The Civil Lawsuit Against Antonio Brown

Joe: 106.7 WIZN, it’s the Eagles and “One of These Nights,” heard Bryan Adams and the “Summer of ’69” before that. I’m Joe Vega here with you on your Wednesday rocking ride home, got Ben Barry on the phone from Martin, Harding, & Mazzotti, can call them any time at 1-800-Law-1010, or go online to 1800law1010.com. Ben how’re you doing?

Ben: Joe, I’m well. How’re you?

Joe: So Ben, thanks for coming on the program, wanted to talk to you about this Antonio Brown story, which just gets crazier and crazier each and every day. It’s just been an absolute roller coaster here these last couple of days. And last night, it was announced that a former trainer of his filed a civil law suit in federal court accusing him of sexually assaulting her. Now what’s interesting is, they haven’t even talked to the police yet, so there are no criminal charges, in fact the police are just finding this out as the nation was. And so, I’m curious, is this something that’s common, filling out a civil lawsuit before the criminal charges?

Ben: That’s a tough question. Statistically, I don’t know. There are probably a lot of unreported crimes, and there are probably a lot of civil actions that never get filed. So, I don’t know statistically how many people choose to file civil suits seeking monetary damage for some act, some wrong doing, but in this particular case, there may be some strategy involved that her attorney’s advised her to just go forward with the civil suit, as opposed to going down to the precinct and actually filing a complaint with the police and sparking off a police investigation that would look a little bit deeper and look to find evidence that could be presented in court and ultimately prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Joe: Yeah, I was gonna ask, is it easier to win a civil lawsuit than it is a criminal trial?

Ben: It’s less burdensome to prove that you’re entitled to civil damages versus that higher beyond a reasonable doubt that needs to be attained by the people, the prosecution in a criminal case. So yes, the burden is more likely to be satisfied in a civil case because it’s generally a preponderance of the evidence.

Joe: So is it possible that that’s why they decided not to go to the police and just make this a civil issue?

Ben: There are a lot of reasons that victims of rape and sexual violence don’t report things directly or right away. Certainly we see that in the Boy Scout scandal, we see that in a lot of situations where people have been sexually victimized, and victimized in general. So, because they didn’t go to the police, is that evidence that something didn’t happen? No, it’s not. But for some reason they’ve determined that going with a civil case is more advantageous for whatever reason.

Joe: Gotcha. All right Ben. Thanks for the info.

Ben: Thank you, Joe.

Joe: Ben Barry from Martin, Harding, & Mazzotti. Again, you can call them any time at 1-800-Law-1010, or go online to 1800law1010.com. I’m out of here, Mel Allen taking over from here. He’s got music from Pat Benatar and Pink Floyd next.