NASCAR claims Jeremy Mayfield has no case
NASCAR filed motions Monday in U.S. District Court asking that Megan France be prohibited from producing documents from Brian France’s lawsuit against her.
Brian and Megan France were separated in fall 2007 and divorced in Florida on April 29, 2008, according to NASCAR’s brief filed Tuesday. Brian France later sued Megan in North Carolina Superior Court in September 2008, and those pleadings were sealed in December 2008. The Charlotte Observer has recently asked the court to open those documents.
Mayfield’s attorneys issued a subpoena to Megan France last Friday requesting those documents as well as any joint tax returns for 2007 and 2008 and any mail addressed to Brian France in North Carolina. The reason stated for the request has to do with whether the federal court has jurisdiction or whether it should return the case to state court, according to NASCAR’s motion.
NASCAR suspended Mayfield on May 9 for a random drug test it says was positive for methamphetamines. Mayfield claims his test results came from his taking the prescription drug Adderall and over-the-counter allergy medication Claritin-D.
“They are attempting to improperly bring private, irrelevant information concerning Mr. France’s domestic relations into this litigation as a means of retaliation," NASCAR wrote in its brief.
Megan France is being represented in the domestic dispute by the law firm of James, McElroy & Diehl – the law firm that represented Mayfield until last month, when Mayfield switched to noted celebrity attorney Mark Geragos.
NASCAR also is asking the court to intervene and order that the deposition of Megan France be done after Dec. 14. Geragos’ subpoena sets the date for her deposition for Dec. 4, the day of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Awards Banquet.
“[Mayfield is] insisting on holding the deposition of Megan France on a day when neither NASCAR’s corporate representatives nor Mr. France can attend," NASCAR wrote in one of its briefs. NASCAR Racing News
11/23/09 The U.S. District Court judge who initially granted an injunction that lifted driver Jeremy Mayfield’s suspension for what NASCAR says was a May 1 drug test that was positive for methamphetamines has rescinded the injunction at Mayfield’s request.
U.S. District Court Judge Graham Mullen vacated the injunction in a three-sentence ruling Monday.
Mayfield never did get back on the track after obtaining the July 1 injunction that lifted his May 9 suspension. The U.S. Court of Appeals granted NASCAR’s request for a stay of the injunction July 24, and Mayfield has been suspended since then and has sold his team. Mayfield then requested that the injunction be permanently dropped so the case can move quickly. The earliest a trial would be is September 2010, and the only consequence for not having the injunction is that Mayfield would not be able to race in NASCAR until a decision is made at trial.
Last week, NASCAR filed a motion it hopes will end Mayfield’s lawsuit by asking Mullen to rule on the filings instead of there being more investigation into the issues. Mayfield has yet to file a response to that motion, but his attorney has called that motion a desperate move.
Mayfield, who qualified for five of the first 11 Sprint Cup races this season after starting his own team and who has 433 career series starts, is the only Sprint Cup driver who has failed a random drug test this year. He claims his test results came from his taking the prescription drug Adderall and over-the-counter allergy medication Claritin-D. SceneDaily.com
11/17/09 The legal jockeying in the Jeremy Mayfield-NASCAR case continued Tuesday as the sanctioning body requested that U.S. District Court Judge Graham Mullen should rule in its favor based on the pleadings that already have been filed and without the two sides continuing to investigate the issues.
NASCAR filed its motion Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Charlotte.
As it has in previous filings, NASCAR stressed the danger of its sport as a reason why it must be able to enforce its drug-testing policy if it believes a driver has used methamphetamines. Mayfield was suspended May 9 for a May 1 test that NASCAR says was positive for methamphetamines, and the Sprint Cup driver has sued NASCAR for breach of contract, discrimination and defamation in an attempt to get back on the track and for financial damages.
Mayfield has denied using methamphetamines and contends the drug-test findings that prompted his suspension resulted from a combination of prescription drug Adderall, which is used to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and over-the-counter Claritin-D allergy medicine.
“A professional racecar driver who used methamphetamine and is armed with a vehicle weighing more than a ton and capable of driving at nearly 200 miles per hour … may kill himself, another driver, a crew member and/or hundreds of fans," NASCAR states in its motion.
Mayfield, who qualified for five of the first 11 Sprint Cup races this season after starting his own team and has 433 career series starts, is the only Cup driver to be suspended under NASCAR’s random drug-testing policy implemented this year.
He contends that NASCAR must follow guidelines that regulate federal agencies. NASCAR denies that Aegis Sciences Corp., which conducts the NASCAR drug-testing program, must follow those regulations.
In its motion Tuesday, NASCAR claims:
• The driver agreement with NASCAR waives all claims arising from the implementation of NASCAR’s substance-abuse policy.
• NASCAR’s substance-abuse policy does not include an obligation to follow guidelines that regulate federal agencies.
• NASCAR Chairman Brian France and Aegis’ Dr. David Black have no reason to believe the tests are inaccurate, so their statements about Mayfield testing positive were done without malice – and with Mayfield a public figure, their statements cannot be considered defamation.
• NASCAR did not discriminate against Mayfield because Mayfield is not a NASCAR employee and not a qualified person with a disability under North Carolina law. Scenedaily.com