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Bertuzzi loses appeal, must show details of agreement with Canucks

Bertuzzi Moore

Back in February, former Colorado player Steve Moore won an Ontario court ruling as part of his lawsuit against Todd Bertuzzi and the company that owns the Vancouver Canucks stemming from the infamous incident in 2004 when Bertuzzi attacked Moore from behind during a game.

Today, we learn that Moore also won the appeal.

The ruling gives Moore’s legal team the right to view an agreement between Bertuzzi and the Canucks that, according to CBC.ca, would have the two parties share the costs should they lose the $38 million lawsuit.

Moore’s legal team wanted to know the details of the agreement since Bertuzzi had formerly been suing former Canucks coach Marc Crawford for allegedly encouraging the attack and the club had been counter-suing Bertuzzi.

Tim Danson, Moore’s lawyer, argued that the agreement was tantamount to a “united front” against his client.

In the appeal, Bertuzzi and the Canucks argued the plaintiff will now be able “to advance the theme to the trier of fact [the jury] at every turn that the defendants have acted in concert to ‘hide’ the facts by ‘paying off’ Bertuzzi to drop the claim against Crawford.”

However, the judge ruled that “the court needs to understand the precise nature of the adversarial orientation of the litigation in order to maintain the integrity of its process.”

As an aside, do you think the Bertuzzi-Moore case was a factor in the Montreal Canadiens’ reported decision to hire Michel Therrien instead of Crawford, the latter of whom will be a witness in the upcoming court case?