WWE Lawyer Responds To Martha Hart, Says She Didn't Really Want Justice
Veteran attorney also suggests Hart tried to induce witnesses.
The most recent episode of Vice's Dark Side of the Ring, focusing on the passing of Owen Hart following his accidental fall at 1999's Over the Edge PPV, has brought several details of the awful tragedy back into discussion.
For the past 21 years, Owen's widow Martha has rarely spoke about the incident publicly, making the documentary notable by her heavy involvement. Ahead of its TV debut, she spoke to various media outlets about the story, maintaining her stance that WWE were culpable in her husband's death. Three weeks following Owen's passing, Martha launched a wrongful death lawsuit against WWE, which was settled out of court for $18 million in November 2000.
With the case dredged up, WWE's veteran attorney Jerry McDevitt contacted CBS Sports to dispute Martha's retelling of the litigation:
"The reality is, we've never told our side of the story of what happened - at least not outside of court. We told it in court, but when she talks about the way the lawsuit unfolded over the years, it really isn't accurate what she's saying. What she did whenever this happened is, she hired a lawyer in Kansas City who we caught essentially trying to fix the judicial selection process to get a judge that was more to their liking. We caught them and went all the way to the Missouri Supreme Court. The Missouri Supreme Court said, 'No, no, no. We're not going to let that happen.' They essentially appointed an independent judge to come in from outside of Kansas City to oversee the proceedings."
McDevitt insists WWE's primary concern was discovering the truth of the accident, whilst he implies Martha was motivated by other interests:
"We were basically trying to find out what happened that night. Martha was not even remotely interested in finding out what happened that night; she just wanted to use it as a vehicle to beat up a business that she didn't like that her husband was in, the wrestling business."
The Titan lawyer also suggests Martha attempted to induce members of the Hart family - several of whom, for various professional reasons, took WWE's side - to support her in court with the promise of financial remuneration:
"Her and her lawyer, in reality, had tried to get the members of the Hart family, Owen's brothers and sisters, to sign a document in which they would agree to support Martha and her case and they would not talk to WWE. In exchange for that, they were all promised a share of any verdict or settlement, which is highly illegal, completely improper and you can get in big trouble for that. What happened was some of the members of the Hart family were offended by this because they realized this was wrong. ... They knew this was wrong and they faxed me those documents, which I fell out of the chair when I read them. I was like, 'You've got to be kidding me. This is completely illegal, you can't do this stuff.' All of that was then brought to the attention of the judge in Kansas City."
McDevitt also insisted that Martha's rejection of an original settlement demonstrated justice was not her primary objective:
"She talked about how $18 million settlement, she didn't really want to do that, she wanted justice. Again, that's just not true. There was court-ordered mediation. We went to the mediation, and her lawyers were demanding $35 million and some admission of punitive damages. Vince told her right there, 'Look, Martha, I feel so bad for what happened. I feel responsible because this happened on my watch. I want to take care of you and your family, I loved Owen.' He was almost crying. We offered $17 million to take care of her. How many times does a CEO walk in a room and say he feels responsible? 'I'm not going to argue, I just feel responsible for what happened.' They turned it down; they wanted to go to court for their $35 million."
Following the eventual settlement, Martha founded the Owen Hart Foundation with the compensation, setting aside $2 million for Owen's parents, Stu and Helen Hart.