So, what’s been going on with the lawsuit between WWE’s senior physician Dr. Chris Amann and CM Punk? A quick refresher, being that we haven’t discussed this in a while: During CM Punk’s infamous appearance on Colt Cabana’s Art of Wrestling podcast, he accused WWE’s head doctor of misdiagnosing a serious MRSA infection as a fatty deposit, and generally painted Dr. Amann as a disengaged incompetent, who simply prescribed antibiotic Z-Paks for every situation rather than doing any actual doctoring. In response, Dr. Amann sued Punk and Cabana for more than $1 million for defamation. WWE seemed to have a hand in the lawsuit, going so far as to post a carefully edited video of CM Punk butt shots, “proving” he never had the baseball-sized infection he claims to have had.
Punk and Cabana have since attempted to have the lawsuit dismissed with no luck, so they’ve now filed an official response, and they’re pulling no punches. The main gist of CM Punk’s response is that Amann is basically just being used as a puppet by WWE as revenge for Punk (referred to by his real name, Phil Brooks, below) leaving the company and airing dirty laundry online…
“Brooks is informed and believes that the Plaintiff collaborated, coordinated and conspired with the WWE in bad faith to prepare, bring and pursue this lawsuit in retaliation against Brooks and Colton for the embarrassment that the Podcast caused the WWE through and as a result of Brooks’ candid and truthful discussion of various of his experiences as a WWE wrestler, despite the fact that the Plaintiff knows full well that the statements about which he complains are true and/or substantially true.”
In addition to the accusations of collusion, Punk takes some more personal shots on Dr. Amann in his response.
“Repeatedly placed the interests of the WWE over the medical interests of Brooks and other patients, and has prioritized the interests of the WWE over the health and safety of Brooks and other WWE wrestlers. Furthermore, Plaintiff, during his tenure with the WWE, has engaged in unprofessional, incompetent and/or dishonest conduct in furtherance of the WWE’s entertainment and/or business interests that compromised and tarnished his reputation, professionalism and/or integrity.”
Punk also accuses Dr. Amann of violating patient-doctor confidentiality in filing his lawsuit, and says that his claims of being professionally damaged don’t add up, seeing as he’s still employed by WWE. And besides all that, Punk says he never mentioned Dr. Amann by name on the podcast, so he could have been talking about another doctor, making this all moot anyways.
WWE has issued an official response to CM Punk’s allegations that WWE is the real force behind this lawsuit…
“Phil Brooks’ latest claim that WWE directed Dr. Amann to file a lawsuit against Brooks is categorically false. Dr. Amann made the decision to file suit in order to protect his professional reputation. WWE conducted its own investigation into this matter and found no evidence of wrongdoing by Dr. Amann, and thus continues to support Dr. Amann and the staff that runs our world-class medical program.”
I’m no lawyer, but WWE and Dr. Amann should probably be pretty worried about now. Their lawsuit doesn’t seem to be built on a terribly solid foundation, and, really, so much of what happens in court is just theater, and CM Punk is a hell of a talker. Unless he hauls off and punches the judge or something, I have a feeling Punk may just send this thing down in flames once he hits the stand.
via PWInsider
