After several days of intriguing developments in the civil suit against Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, lawyer David Cornwell has issued a statement in response to recent court filings made by his accuser.
The full text of the statement is right here.
Cornwell deals with the recent news of a hollow settlement offer to drop the case in exchange for a settlement offer by disclosing that a very different offer had been made in July -- a demand for payment in the amount of $2.8 million.
And it's now abundantly clear that Roethlisberger's lawyers plan to go after the accuser's attorney, Calvin Dunlap. "Given her admitted and obviously unstable mental state and the possibility that she is being manipulated by an unscrupulous lawyer," Cornwell says, "we remain willing to give [the accuser] a limited benefit of the doubt (relating to her motivations only because her allegations are demonstrably false). Her lawyer, however, does not deserve and will not receive similar consideration."
Bottom line? Even if the case is dropped today, it looks like Roethlisberger's lawyers plan to pursue Dunlap through all means available.
This means that, as a practical matter, the accuser and her lawyer will be digging in their heels and fighting, until the bitter end.
Team Roethlisberger gets even more aggressive
Posted by Mike Florio on September 10, 2009 1:24 PM ET
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38 Comments 
Latest stories in: Latest News and Rumors, Legal, NFL Mobile Exclusives - Legal, Pittsburgh Steelers, Top Stories
Latest stories in: Latest News and Rumors, Legal, NFL Mobile Exclusives - Legal, Pittsburgh Steelers, Top Stories
McNulty has about as much chance as winning this case against Ben as the Titans have tonight against the Steelers.
NONE
David Cornwell is Dick Lebeau in disguise.
One lawyer beats up and sues another lawyer.
Oh yeah well my lawyer can kick your lawyers ass!!
That is awesome. I hope they nail Dunlap like Roethlisberger nails horsefaced groupies.
ha. football's twisted-West Side Story.
Jets versus the Sharks -- lawyer-style
What is the over/under on when her lawyer folds?
"...Bottom line? Even if the case is dropped today, it looks like Roethlisberger's lawyers plan to pursue Dunlap through all means available..."
Good... Burn him to the ground.
Good this case stunk from the get go.
you go Team ben, don't give in to any of thier demands . Fight it out and see what happens. I hope they expose that ambulance chaser and have him disbarred. But i still think they should go after her for starting this whole mess.
actually, it would seem to me that this statement was made to divide the accuser and her lawyer such that she's off the hook (except for legal fees to-date) if she drops the case whereas her lawyer isn't. seems like the lawyer is now faced with the difficult task of convincing her to continue with the case in order to save his own skin.
seems like the math for her is:
- move forward incur more fees and maybe win a case that gets more difficult each day
- move forward and lose while racking up more fees
- walk away and pay fees incurred
i guess the other unknown is how her lawyer is getting paid. i'm have no knowledge here, but i'm guessing he may have gone for 100% of a share of the settlement with no fees charged if they lose, in which case she can walk for free (though she will have significant public humiliation). if that's the case, this statement may push her to drop the whole case.
I hate the Steelers and Big Ben, but i hope he and his lawyers sue this stupid girl and her lawyer back into the stone age.
Is this even newsworthy anymore?
"This means that, as a practical matter..."
It doesn't mean squat. It's lawyer rhetoric, just like most of the post above. If Dunlap came to Cornwell and said he agreed to drop the case if Cornwell would agree to drop future proceedings, Cornwell would accept that.
But as an ex-lawyer, I can see how you might still be prone to hyperbole...
Many Lawyers blow off on what they are going to do. None of it means a thing and I bet Dunlap is scared to death lol.
Civil cases need only slant a little more to one side than the other. My guess is if this gets to Court Big Ben is going to have his dirty laundry put out there for the whole World to see.
Once in Court anything can happen, think it is going one way and it goes the other. Who knows how many women Dunlap has found from Big Bens past that have some stories to tell the Court.
And rest assured this is going to Court and my bet is once Big Bens side knows that is the case they will dish out the cash to make it go away.
If the case were dropped, the only casualty of this whole mess would be a young woman whose bosses seemed to think that there's no higher honor for a woman to be screwed by Ben Roethlisberger ... and whether she wanted to be part of the Vegas sex industry or not, she's likely in the hole for legal fees as well as medical expenses, forever discredited and probably broke ... all because the public tried the case based on what the lawyers told them.
If a court of law can actually prove that she maliciously started this whole thing out of greed or some other twisted motivation, I'd be the first to hold her accountable. But it irritates the hell out of me that everyone in the peanut gallery has made up their minds on this issue and therefore wants it to go away ASAP.
The only thing that anyone can actually veritably say about this case is that it emphasizes the importance of getting a REALLY good lawyer. They're the only ones who win here.
Hi Mr Dunlap...It's Big-Ben, I am having trouble with the TV in my bedroom......
Damn lawyers, can't take 'em anywhere!
my bet is still on Bens attorneys . Even if Dunlap did have any women , who to say they are telling the truth anymore than Mcnutty is. i think that is the whole point of him advertising about wanting to look into Ben past history. Maybe to bait others in ..to get them to come forward, I would have to think and I have stated this before if there are any out there that have been mistreated by Ben , I would think they would have come forward by now. I think it is a last ditch effort from her and her attorney to save what little face they have left. I think it is fooling no one.
looks like crabtree has more leverage now than andrea.
Rapist QB's Nice. Cases are only drooped when someone is paid off.
Big Baby and the Steelers are a bunch of criminals.
This is a big problem with this country is that crappy lawyers with no integrity will sue anyone famous no matter how ridiculous the claim. This woman wanted to drop the case (if you want to call it that cause they don't have a chance) and now this lawyer is threatening to hold her liable for his fees. This is much like the Kobe case from a few years ago when there was tons of evidence that he was innocent but during the civil suit they pried so far into his personal life that they ended up settling. I hope Ben's lawyer counter sues for defamation of character. You know what a lawyer and a carp have in common. One is a scum sucking bottom feeder and the other one is a fish.
her emails, her statements and the depositions from other witnesses all come from what she said or wrote. how can this go any further . she has nothing....
Dumb a$$, serves him right for having a stupid middle name like R.X.
"...# UFL FOOTBALL RULES says: September 10, 2009 2:37 PM
Rapist QB's Nice. Cases are only drooped when someone is paid off.
Big Baby and the Steelers are a bunch of criminals...."
..with Six Lombardi's!
UFL. Wazzat? Uterus Football League?
Florio, never before has it been so obvious that you are such a die-hard Steelers fan.
As an ex-lawyer, you know the odds of any Rule 11 complaint going anywhere. You know it's just posturing (if you have any actual trial experience). Rule 11 threats are a simple tactic used by defense lawyers in half the cases that go to trial, in a desparate last-ditch effort to scare the plaintiff into dropping a case. Only the most newbie, amateur lawyer would ever flinch at the Rule 11 threat.
I agree with another poster here. Big Jen isn't doing himself any favors here, and it might have been more wise to hire a lawyer with some negotiation skills, rather than trying to bully the victim into dropping the case. All that's going to do is alienate any women on the jury who might have been raped and make them think ol' Big Jen is guilty after all.
As Shakespeare once said, "Methinks he doth protest too much."
Too many experts above picking and chosing which parts of the story to pay attention to, and which parts to ignore because they don't fit the side they'd like to be correct.
This issue isn't a my team vs your team situation.
Let's all root for facts and the correct outcome.
Not aganst "the rapist QB" vs "the poor manipulated girl" or against "the horsefaced money stealing whore" vs "the golden sports hero."
Not about the money huh?
Roethlisberger's accuser had sought money from hotel
Thursday, September 10, 2009
By Jonathan D. Silver, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Ben Roethlisberger's accuser sought $2.8 million from her employer, Harrah's, just days before filing a lawsuit in Nevada accusing the Steelers quarterback of raping her, according to a document released today by the football player's lawyer.
Harrah's was just added as a defendant in the case yesterday.
The authenticity of the document -- a prepared legal form titled "Remedy Request" -- could not immediately be verified.
In it, a box marked "compensatory damages" was checked off, and then the dollar amount of $374,362 was handwritten next to the category "medical costs."
Also checked off were boxes titled "All adverse information removed from my personnel file" and "Other."
Under the latter category, $1.5 million was written in for emotional distress, and $1 million was listed for damage to reputation.
The document purportedly bears the signature of the plaintiff and is dated July 6, 2009.
On July 17, the plaintiff filed a suit in Washoe County, Nev., against Mr. Roethlisberger, accusing him of raping her in his hotel room on July 11, 2008, during a celebrity golf tournament.
The 31-year-old woman also sued eight current or former members of Harrah's Lake Tahoe, claiming they either ignored her requests for help or conspired to cover up the alleged assault.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette does not name alleged victims of sexual assault.
William David Cornwell Sr., who is representing Mr. Roethlisberger, also seemed to strike a more conciliatory tone toward the plaintiff in a statement accompanying the document.
"Given her admitted and obviously unstable mental state and the possibility that she is being manipulated by an unscrupulous lawyer, we remain willing to give [the plaintiff] a limited benefit of the doubt (relating to her motivations only because her allegations are demonstrably false)," Mr. Cornwell wrote.
"Her lawyer, however, does not deserve and will not receive similar consideration."
Her lawyer, Calvin R. X. Dunlap, was not immediately available for comment.
Mr. Cornwell just rejected a settlement offer from the accuser. She asked Mr. Roethlisberger to admit guilt, write an apology and donate $100,000 to aid abused women.
Stop the Presses!!!!!!!!!! Big Ben is Bi-sexual?
Regardless of his guilt, This has been a huge distraction and will continue to be a distraction to the teams focus. The Ravens can't freakin wait to exploit Ben and his patsy o'line.
When was the last time the squeelers won a super bowl? (note) I said won not "given" a superbowl.
Go Titans!!
lol hotchick..so far the evidence points to just that... a money hungry ho..
I hope Ben fights this to the end.. and sets an example for all.its sickening that women get away with this BS.. makes it hard to sympathize with those who have truly been violated.
GO BEN GO!!!
Hopefully for Steeler fans this whole episode will have taught old 'Toothlessberger' to keep it in his shorts from now on.
Hey ''Toothy'', get yourself a wife or steady girlfriend and then stay faithful to her. Then this sorta thing won't happen anymore...
Big Baby and the Steelers are a bunch of criminals. >
I'm a Patriots fan...but the statement above has to be one of the most ignorant I have seen on this site. If you dislike the Steelers team.....that doesn't make them criminals. Big Ben is obviously innocent and the money grubbing lawyer and accuser are desperately grasping at straws in what is either a "money grab" attempt or an attempt to cause a distraction for the Steelers going into the season (as Randy Moss' false accuser did prior to the Super Bowl a couple years ago) or both.
Rothlesberger should pursue charges against the accuser AND the lawyer to the fullest extent of the law.....to prove his own innocence and also show these money grubbing people and lawyers, that there will be consequences for their false accusations. And the players really need to be more careful....but that's a story for another day
In other news, Ben Roethlisberger has a football game tonight. You know, the game of football. Which is where all the attention should be right now. You know, opening night.... the NFL.... super bowl champs against the titans..... football....the game......football....sports.... anyone else care about that? Anyone, anyone.....? Bueller, Bueller....?
This is all hot air.
The accused rapist is aggressively playing the media to portray his innocence in the strongest terms.
The plaintiff is going merrily along with the process ignoring the empty threats.
The bottom line is that the case has not been dropped or dismissed. If it goes to trial his past will be front page news. Nothing about this is good for him. Yeah, the typical shit for brains shittsburgh fan will exonerate him, and already has. But the rest of the world will mostly think, BR = rapist. And the longer this goes, the more that will see it that way. The minute he stuck it in, rape or not, he put himself in jeopardy.
If he wasn't dumb as a stump he would pay her off and have her say it was a misunderstanding.
"...# UFL FOOTBALL RULES says: September 10, 2009 2:37 PM
Rapist QB's Nice. Cases are only drooped when someone is paid off.
Big Baby and the Steelers are a bunch of criminals...."
..with Six Lombardi's!
UFL. Wazzat? Uterus Football League?
Wow so if you have six Lombardi's, that makes it okay to rape people?
Nice very Nice!!
Rapist can play the Lombardi Trophy Card.
Now wonder Pittsburgh is mocked!
@UFL Football Rules
You're an idiot. I'm sorry, but that's just the case. And since you wanted to rip on Pittsburgh here's a little something for you to throw in your hash pipe, since apparently you've been smoking out of it a lot lately. Pittsburgh is a City of Champions. Pittsburgh is a very proud city and a city that is by no means mocked. You will not find a team more proud of its sports teams and more well traveled fans than you do for the Steelers and the Penguins. So before you go ripping on my city, make sure you know the hell you're talking about. This woman is a nut job and she deserves to be locked up. And by your comments, I think you should share a cell with her
to dave the dude I hope that you get falsley accused one of these days and I wonder then if you would use the same tactics that Ben is using to clear his name..But then it would be fine for you to do it ..But since Ben is who he is he shouldn't ..I think not . I'm Sorry but if I was being falsley accused and after reading everything it appears that he is...i would defend myself to the end.
Bottom line : Ben has every right to defend his self of this bogus charade of a lawsuit.
With all the threats going back and forth between the lawyers, in Ben's free time he's probably thinking..."Damn! I shouldn't have mounted that crazy Bee-itch!"
If the Steelers win tonight, this becomes yesterday's newspapers.
If they lose, one can imagine reporters asking Ben how much of a distraction this case has been.
Then it becomes a distraction.