Scrushy sues Paul Finebaum, Birmingham newspaper

Scrushy sues Paul Finebaum, Birmingham newspaper Former HealthSouth boss and wife say they have been defamed Thursday, December 22, 2005 By EDDIE CURRAN Staff Reporter Former HealthSouth Corp. Chairman Richard Scrushy is seeking millions of dollars in damages in a pair of lawsuits that accuse the Birmingham News and Alabama radio personality and sports columnist Paul Finebaum of defaming him.

Both lawsuits include claims that Finebaum and the News libeled him with coverage or comments suggesting that Scrushy joined a black church for legal, not spiritual, reasons.

In September, Scrushy's wife, Leslie, joined her husband as a plaintiff in the Finebaum case. She cited a radio show in which Finebaum and his callers discussed who might play her should Hollywood make a "Scrushy Movie."

"Who is the fakest actress in Hollywood? I mean the one with the fakest smile -- that would be Mrs. Scrushy, wouldn't it?" Finebaum said during a radio show in February

According to the lawsuit, Finebaum "publicly described Mrs. Scrushy as plastic, as a gold digger, as a fake, as a phony, and as an air head," during a show last February.

We shall see about the thumb. We shall see.

Seriously, though, this line cracked me up:

In the case against the News, Scrushy cites a host of news stories, opinion pieces and editorial cartoons to bolster his assertion that the state's largest paper, among other things, was responsible for HealthSouth's March 2003 decision to remove Scrushy as chairman.

Sure Rich, it's the paper's fault. It had nothing to do with the insider trading, embezzlement, fraud, etc...

I'm actually going to Dallas in about a week, important business to be handled, and, as it turns out, second bowl game I'll go to this season

And I think we got a real shot, I don't care what the line says, Texas Tech is only there because of a disputable call in the Oklahoma game, and for all intents and purposes these people don't have a defense, and as Oklahoma and Texas showed, they are lousy at stopping the run.

I'm calling it for us, probably by either 7 or 10 points, and I think this is good for the program.

I'm also still willing to give Shula the benefit of the doubt, I don't like that we lost the last 2, but if you think about it, the only time we really lost was that horrid 1st Quarter that still has me in disbelief. We did then what LSU did in the second half of the Tennessee game, we just didn't show up. And as far as our game with LSU goes, we actually won that game, but they made a BS call on us which set up the touchdown to tie the thing. LSU got to Atlanta because after Tennessee, the breaks went their way in tough games, but I also knew they'd lose in Atlanta, cause Les Miles is not meant to coach at a top tier SEC program, but I think he'd be a good fit for the Volunteers.....

Back to Shula, I say give him a few more seasons, because when he came to Alabama, he came to a program in disarray, under sanctions because the NCAA has a vendetta against our program (and the whole SEC for that matter, except for their darling Fulmer who cut a deal with them), and he was able to recruit decently, and let's be honest, pull the program out of what looked to be the abyss, though I think Kines deserves alot of credit. We've already got the # 9 recruiting class in the country, and even with the loss of Tebow, we can climb that number higher. I think we're in a good place and I wouldn't be surprised if we are SEC Champions around 2007, 2008. I also think that next year, the sophomores on the OL will be the most fierce in the country because of the way they were flat out embarrased towards the seasons end.

Rammer Jammer, Yellow Hammer, Give Em' Hell......

ALABAMA, Roll Tide Roll

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