Tweet
Right now, Mayfield's own worst enemy is himself
By David Caraviello, NASCAR.COM
By all accounts, Jeremy Mayfield is well-represented in his pending lawsuit against NASCAR. His attorney, the long-haired, pot-stirring Bill Diehl, is seen as something of a maverick super lawyer around Charlotte, where he's defended the likes of Bruton Smith, Rick Hendrick, former NBA team owner George Shinn and pro wrestling legend Ric Flair. A decade ago, a North Carolina business journal referred to him as "a courtroom killing machine willing to do whatever it takes to waste anyone who gets in his way." To say that Diehl knows how to roll up his sleeves and get dirty is like saying a pit bull can bite.
Jeremy Mayfield tested positive again for methamphetamine, NASCAR said, igniting another round of denials from the driver, who angrily accused the sanctioning body of paying his stepmother to lie about his alleged past drug use.
And yet, Mayfield shouldn't need a $500-an-hour attorney like Diehl to know what his next move should be. It's obvious to everyone -- except, it seems, the driver himself -- that right now Mayfield needs to clam up.
In his attempt to combat allegations that he tested positive for methamphetamines in a NASCAR-issued random drug test more than two months ago, Mayfield seemed to seize the high ground when a U.S. District Court judge granted a temporary injunction lifting his indefinite suspension. It hasn't done much good, given that no team wants to hire him, and that the financially strapped Mayfield doesn't have the means to bring his own car to the race track. But the rare courtroom setback for NASCAR raised questions about the integrity of the sport's drug-testing policy and solidified public support behind Mayfield, who emerged a somewhat sympathetic, persecuted figure with the fans and the law in his corner.
Now, much of that perception has been damaged, perhaps unalterably so, by the events of this week and the driver's vehement and imprudent reaction to them. In court a filing Wednesday, NASCAR claimed that Mayfield again turned up positive for meth in another recent test, this one conducted July 6. It also included a sworn affidavit supplied by Mayfield's stepmother, who claimed to having witnessed the driver taking the drug on numerous occasions. Obviously, if you're Mayfield, you're outraged. You have every right to be. But with litigation pending, fighting a legal battle that's ongoing in the court of public opinion as well as a court of law, you also have to be smart.
Mayfield was anything but, lashing out in vicious diatribes more vindictive than anything NASCAR has done to this point. He's called his stepmother every name in the book and suggested that she was responsible for the suicide death of his father, the kind of allegation that can easily get him sued by somebody else. "They picked the wrong woman to use against me, because that [expletive] is trash and has got nothing on me but lies," he told The Associated Press. Not exactly a way to win hearts and minds.
Hey, we in the media love emotional, outspoken drivers, but Mayfield has become his own worst enemy here. We're talking about a drug that affects the central nervous system. Even if he's not a crystal meth user, he's doing his best to act like one. "Most addicts experience paranoia, anxiety, mood swings and irrational fears when coming off the drug," according to the Web site of Ocean Hills Recovery, a drug and alcohol treatment center in Dana Point, Calif. NASCAR's attorneys can sit back -- Mayfield is doing their work for them. If he's lucky, Diehl has already confiscated his cell phone and told his client to let his attorney do the talking from now on.
And to be quite honest, what did Mayfield expect? For him to sue NASCAR, and the sanctioning body to play nice? This is how NASCAR operates when confronted with a legal challenge, and why it rarely loses in court. Last year, former Nationwide Series official Mauricia Grant sued NASCAR for $225 million, outlining dozens of incidents where she allegedly suffered racial discrimination or sexual harassment at the hands of her co-workers. NASCAR countered with charges that Grant was repeatedly late for work, that she was involved in an incident with a security officer at Michigan over showing her credential, and that she herself used some of the allegedly racist terms she accused her co-workers of using. The result was a settlement where the terms were sealed and in which NASCAR admitted no wrongdoing.
Mayfield is being unrealistic if he thinks that NASCAR's attorneys aren't going to try to dig up as much dirt as they can. Yes, it's ugly and yes, it's somewhat unseemly, but that is what trial lawyers do. After all, nobody is better at it than Mayfield's own attorney. According to Business North Carolina magazine, Diehl's successful defense of Shinn in a 1998 sexual assault case involved calling the plaintiff a tart and exhibitionist. He even put a photo of her in a thong bikini in the court file. In the unlikely event that this case ever goes to trial, goodness knows what Diehl may have in store for NASCAR, which had better be prepared to take it as well as dish it out.
So who knows, maybe Mayfield's venomous outburst this week was just what Diehl wanted. It seems doubtful, though. The weight of evidence in this case appears to be tilting ever so slowly back toward NASCAR at the moment. Mayfield has plenty of issues to confront already. He doesn't need to invent any new ones for himself.
By David Caraviello, NASCAR.COM
By all accounts, Jeremy Mayfield is well-represented in his pending lawsuit against NASCAR. His attorney, the long-haired, pot-stirring Bill Diehl, is seen as something of a maverick super lawyer around Charlotte, where he's defended the likes of Bruton Smith, Rick Hendrick, former NBA team owner George Shinn and pro wrestling legend Ric Flair. A decade ago, a North Carolina business journal referred to him as "a courtroom killing machine willing to do whatever it takes to waste anyone who gets in his way." To say that Diehl knows how to roll up his sleeves and get dirty is like saying a pit bull can bite.
Jeremy Mayfield tested positive again for methamphetamine, NASCAR said, igniting another round of denials from the driver, who angrily accused the sanctioning body of paying his stepmother to lie about his alleged past drug use.
And yet, Mayfield shouldn't need a $500-an-hour attorney like Diehl to know what his next move should be. It's obvious to everyone -- except, it seems, the driver himself -- that right now Mayfield needs to clam up.
In his attempt to combat allegations that he tested positive for methamphetamines in a NASCAR-issued random drug test more than two months ago, Mayfield seemed to seize the high ground when a U.S. District Court judge granted a temporary injunction lifting his indefinite suspension. It hasn't done much good, given that no team wants to hire him, and that the financially strapped Mayfield doesn't have the means to bring his own car to the race track. But the rare courtroom setback for NASCAR raised questions about the integrity of the sport's drug-testing policy and solidified public support behind Mayfield, who emerged a somewhat sympathetic, persecuted figure with the fans and the law in his corner.
Now, much of that perception has been damaged, perhaps unalterably so, by the events of this week and the driver's vehement and imprudent reaction to them. In court a filing Wednesday, NASCAR claimed that Mayfield again turned up positive for meth in another recent test, this one conducted July 6. It also included a sworn affidavit supplied by Mayfield's stepmother, who claimed to having witnessed the driver taking the drug on numerous occasions. Obviously, if you're Mayfield, you're outraged. You have every right to be. But with litigation pending, fighting a legal battle that's ongoing in the court of public opinion as well as a court of law, you also have to be smart.
Mayfield was anything but, lashing out in vicious diatribes more vindictive than anything NASCAR has done to this point. He's called his stepmother every name in the book and suggested that she was responsible for the suicide death of his father, the kind of allegation that can easily get him sued by somebody else. "They picked the wrong woman to use against me, because that [expletive] is trash and has got nothing on me but lies," he told The Associated Press. Not exactly a way to win hearts and minds.
Hey, we in the media love emotional, outspoken drivers, but Mayfield has become his own worst enemy here. We're talking about a drug that affects the central nervous system. Even if he's not a crystal meth user, he's doing his best to act like one. "Most addicts experience paranoia, anxiety, mood swings and irrational fears when coming off the drug," according to the Web site of Ocean Hills Recovery, a drug and alcohol treatment center in Dana Point, Calif. NASCAR's attorneys can sit back -- Mayfield is doing their work for them. If he's lucky, Diehl has already confiscated his cell phone and told his client to let his attorney do the talking from now on.
And to be quite honest, what did Mayfield expect? For him to sue NASCAR, and the sanctioning body to play nice? This is how NASCAR operates when confronted with a legal challenge, and why it rarely loses in court. Last year, former Nationwide Series official Mauricia Grant sued NASCAR for $225 million, outlining dozens of incidents where she allegedly suffered racial discrimination or sexual harassment at the hands of her co-workers. NASCAR countered with charges that Grant was repeatedly late for work, that she was involved in an incident with a security officer at Michigan over showing her credential, and that she herself used some of the allegedly racist terms she accused her co-workers of using. The result was a settlement where the terms were sealed and in which NASCAR admitted no wrongdoing.
Mayfield is being unrealistic if he thinks that NASCAR's attorneys aren't going to try to dig up as much dirt as they can. Yes, it's ugly and yes, it's somewhat unseemly, but that is what trial lawyers do. After all, nobody is better at it than Mayfield's own attorney. According to Business North Carolina magazine, Diehl's successful defense of Shinn in a 1998 sexual assault case involved calling the plaintiff a tart and exhibitionist. He even put a photo of her in a thong bikini in the court file. In the unlikely event that this case ever goes to trial, goodness knows what Diehl may have in store for NASCAR, which had better be prepared to take it as well as dish it out.
So who knows, maybe Mayfield's venomous outburst this week was just what Diehl wanted. It seems doubtful, though. The weight of evidence in this case appears to be tilting ever so slowly back toward NASCAR at the moment. Mayfield has plenty of issues to confront already. He doesn't need to invent any new ones for himself.