THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 27, 1994 TAG: 9410270429
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B8 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: HAMPTON LENGTH: Short : 45 lines
The owners of a bowling alley that was the site of a chair-throwing brawl involving former prep basketball star Allen Iverson are suing the publisher of Sports Illustrated over an article about the case.
Circle Lanes Inc., now known as Spare Times, is seeking $350,000 in punitive damages and $350,000 in compensatory damages from New York-based Time Inc.
Also named in the suit was former Sports Illustrated reporter Ned Zeman, who wrote an October 1993 article entitled ``Southern Discomfort'' that chronicled the brawl and subsequent charges against Iverson and others.
Hampton attorney David N. Montague filed the lawsuit in Circuit Court this month on behalf of Jeff Sweeney of Colonial Heights and Fred Bowker of Manassas.
The bowling alley owners contend that the magazine article has hurt their business. Henry N. Ware Jr. of Richmond, another attorney who represents the owners, said their financial losses have been significant.
``We're unsure of the actual extent the article has hurt the business and how it will continue to hurt it in the future,'' Ware said. ``But people are leaving them and ceasing to come in and use the facilities due to the bad publicity.''
In its Feb. 21, 1994, issue, Sports Illustrated published a full-page correction and apology about the article.
Roger Jackson, Sports Illustrated's publicity director, declined to discuss the lawsuit.
The Valentine's Day 1993 fight broke out after Iverson, who is black, was called a racial slur by a white patron. Iverson and three of his friends were arrested and charged with mob violence. Iverson was sentenced to five years in prison. But in December, he was ordered released to finish high school by then-Gov. L. Douglas Wilder. A 6-foot point guard, Iverson is a freshman at Georgetown. by CNB