July 2nd, 2009 
Journo When U.S. District Court Judge Graham Mullen issued a temporary injunction against NASCAR’s suspension of Jeremy Mayfield yesterday I have to say I was among those who were surprised. Like many people I thought this part of the lawsuit would come and go without any major story. I was wrong.
I was also surprised by the language used by the judge. As I later heard ESPN legal analyst Lester Munson say the judge made it sound like he knew more about the drug test than the experts in the case. I don’t see how there could have been a determination of the validity of the test based on the information so far presented to the court. I’m no legal expert though.
Munson said he was surprised NASCAR had not appealed the decision yet and I was a little surprised too. This could be forthcoming though.
Staying away from Mayfield’s guilt or innocence here, I think it sets a very dangerous precedent not just for NASCAR but for sports as a whole for a judge to lift a suspension on any athlete who tested positive for an illegal substance. Allowing an athlete who failed a drug test administered by a sports body to sue and be allowed back to play undermines the authority of said body. While I know many of you think NASCAR is too overbearing, having an impotent sanctioning body is not good for anybody.
If all it takes is a lawsuit to get your way, you can expect everybody to start filing suit against NASCAR. This is also setting up a precedent for suspended crew members to start suing NASCAR too. That is not something that is going to improve the sport.
All of the above being said I think the testing needs to be fair. While I do think NASCAR does need to make some changes, I don’t think it is the flawed policy Mayfield’s attorneys would have you believe.
Undeniably whether he wins this case or not, Jeremy Mayfield is a marked man. No sponsor wants to be connected with him and most owners are going to think twice about working with him (if you want proof of that look at the response from owners with open seats this weekend). The latter is true for any employees who may come back to Mayfield Motorsports. Nobody wants to work for a laughing stock. On top of all this is his admittedly weak financial state. The odds are against him.
Ultimately this is not the last we have heard from this case. Remember this temporary injunction does not signify innocence anymore then it does guilt.
In a similar case last year a judge granted a temporary injunction to five NFL players after they had failed a drug test. A couple of months ago the judge ultimately ruled in favor of the NFL and threw out most of the case.
While the injunction is temporarily a good thing for Mayfield, this is not necessarily the indicator of how this case is going to go. Also remember NASCAR has the right to appeal this ruling to the United States Appeals Court for the Fourth Circuit. Given what transpired on Wednesday I wouldn’t be surprised if that is something they do.
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Knobcreekfan- I wrote, as you quoted ““Again please do not assume this was a false-positive anymore then one would assume Mayfield is a meth head. By assuming one or the other you are doing exactly what you accuse NASCAR of doing, and that is railroading.” That presumes absolutely nothing. If you want to chop the quote up and take it out of context then sure, you can make it mean what you want, but I do not presume anything. Again I encourage you to not speculate on this matter, because that is what you are doing.
Mayfield’s attorneys are obligated to prove this was a false positive. Because they filed the suit, the burden lies with them http://www.cochranfirm.com/resources/PersonalInjury/burdenofproof.htm. Feel free to look up burden of proof. As of now they have not done that because this case is in the very early stages. I am assuming they will attempt to do this as the lawsuit moves forward. Remember two things (1) this is a civil case not a criminal case (Mayfield will not be found guilty or innocent) and (2) the burden lies with Mayfield not with NASCAR. Taking what I just said into account and using your logic, NASCAR is actually the one you should consider innocent until proven guilty. It’s a little one sided, but if your interested in some in-depth legal reading about the case, check out NASCAR’s appeal filing with the court: http://media.charlotteobserver.com/static/images/pdf/Mayfielddoc33.pdf.
It is easy to assume based on your observations of someone that they would not do something like this, but as TC wrote a couple of weeks ago perception is not always reality. I assume you are not a close confidant of Jeremy Mayfield. I don’t personally know what the correct answer is on this matter. I can tell you, I hope for Jeremy’s health and well being this somehow was a false positive.
As far as NASCAR being a “my way or the highway” business I wouldn’t want it any other way. I know many in the business who would agree with that. We have predictability and stability that few other sanctioning bodies can offer. You’re of course welcome to disagree if you like.
With the above said, I’ve had my fill of Mayfield for one week. I’m out on this discussion. As Linda Richman would say “Talk amongst yourselves.”
Journo – Well said and well done.
It never ceases to amaze me how people can judge things without all of the available facts on hand. That’s not to say everything is on the table in this case, it’s not, but as you point out via your link they are for this appeal to reinstate Mayfield’s suspension.
One of the key points to me is the section that reads the, “court improperly decided without the benefit of any evidence in the record that a reliable and accurate same-day test for methamphetamine exists which can ensure Mayfield’s drug-free participation in upcoming NASCAR events.”
Until, and if, the three tests Mayfield were given are proven to be flawed in some way the default should have been on the side of safety for fans, crew members and drivers with the lifting of the suspension.
Whether the appeal of this decision wins and the suspension is reinstated we’ll have to wait and see, that I suspect will occur sometime in the next two or three days.
“It never ceases to amaze me how people can judge things without all of the available facts on hand.”
Coming from you, that has got to be the funniest thing I have ever read. Forgetting some of your wonderful insight on other topics and just sticking with Mayfield; on this site and yours you have proclaimed some wonderful gems including 1) Jeremy is personally responsible for any liability for the TRT lawsuit, 2) he is flat busted broke, 3) a false positive is impossible, 4) Jeremy is a liar, 5) his attorneys are shysters, 6) Judge Mullen assumed when making his ruling that it would be appealed & 7) Diehl is full of sh*t.
As you have said, not all of the evidence has been presented in this case. So, how on Venus can you make such judgements?
Journo – You are correct. I am not a close confidant of Jeremy’s. I do know him and have worked with him in the past. Honestly, I really did not like him much, but like you said…for his own health and wellbeing I do hope this is a false positive.
Now I may not have been clear with what I was trying to say…and since I am the current record holder for longest post on TNI and I was trying to not break that record, I was trying to be brief. As you can tell that is hard for me to do.
But, I did say that I knew this was not a normal criminal case and accordingly those rules do not apply. But the intent of those rules is to assume someone is innocent until proven otherwise. So, going back to pretending TC tests positive, I imagine the two of you would want all of us here to assume he was innocent. So let’s treat Jeremy the same way. I am not speculating on any facts of the case and what they may/may not mean. If a hair follicle test exists or not. I have not judged anyone. I have put no weight in injunctions. Etc. Just the good ol’ golden rule.
I know you think I am taking your words out of context, but you would like us to “not assume this was a false-positive anymore then one would assume Mayfield is a meth head.” There are some double negatives here, but to not assume it is false, is to assume it is legitimate positive. You cannot argue that any other way. If we are assuming it is legitimate positive, then we have speculated/judged. Granted, I guess one could argue at what level of meth use one becomes a “meth head” and he could just be a user. But we would have at least assumed he has used meth.
“As far as NASCAR being a “my way or the highway” business I wouldn’t want it any other way. We have predictability and stability that few other sanctioning bodies can offer.”
I do not want to debate what sport has the best sanctioning body because they all have issues…good & bad. But NFL, NBA, MLB all do pretty well and are not law enforcement, prosecutor, judge, jury, court of appeals and executioner all wrapped in one.
I am guessing you have never been on the “wrong side” of NASCAR politics. I have been on a couple of occasions and it is not fun. In one meeting with some NASCAR executives, my employer said something to a NASCAR senior executive that the NASCAR exec did not like. Said NASCAR executive told my employer that he would “ruin him and make sure he never worked in NASCAR again.” A short time later the company was out of business and 65 people lost their jobs.
I understand there is a need for the sanctioning body to be strong & firm, but I also think a little more cooperation would be good. Some folks would say China & Iran are predictable & stable. And that Iraq was more stable under Hussein than now. And as we saw Bernie E thinks Hitler was a good leader because he “got things done.” None of those regimes are/were good, but they are/were predictable and stable.
Who in their right mind ,would believe a jealous and broke stepmother that just wants some of his earnings . One ,she isn’t entitled to any of it ,two,She must be blowing someone somehow to try to destroy him !The thing for Nascar to do ,is to let him use a reputable lab ,where there is no possible way that anyone outside would be able to tamper with it ! It seems that Nascvar has something to hide ,because they keep shooting down his choices of labs. Is he innocent until proven guilty by his peers? They have him guilty before they get the results. If he loses his race team,and is not allowed to race again,the guilty ones will come out smelling as roses,but eventually the truth will come out! By then it will be too late !I have been a race fan for over 40 years ,and I don’t like the way Jeremy is being treated !