THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 11, 1996 TAG: 9601110337
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARC DAVIS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 93 lines
Three punches to the face and Glenn Davis was out - unconscious, his jaw broken in two places, his baseball season over early.
That was in June 1993. The punch came from a barroom bouncer outside Club Rogues, a popular Virginia Beach night spot that is now closed.
Today in a Norfolk courtroom, Davis, the former Baltimore Orioles home run slugger, will throw his counterpunch: a $5.35 million lawsuit against Rogues and the bouncer who hit him.
Davis will try to portray the bouncer, Samuel C. Hampton, a 27-year-old professional boxer, as an out-of-control security guard who got little training or supervision at the Oceanfront nightclub. Davis will claim that he lost his $3.75 million-a-year major-league contract because of the beating.
Hampton, in turn, will portray Davis as a washed-up ballplayer whose best years were behind him that summer night in 1993, an athlete who provoked the beating by threatening the bar's security staff.
The jury trial starts this morning in U.S. District Court and is expected to last a week or longer, with testimony from some big names in major-league baseball management.
Among the 49 subpoenaed witnesses are former and current leaders of the New York Mets, the Houston Astros and the Cincinnati Reds, and two of Davis' former teammates.
Lawyers on both sides declined to discuss the case, but a pre-trial order spells out how the trial will proceed.
Davis, now 43, was one of the top power hitters in baseball in the late 1980s. With the Houston Astros, he averaged 30 home runs and 95 runs batted in a year from 1986 to 1989.
But after a rib cage injury in 1990, Davis started missing games. He was traded in 1991 to the Baltimore Orioles, then suffered more injuries and missed more games. His power deserted him. He hit just 24 homers in three seasons.
In midseason, Davis was sent to the minor-league Rochester Red Wings for rehabilitation. The team was in Norfolk to play the Tides when the brawl occurred.
After the fight, Davis' jaw was wired shut for four weeks and the Orioles released him in September 1993, three months after the beating.
Davis pressed criminal charges, but Hampton was acquitted of misdemeanor assault and battery in December 1993.
Davis claimed he was sucker-punched by Hampton while trying to break up a fight between a teammate and another bouncer. Hampton, however, claimed that Davis grabbed him by the throat and threatened him, and he punched Davis in self-defense.
Six eyewitnesses testified to six versions of events, so the judge said there was reasonable doubt about Hampton's guilt.
``This is a classic example of when you have a number of witnesses and all of them see something different,'' Judge John B. Preston said.
Now, for the civil trial, the standard of proof will be easier for Davis. This time Davis must prove only by a preponderance of evidence, not beyond reasonable doubt, that Hampton used unnecessary force and the bar did not adequately train or supervise the bouncer.
Davis seeks $350,000 in punitive damages, the maximum allowed by state law, and $5 million in compensatory damages. Club Rogues is defunct, but the club's insurance may have to pay the tab if Davis wins his case.
A crucial question will be why Hampton hit Davis in the face twice after Davis was down on the ground.
In testimony in 1993, Hampton said he thought Davis was getting up to hit him, so he struck Davis again in self-defense. Davis, however, said he never went after Hampton.
Another key question will be whether the fight hurt Davis' career.
The broken jaw ended Davis' 1993 season, but he was paid his $3.75 million salary. In 1994, Davis played in minor-league Omaha, where he hit 27 home runs and drove in 97 runs. Last year he played in Japan, where he hit 23 home runs and drove in 77 runs.
Davis' attorney, David M. Zobel, will argue that the beating ruined Davis' 1994 season because he could not play for a major league team. ``This loss of income is directly attributed to his broken jaw injury,'' a pre-trial order says.
Zobel will call Mets general manager Joe McIlvaine and Astros president Talbot Smith to support his claim.
Hampton's attorney, Edward L. Breeden III, will claim that Davis' baseball career was already suspect and that the Orioles had decided not to renew his contract.
``Davis' performance had been in steep decline since 1990. . . . Davis, whose career in baseball was based on his performance as a power hitter for several seasons at Houston, never performed at Baltimore the way he had earlier performed in Houston,'' the final pre-trial order states.
Breeden will call former Reds general manager Richard Wagner to support his claim. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
KEYWORDS: LAWSUIT ASSAULT INJURIES by CNB