Plancher’s already devastated parents.
SEE DOC BLASTING UCF LAWYERS ON ‘MISLEADING’ STATEMENTS, PLANCHER’S HEART
“The heart of Ereck Plancher has already been cut apart and all sides had had equal access to the medical and pathological information necessary to try this case,” states the filing submitted late yesterday by plaintiff attorney Steven Yerrid, which KnightNews.com obtained exclusively.
But in a statement to KnightNews.com, UCF spokesman Grant Heston fired back, blaming the potential delay on the plaintiff, which he also said is “continuing a disappointing pattern of failing to provide us necessary information to prepare for the trial.”
“We have asked for a continuance of a few weeks,” Heston said. “This is based on the plaintiff’s decision to seek punitive damages at such a late date in this process.”
UCF’s need for additional time puts it in a difficult position, because the judge told UCF earlier this month that the next available date for trial would be Sept. 12-30, 2011, a time when the UCF Knights and O’Leary want to focus on fighting battles on the football field — and not in a courtroom.
“A trial in the middle of the football season compromises our ability to fairly and adequately present our complete defense,” Heston told KnightNews.com.
But in the plaintiff attorneys’ response to UCF’s motion for a continuance, they dispute the UCF attorneys’ claims that the trial needs to be pushed back because they’re seeking punitive damages for Plancher’s parents.
“Neither the underlying negligence cause of action against UCFAA changed nor did the claims against UCF, which remained at issue,” according to the plaintiff’s response filed late yesterday.
Another apparent reason UCF wants the trial pushed back relates to expert witnesses.
“The plaintiff also has added additional expert witnesses, which we have yet to depose,” Heston said. “Accordingly, we have requested permission from the court to add experts in response to their new experts.”
See interview with Steven Yerrid during a recent hearing:
The plaintiff, however, argues in the April 26 court filing that it is UCF that is trying to inject a new issue into the case late in the game, by recruiting a new “hired gun” expert to examine Plancher’s heart to explore a “remote ‘possibilty'” that Plancher may have died of some sort of heart problem instead of dying as a result of issues arising from his sickle cell trait combined with the “intensive exercise he completed,” as the unbiased medical examiners concluded.
The plaintiff filing alleges UCF is trying to conduct an “expert fishing expedition” which would further delay the trial by requiring the plaintiff to start discovery for some issues all over again because it would need to get its own expert to be on a level playing field.
“Maintaining a level playing field is the proper way to proceed,” the plaintiff filing states.
Lawyers for the Plancher family also disagreed with UCF’s claim that the plaintiffs are failing to provide UCF the information it needs to prepare for trial and argues that UCF has had plenty of time to start by mid June, 13, 2011.
The paperwork KnightNews.com obtained indicated a hearing may take place April 28, 2011. We’re working to find out whether that hearing is still on, and will bring you the latest on this lawsuit and the possible impact on the 2011 UCF Football schedule.
While other media sources in town focus on Casey Anthony’s case, you can count on KnightNews.com to continue coverage of the Ereck Plancher wrongful death case. Check back for updates.
