Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - While Buffalo Bills and Sabres owner Terry Pegula vehemently denies making racist comments attributed to him in a lawsuit filed against the NFL, a Buffalo attorney helped break down the portion of the case against the team owner on WBEN on Wednesday.
Terry Connors with Connors LLP says the goal of the lawsuit is to establish a hostile working environment.
"Under those circumstances, extrinsic evidence is often sought out by the plaintiffs and tried to be offered into evidence," said Connors.
The lawsuit was filed by former columnist Jim Trotter, whose contract was recently allowed to expire with NFL Media. A court document say Trotter claimed Pegula, while discussing the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020,
said, "If the Black players don't like it here, they should go back to Africa and see how bad it is."
It's important to note that Trotter did not hear the comment firsthand. He said other NFL Media coworkers heard it during a Zoom call.
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Connors explains how hearsay is analyzed under the law.
"First of all, there is a vigorous denial by Mr. Pegula. Next, is the witness available who heard it? Will he come in and testify about what Mr. Pegula said? If either of those categories are absent, it's inadmissible," he said.
Connors says at that point, you examine whether it is hearsay.
"I hate to sound like a lawyer because it should be understood by everyone. But there are textbooks written about hearsay," he said.
"Is it an oral statement? The answer is yes. Was the statement made outside court? Again, yes. The third element is the most important. Was the statement offered as proof of what was asserted in the statement?"
Connors says the plaintiff is trying to show there was a hostile environment, and offering to show a state of mind.
The inquiry doesn't end there.
The question then becomes is Pegula in these circumstances an authorized agent of the NFL? This is important because he is not being sued. The NFL is being sued.
"There will be layers and layers of challenges to the statement," Connors added, saying it takes an entire year to teach lawyers about hearsay in law school. "It is the subject of so many challenges and so many court cases."
Trotter is seeking unspecified damages and a full scale investigation within the NFL.