[an error occurred while processing this directive]

Thursday, July 24, 1997

Irvin, Williams settle suits against Channel 5

By Pete Slover

The Dallas Morning News

(KRT)

DALLAS - KXAS-TV (Channel 5) will pay Dallas Cowboys Michael Irvin and Erik Williams about $2.2 million to settle their defamation lawsuits against the television station, sources said Wednesday.

The deal, which was hammered out Tuesday at a meeting in Austin, calls for its terms to be kept secret. The settlement of the case was announced in state District Court in Dallas on Wednesday morning by Sid Stahl, the Dallas lawyer who mediated the deal. Stahl said that he told the judge that the mediation was successful and the cases would be dismissed.

Without confirming specifics, the players' attorney said the deal helps rectify the harm done.

"There is no settlement in the world that could ever make up in whole for the damage that was done to them," said attorney Peter Ginsberg. "But the settlement represents a major step in that direction."

A station executive issued a brief statement confirming the settlement.

"We have reached a resolution with Erik Williams and Michael Irvin," said a statement released by Doug Adams, KXAS president and general manager. "We are pleased with that, and the terms of the agreement don't allow any further comment."

Williams declined to comment, Irvin could not be reached, and a lawyer for the station did not return calls for comment.

An attorney for reporter Marty Griffin, who reported the police investigation of accusations against Irvin and Williams, said his client did not approve the deal and admits no wrongdoing.

"Marty Griffin participated in the mediation as a result of the court's order. But he did not participate in any settlement offer, nor did he sign any settlement agreement," lawyer Darrell Jordan said. "Marty absolutely did nothing wrong. Period."

Even without Griffin's signature, Jordan said, the settlement ends the lawsuits against all the defendants: KXAS, its parent company and Griffin.

The defamation suits stemmed from the reporting of sexual assault allegations made against the two by Nina Shahravan. The former topless dancer told police that Irvin held a gun to her head while Williams and a third man raped her. Police cleared the players after Shahravan recanted, and her trial on a misdemeanor perjury charge is scheduled for Monday.

The station originally responded to Irvin's lawsuit by saying the reports were fair accounts of what police were saying. Noting that damage to reputation is a key to winning a defamation suit, the stations's lawyers said Irvin's poor reputation made him "libel proof" after he pleaded no contest to cocaine possession last summer.

The settlement doesn't include any public admission of wrongdoing by any of the parties. By settling the case, both sides avoid what was shaping up into a costly and rancorous battle over discovery, the pretrial process in which lawyers get to ask extensive questions of witnesses and the parties.

With football season approaching, the television station was seeking extensive records from the National Football League regarding Cowboys' pay records, disciplinary actions and drug treatment programs.

Also, Irvin had been ordered to give a deposition to KXAS on Sept. 9, and other Cowboys players have been subpoenaed to give testimony about the team's off-field activities.

Two sources familiar with the deal confirmed the total payment, asking to remain anonymous. One said that each player will get $1 million with the remaining $200,000 to be paid to their lawyers. Neither source revealed whether the station or its insurance carrier will make the payment.

Edwin Voss Jr., a lawyer for the city of Dallas, said the deal will not affect the separate federal civil rights lawsuits filed by the players against the city, the police department and various officials.

Dallas Morning News staff writers Jean-Jacques Taylor in Austin and Jason Sickles in Dallas contributed to this report.

(c) 1997, The Dallas Morning News.

Visit The Dallas Morning News on the World Wide Web at http://www.dallasnews.com/

Distributed by Knight-Ridder/Tribune Information Services.