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A judge’s decision not to dismiss part of former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer’s defamation case is being appealed.
The New York Times, the parent company of The Athletic, and former Athletic writer Molly Knight filed a notice of appeal in federal court on Thursday. The appeal takes aim at U.S. District Court Judge Michael Fitzgerald’s December decision not to dismiss Knight as a defendant in the case.
Bauer’s lawyers submitted an amended complaint on Tuesday where they alleged The Athletic’s reporting “led to a proliferation of articles and tweets referencing … nonexistent” injuries to a woman who alleged she was physically abused and sexually assaulted by Bauer in 2021.
It’s expected that The New York Times will seek to dismiss the amended complaint in the coming weeks. Fitzgerald dismissed a count from the original complaint with December’s ruling related to a story from The Athletic, which Bauer’s lawyers argued reintroduced in the amended complaint.
Bauer’s legal team again took issue with multiple tweets from Knight in 2021, which the new complaint described as “false and defamatory.”
Bauer was not criminally charged but was suspended 324 games for violating MLB’s domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse policy. In December, the suspension was cut to 194 games by an arbitrator, which cleared the way for Bauer to resume his career.
The Dodgers released Bauer on Jan. 6, making him a free agent.
