BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Time Inc. asked a judge to throw out its
settlement and dismiss defamation claims of former Alabama football
coach Mike Price over a Sports Illustrated article recounting his
night of drunken partying at a Florida strip joint, court documents
showed Wednesday.
In a motion filed in federal court, Time claimed Price and his
lawyer, Steve Heninger, violated an agreement to make only limited
public comments about the deal, reached last week to resolve
Price's $20 million defamation suit against the magazine, which
Time publishes.
Heninger denied violating the settlement's terms.
When asked by reporters about the development after practice
Wednesday in El Paso, Price said, "I don't know anything about
it."
U.S. District Judge Lynwood Smith made no immediate ruling
Wednesday on the motion, filed late Tuesday, but he did grant
Time's request to seal court documents related to terms of the
settlement.
In announcing the settlement on Monday, Time released a
four-sentence statement saying the case was "amicably resolved"
and that it continued to stand by the story, which Price claimed
was false in key parts.
Afterward, Price held a news conference at Texas-El Paso, where
he now coaches, and said he felt vindicated. In a written statement
issued by UTEP, Price called the agreement a "great victory."
Arguing that Price and Heninger violated the settlement by
saying far more than was in the magazine's brief statement, Time
asked the court to dismiss Price's suit -- which would have the
effect of throwing out the settlement -- and to make the coach pay
the company's legal bills.
Heninger said his and Price's comments did not violate the
settlement.
"I'm filing a motion to enforce the agreement. We have never
disclosed any terms of the agreement or anything outside the public
record," he said.
"We do consider that we won this case at every legal juncture.
But we have not and will not disclose terms of the agreement,"
Heninger said.
Price filed suit against Time claiming he was defamed and
slandered by a Sports Illustrated story detailing his actions the
night he visited a topless bar in Pensacola, Fla., in April 2003
while still head coach at Alabama.
Price has publicly acknowledged being heavily intoxicated, but
denied allegations of sex with two women in his hotel room that the
magazine reported. University of Alabama President Robert Witt
fired Price a few days before the article was published.