Alex Rodriguez has filed new law suits in New York State Court. The first suit names Bud Selig, MLB, and the Office of Commissioner and the claims made are numerous and suggest a pattern of conduct that is troubling if true.  A second suit was filed againsst the Yankees’ doctor and a hospital for mis-diagnosing a hip injury in 2012.  I will not consider that suit in this article.

The main case, Alexander Emmanuel Rodriguez, plaintiff v. Major League Baseball, Office of Commissioner of Major League Baseball, and Allan Huber “Bud” Selig, defendants, was filed in the County of New York on October 3, 2013.  My cursory examination of the case reveals that it is an attack on Bud Selig’s tenure as Commissioner. It says Selig condoned illegal drug use when it was useful to him and then was against it when that position was deemed beneficial.  In Section B of the law suit, (page 6), the heading is The Disastrous Tenure of Commissioner Selig. The suit describes the collusion scandal, the PES scandals, the Mitchell Report alledging lack of supervision and failure to see early warning signs of drug use. It then states that the Rodriguez case, indeed the entire Biogenesis case, is an effort by Selig to reinvent himself and create the myth of his being the savior of baseball.  Selig has announced his retirement in 2014.

Lester Munson at ESPN has besmirched the law suit as being insubstantial because of the tortious interference claim. Munson claims tortious internference is the least of the tort claims. I don’t know where he gets his advice, but it is very different from my experience that makes a tortious interfernce claim very real and dangerous for the defendant.

There will be a lot of information about this case, but it is very dangerous for Baseball and for Bud Selig. The outcome will be based on the evidence Plaintiff has, and, from what I have read today, they have done a lot of homework.

Update: The first issue to be decided in this case is whether the court has jurisdiction over the matter or whether the Grievance Procedure in the collectively bargained agreement controls. If the later is the case, Rodriguez must follow that course.