New law suit from Oksana Baiul

[apatinar]

Unfortunately,it is her controlling boyfriend who is behind this... Things have really turned sour since they met. She sold her apartment in New Jersey that she had for years and moved to PA... Now lawsuit after lawsuit is being filed.. I am afraid he is going to bleed her dry and then leave her..

[judiz]

Weir is a self obsessed self-serving, shallow little boy. Instead of joking about her illness, he needs to do something. That's the problem with figure skating. Everything is sugar coated and swept under the carpet because we forget that skaters are human. They are still caught up on the Sonya Henje days and Dorothy Hamill days when skaters couldn't be athletes but had to be Ice Princesses! It is a shame. Dana Plato could have been a great skater. I had the pleasure of seeing her skate in the late 70's.

Since when is Johnny Weir such close friends with Oksana that he is responsible for her rehab?

[Ziggy]

Since when is Johnny Weir such close friends with Oksana that he is responsible for her rehab?

Obvious troll is obvious.

[judiz]

Must remember DO NOT feed the trolls unless you want to get bitten.

[Really]

Here, troll, troll, troll... Here, troll, troll, troll...

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to PeterG again.

Love you, Peter!

[CoyoteChris]

Back to the legal issue...did I miss something? Did she sign the contract or didnt she? In some states, a witnessed verbal agreement is legal, IIRC.
If they used her name and she did not agree in writing or verbally, then I know which way I would vote if I was on the jury. Evan L. would never agree
to go to an event, have his name used, and then pull and sue.....

[MINAM]

You can go back to topic.

I do agree that this is sad news.

[Willowway]

Back to the legal issue...did I miss something? Did she sign the contract or didnt she? In some states, a witnessed verbal agreement is legal, IIRC.
If they used her name and she did not agree in writing or verbally, then I know which way I would vote if I was on the jury. Evan L. would never agree
to go to an event, have his name used, and then pull and sue.....

She didn't sign the contract and Steve Disson said that they never used her name. This should all be pretty straight forward - either they used her name or they didn't.

I would tend to think Steve is telling the the truth. She's going to have to prove they used her name and if you look at the story in the newspaper, it's very unlikely that they had the time to use her name. My guess is that she doesn't have much here and is hoping that if you raise enough of a fuss and sue for enough $$ (in this case 5M) then you'll get paid something (20K-30K) to simply go away even if you deserve nothing.

This is called a nuisance suit - you know you have nothing much in legal terms but you sue anyhow hoping that someone with deep pockets (NBC and Disson are that) would rather pay you to go away than pay more to their lawyers. It could be worth a few bucks and all the bad will in the world to her. And believe me, I don't really think this is her; I think it's driven by her manager and her inner demons.

[jenniferlyon]

You can go back to topic.

I do agree that this is sad news.

The saddest part is that Disson is the only game in town as far as pro skating goes. We'll probably never see Oksana perform in the United States again.

[Cherub721]

I don't find the fact that she's filing lawsuits to be "sad" or to have any particular moral value. She thinks she has a case, so she's suing. Maybe she'll get a judgment or a settlement, maybe not. The entities she's suing aren't mom and pop shops who will be destroyed by the legal fees or anything.

The only thing about this that piqued my interest was that I don't remember Oksana ever being promoted as being part of those particular shows. Does anyone else? I figure if anyone would be the audience for such things, the ones who would be willing to shell out for tickets based on an extremely preliminary castlist, it would be us, no? We often have threads about these shows well in advance. Bobek's appearance at Improv Ice was discussed. I don't remember Oksana's name coming up at all, basically because I'm an Oksana fan and I don't remember her being announced as part of a cast for anything in the last couple of years except the 2011 Evening w/Champions (where she in fact performed)... she skates so rarely that if she had been announced and scratched I think I would remember. *shrugs* So I'm thinking if they advertised her as part of the cast, it was in an extremely preliminary and limited way and must have been corrected rather quickly. It's incredibly doubtful that they sold all these tickets based on Oksana's brand name. It's a strange lawsuit to file, though, if they don't actually have any advertisements to use as evidence.

[Willowway]

As I said above I think it's a "nuisance" law suit to get a few bucks just for being a pain in the butt - no actual legal reason. I don't know what Oksana knows but I would put money on the fact that if there was no actual publicity, her manager/rep knows that very clearly. Simple as that. And that is sad - no values, no ethics, just ways to weedle money out of other people.

It's a strange lawsuit to file, though, if they don't actually have any advertisements to use as evidence.

Maybe you live among decent people who bring law suits when they have actual reasons to do so. It doesn't always work that way.

[love_skate2011]

She needs $$$$$$$

[Carolla5501]

I have to think she must not ever plan on doing another show. As someone pointed out Disson is about the only player left in the US. Right or wrong she is burning that bridge.

[MacMadame]

What has Oksana done that needs forgiving from you?

She looked at me funny in an elevator once and now I'm scared for life!

(I'm kidding. I've never been in an elevator with Ms. Baiul.)

[Loves_Shizuka]

I won't comment on her lawsuit/relationships/fashion sense/boozing/face, but I do wish Oksana to find some inner-peace, something she is clearly lacking.

[AndyWarhol]

I sent her a happy birthday msg on facebook, and she replied with a smiley face.

[IceIceBaby]

I have to think she must not ever plan on doing another show. As someone pointed out Disson is about the only player left in the US. Right or wrong she is burning that bridge.

She is probably in such a bad shape that she can't skate anymore.
When did she started to do the drugs? When she was competing already? (I haven't really followed her career)

[Iceman]

These lawsuits are costing her big bucks and she is fighting entities who have strong legal teams who have the money to fight back. There might be the expectation, on her part, that some out of court settlement netting her some money will occur. For those she is suing this is just a nuisance and they are not quaking in their boots. And who would want to hire her now with the expectation that they might face getting sued too.

Not too many months ago, she was talking about making a worldwide tour with her own show. I was skeptical that this would ever materialize.

It is unfortunate she disconnected from Galina and Victor. They seemingly gave her the only sense of family she had ever had and I do not think they "used" or "abused" her. Now she seems to be adrift, at the age of 35, with dubiously motivated people surrounding her. Like I said earlier, there seems only one end to this story right now and it is not a pretty one.

[Ziggy]

She seems to be following the "child star" pattern. It's all very sad. As Loves_Shizuka said, I hope she can find some inner peace.

[VIETgrlTerifa]

I forget that she's still relatively young at 35 (only three years older than the Kween).