Bubba Harkins’ defamation lawsuit against Angels and MLB settled before going to trial
Three years of legal wrangling that featured hundreds of hours of depositions, thousands of pages of court documents and several pretrial hearings ended with a four-word statement from the attorney representing former Angels visiting clubhouse manager Brian Harkins: “The case has settled.”
Harkins reached a confidential agreement with the team and Major League Baseball to settle his defamation complaint on Monday morning, ending the lengthy legal battle between the sides just hours before the “sticky stuff” case was scheduled to go to trial.
Daniel L. Rasmussen, the attorney representing Harkins, confirmed the settlement, but a non-disclosure agreement between the parties precludes him and Harkins, nicknamed “Bubba,” from revealing the settlement amount or discussing the case.
An Angels spokesperson said the team could not comment on the case, other than to say that “the matter is settled.”
A judge ruled Bubba Harkins’ claim the Angels and MLB defamed him when they fired him for providing sticky substances can go to trial.
Rasmussen told The Times in July 2021 that he planned to seek at least $4 million in damages if the case went to trial. When asked last week if there was any progress toward a possible settlement, Rasmussen said the sides were “miles apart.”
Harkins spent nearly four decades with the Angels before being fired by then-general manager Billy Eppler in 2020 after the Angels learned he was providing a blend of sticky substances to visiting pitchers in violation of MLB rules.
Harkins filed suit in August 2020, claiming he was made a “public scapegoat” in baseball’s efforts to crack down on the use of foreign substances. The complaint listed “defamation” and “false light” as causes of action against the Angels and MLB.
Harkins contended he was fired without warning, labeled a “traitor, cheater and a fraud” in the wake of news reports of his dismissal and is now unemployable.
Attorneys for the Angels and MLB filed a motion for summary judgment May 31, contending that Harkins conceded in a deposition that he provided “sticky stuff” to visiting pitchers and that he was unable to identify who leaked the details of his March 2020 firing to the media.
Rasmussen argued in an opposition motion that Harkins merely provided the blend of rosin and pine tar — which former Angels closer Troy Percival taught Harkins to make in the mid-1990s — to visiting pitchers such as Gerrit Cole and Max Scherzer and numerous Angels pitchers and that he didn’t apply it to baseballs. Thus, he did not break any rules.
Harkins, the Angels’ visiting clubhouse manager, filed a defamation claim after being fired for providing foreign substances to pitchers. A Superior Court had dismissed that case.
In 10 minutes of oral arguments before Judge Melissa R. McCormick on June 22, Adam Lauridsen, the attorney representing the Angels and MLB, argued that the substance itself is illegal because it was “being provided to a pitcher with knowledge that the pitcher is going to apply it to his hand or the ball to get an improved grip.”
Rasmussen countered by saying pine tar and rosin are regularly used by hitters, “so it’s not illegal,” he said. “What’s illegal is the act of a pitcher using a foreign substance on a baseball. … To ask the court to throw out this case after all the litigation and on the eve of trial based solely on these word games is inappropriate.”
McCormick denied the last-ditch effort by the Angels and MLB to have the case dismissed June 23, clearing the way for a trial.
Angels have fired longtime visiting clubhouse attendant Brian “Bubba” Harkins for allegedly providing illegal substances to put on baseballs
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