Attorneys for suspended driver Jeremy Mayfield say NASCAR is trying to ignore issues raised by him and is attempting to distort Mayfield’s claims in an effort to avoid responsibility for its actions. Mayfield’s legal team filed the response late Monday to NASCAR’s request that U.S. District Court Judge Graham Mullen rule in favor of the sanctioning body based on the pleadings already held and without the continuation of an investigation by the attorneys and possibly a trial. Mayfield’s filing argues that he has shown enough evidence to bring these claims:
• In response to NASCAR’s assertion that he has waived his right to sue because of waivers that are part of the NASCAR-driver agreement, Mayfield stated that those releases don’t hold up because this is a case where NASCAR was grossly negligent in conducting its drug-testing policy.
• In its defamation claim, Mayfield disputed the NASCAR assertion that sanctioning body Chairman Brian France had no reason to doubt the test results so his comments when suspending Mayfield cannot be considered defamation. Mayfield alleges that France and Black should have known that the combination of Adderall and Claritin-D could result in a false positive for methamphetamine use.
• NASCAR stated in its request that Mayfield is not an employee but an independent contractor and therefore cannot be considered to having been discriminated against for having ADHD. Mayfield stated in the filing Monday that he can be considered an employee in this situation because NASCAR retained the right to control and detail his activities on the race track, had promotional rights to his name, owned the broadcast rights, required where logos were placed and specified media obligations.
• Addressing the charge of unfair and deceptive trade practices, Mayfield argued the fact that there is no definitive list of drugs banned by NASCAR as among the reasons its policies are unfair.
Both sides get to file responses one more time before the judge considers the motion to dismiss Mayfield’s case.(SceneDaily)(12-8-2009)
