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2001
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| Wednesday, February 13, 2002 | |
| Bill Simpson Files Muti-Million Dollar Lawsuit Against NASCAR | 
After unsuccessfully trying to extract an apology from NASCAR, embattled safety equipment manufacturer Bill Simpson and his attorneys filed a $8.5 million defamation lawsuit against the sanctioning body Wednesday morning in Indianapolis.
The case was assigned to Judge Cynthia Ayres in Marion County Superior Court. NASCAR has 23 days to respond to the complaint, though James Voyles, a Simpson attorney, expects the sanctioning body to request an extension. Voyles sent a copy of the suit after the filing to NASCAR's Washington-based attorney, Jim Rocap.
At its Daytona headquarters, NASCAR officials said they had no comment because they had not yet seen the lawsuit.
Simpson believes NASCAR made him a scapegoat in the accident that killed seven-time Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt. The crash occurred Feb. 18, 2001, on the final lap of the Daytona 500.
Attorneys for the parties spoke throughout much of Tuesday before breaking off talks late in the afternoon. Simpson brought the sought by himself after ownership of his former company decided not to participate in the legal action.
"All the talks were about trying to get them to give us an apology,'' said Robert Horn, a Simpson attorney. "That was it. That is what we would have accepted, and they weren't willing to do that.''
Instead, the defamation lawsuit is asking for damages totaling more than $8.5 million, including $6 million for loss of business advantage and $2.5 million for loss of profits and earnings.
Chuck Davies, chief executive officer for Simpson Performance Products, issued a statement Tuesday saying that the company would not be a party to the lawsuit.
"We have been working cooperatively with NASCAR for the past several months on ways to improve driver safety, to support NASCAR's efforts on building strong safety programs and to contribute valuable input to the process," Davies said. "We believe our energy is best spent working together to avoid tragic incidents in the future."
The company is a leading manufacturer of safety equipment, including restraint systems, helmets and fire retardant uniforms.
Richard Childress, owner of the car driven by Earnhardt, said: "That is between NASCAR and Simpson.''
Simpson has said he received death threats and saw his employees harassed after NASCAR announced Feb. 23, 2001 -- five days after the fatal wreck -- that it had found a broken Simpson lap belt in Earnhardt's crashed No. 3 Chevrolet.
At the core of the dispute is the news conference in Rockingham, N.C., where Dr. Steve Bohannon, director of emergency medical services at Daytona International Speedway, appeared with top NASCAR officials, offering a theory that the belt failure might have contributed to Earnhardt's fatal head injuries. The announcement shifted focus to the possible belt failure.
"Our contention is that if Simpson belts are properly mounted, they won't fail," Horn said. "The truth in this case is that that belt did not fail because of any defect in the belt, that the belt failed because it was improperly mounted in Dale Earnhardt's car."
Simpson has remained vociferous ever since in his criticism of NASCAR hierarchy.
Last July, Simpson quit the day-to-day management post of the company he founded in 1958. His resignation came four years after selling majority interest to Charlotte, N.C.-based Carousel Capital, headed by Nelson Schwab. Simpson still holds 33 percent ownership in Simpson Performance Products.
Simpson told CNNSI.com in July that his resignation was fallout from the lingering dispute with NASCAR.
"It's just the fact that I've been drug through what I have been drug through,'' said Simpson during the interview in Indianapolis. "I know in my heart that I have done nothing wrong or my company has done nothing wrong. You can't imagine what we have gone through. ... It's not just me, my company. It's righteously screwed my company up. It's affected all my employees. It has affected me.
"I mean, the guy [Earnhardt] was a friend of mine for a long, long time. ... We did a lot of stuff together. He came to my ranch in Wyoming, and hung out there. He was a friend.''
Simpson has insisted belt failure wasn't a factor in Earnhardt's death, and his experts maintain the safety belts shouldn't fail when properly installed.
Dr. Barry Myers, an independent expert, concluded last summer that even if the lap belt broke during Earnhardt's crash, it happened after the occurrence of the fatal injury.
A report prepared by NASCAR's experts last August, however, failed to rule out seat belt failure. Simpson and his attorneys were also upset that their separate findings weren't included in the NASCAR report.
"It's been very hard on his business and I don't think that's fair at all," Martin said. "Everyone lost on that, but it was hard on Bill both personally and professionally.
"I never got the impression that NASCAR blamed the seat belt, but Bill felt differently. I just feel real, real bad for Bill because he's done so much for safety in our sport."
By Mike Fish
CNNSI.com
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