http://www.sbnation.com/users/Joe%20Charboneau Posts made by Joe Charboneau on SB Nation http://www.letsgotribe.com/2006/9/15/175551/223 Joe Charboneau Fri, 15 Sep 2006 21:55:51 -0000 <p>A few of the regular commenters here are lawyers and/or law students, so I thought you might be interested in this recent decision by the 6th Circuit involving a lawsuit by a Tribe fan.</p><p>The fan was sitting in the bleachers at a game against the D-Rays, and was heckling Russ Branyan with the oh-so-clever taunts of "Branyan, you suck!" and "Branyan, you have a fat ass!"</p><p>A security guard asked him to "cut it out." &nbsp;The fan ignored him. &nbsp;So the guard escorted the fan out of the stadium. &nbsp;On the way out, a scuffle ensued. &nbsp;The guard and the fan disagree about who started the scuffle. &nbsp;</p><p>The fan sued the guard for violating his civil rights, including his first amendment right of free speech. &nbsp;The district court ruled that the suit was untimely and that the guard had immunity from suit. &nbsp;The 6th Circuit reversed.</p><p>Although the court allowed the suit to go forward, the court also expressed some skepticism about the plaintiff's likelihood of ultimate success: "For a baseball fan to make a 'federal case' out of being ejected from a game may well strike many as a colossal waste of judicial resources. A jury might well agree."</p><p>Amen. &nbsp;I think the guard clearly over-reacted by ejecting the fan, but give me a break. &nbsp;This is not the sort of civil rights violation that should lead to a lawsuit. &nbsp;Let it go, dude, let it go.</p><p>Here's a link to the opinion:<br /> <a href="http://www.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/06a0355p-06.pdf">http://www.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/06a0355p-06.pdf</a></p>