[an error occurred while processing this directive]

Friday, July 18, 1997

Irvin, ordered to give deposition, ambiguous on football plans

By TERRY WALLACE Associated Press Writer

DALLAS (AP) - Michael Irvin was cagey about whether he planned to report to camp this afternoon for the first day of Dallas Cowboys training camp.

A judge was clearer about another event in Irvin's future - a deposition.

State District Judge Jay Patterson ordered Irvin to appear Sept. 9 in Dallas to give a deposition to a television station being sued by Irvin and teammate Erik Williams for alleged defamation of character.

The order came after a 1-1/2-hour hearing this morning in which attorneys for KXAS-TV and Irvin sparred over contentions by the station's attorneys that witnesses were dodging the station's subpoenas.

KXAS attorney Chip Babcock of Dallas said he was satisfied with the outcome.

"We achieved what our objective was, which was to get Michael Irvin ordered to appear for deposition. That's what was needed to move the litigation forward," Babcock said.

Irvin's attorney, Peter Ginsberg of Washington, D.C., did not respond to reporters' questions as he and Irvin hastily left the courthouse. Irvin, dressed in dark-gray suit and sunglasses, answered ambiguously when asked whether he would report for camp by the deadline of 3 p.m.

"We're leaving the legal situation to the legal situation and the football to football," Irvin said as he stepped briskly toward an elevator.

Irvin last month joined the lawsuit initially filed against the station by Williams, accusing the station and one of its reporters of wrongfully defaming them in reports about rape allegations against the pair.

Former topless dancer Nina Shahravan accused Irvin of holding a gun to her head while Williams and another man sexually assaulted her in late December. She later recanted and faces trial on a perjury charge next month.