Forget about fat lady’s singing, truth, justice and the American way…
Axed Kansas City Star columnist Steve Penn’s defamation lawsuit against his former employer was “voluntarily dismissed” this morning in Jackson County Court.
Without prejudice…meaning Penn can (and apparently will) refile the case as soon as a certain key witness’s mother either passes away or gets better.
“A witness Plaintiff believes is critical to a fair presentation of the issues called Plaintiff’s counsel to advise that the witness’ elderly mother had fallen and hit her head, with uncertain prognosis, and that the witness was on his way to be with his mother and could not be available for trial,” reads Penn’s filing.
A perusal of Penn’s witness list would lead one to the almost inescapable conclusion that said “key witness” is none other than the 600 pound gorilla known lovingly among local sports fans as Jason Whitlock. Longtime Star sports section readers are well acquainted with Whitlock’s penchant for boasting about his momma’s cooking.
And don’t forget, an apparent friend of Penn’s contacted KCC last week boasting about how “The witness list is awesome. Jason Whitlock and Mike Fannin get to slug it out some more. “
Penn’s lawyer could not be reached for comment and the Star’s attorney did not respond to a request for a comment.
Stay tuned.
Penn needs to cut his losses before this really starts to cost him serious dough.
That is my legal 2 cents of advice to this poor schlub.
Ya gets lazy, ya pays the price.
I give this post 4 Hearnes out of 5. It contains the requisite level of Star bashing, score settling, specualtion and schadenfruede, but still could have used a Craig Glazer quote to achieve a perfect score.
Nicely done. I would up it to 4.5 because you were able to elicit one of Hearne’s lame retorts.
Thanks Toots!
I always get a hoot out of the retorts anyone gets when they criticize Der Sturmer. Never are the facts refuted just silly ridicule. I guess when the facts aren’t on your side, that’s all you have left.
Score settling, huh?
Suit yourself, I guess. Not sure who in this I have a score to settle with but I guess you don’t call yourself BS for nothing
Hearne worked at the Star for many years and knows the players. In spite of the Star’s decline, it is still the newpaper of record in this town, for as long as that phrase means something.
That said, if we can catch some behind the scenes insight into the machinations of the Star and Penn in this matter, it is certainly of interest in my opinion.
Hearne will be along shortly to give you a nice pat on the head.
Methinks Mr. Toots may have a dogg in this fight.
Just trying to keep things interesting, boyz. Try not to read too much into it.
Back when McClatchy Watch was active guys would come on from the various McClatchy rags and post racist comments to try and tar the blog. When that didn’t work they tried being trolls and making everyone miserable. And, there’s always the old stand by of lame ridicule that falls as flat as one of Diuguid’s editorials.
Bottom line, the place is an ongoing soap opera between wondering who gets it in the neck next layoff to wondering when Fannin is going to screw someone else on staff to Derek Donovan’s next thin skinned hissy fit and it’s fun to watch.