McNamee Preserves Right to Sue Clemens

Brian McNamee files paperwork preserving right to sue Roger Clemens in New York
NEW YORK December 23, 2008 (AP)
The Associated Press


In this Feb. 13, 2008 file photo, Former New York Yankees baseball pitcher Roger Clemens, right,... Expand
In this Feb. 13, 2008 file photo, Former New York Yankees baseball pitcher Roger Clemens, right, lawyer Charles Scheeler center, and his former personal trainer Brian McNamee, are sworn-in before testify on Capitol Hill in Washington, before the House Oversight, and Government Reform committee hearing on drug use in baseball. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais/FILE) Collapse
(AP)

Roger Clemens' former personal trainer filed paperwork preserving the right to sue the seven-time Cy Young Award winner in New York.

Brian McNamee, who told federal investigators that Clemens used performance-enhancing drugs, contends the pitcher defamed him after McNamee spoke to investigators for former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell. The summons, filed in Queens Supreme Court last week, preserves McNamee's right to sue, Richard Emery, a lawyer for McNamee, said Tuesday.

Clemens filed his own defamation suit against McNamee in January after the trainer said in the Mitchell Report that he regularly injected Clemens with steroids and human growth hormone. Clemens later told a congressional committee under oath he had never taken steroids.

In the federal case in Texas, McNamee's attorneys say the trainer was forced to talk to investigators under threat of prosecution, rendering him immune from any defamation lawsuit. A federal prosecutor backed McNamee's claim, but a judge has yet to rule on his request to toss the case.

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