As has been long speculated, Randy Hanson filed a lawsuit against the Oakland Raiders and Tom Cable as a result of the punch heard round the world during training camp last fall.
This story has been one that has been percolating in the background since it first broke last August. It seemed ready to go away when the Napa County DA announced in a public press conference that they would not pursue charges against Cable, because they felt that they did not have a provable case.
However, it began to rear its ugly head late last season, when Hanson had been seen around the Alameda facility. Many had speculated that to be a sign that Cable was going to be on his way out at the termination of the season, but Cable remained the head coach, and Hanson also remained in the employment of the Raiders.
Hanson is able to pursue the lawsuit despite the lack of criminal charges because the standard of proof in a civil case is not as high as in a criminal case. All Hanson has to do is get the jury to believe his side of the story, rather than prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Cable intentionally broke his jaw.
Of course, the rebirth of this story has brought back the domestic abuse allegations that were leveled against Cable on ESPN. With one of those sets of allegations being a twenty year old “he said-she said” situation, it is tangential to the case. The only recent allegation was from an ex-girlfriend who had showed up at his house when he was with his now wife. By this time, he was employed by the Raiders, so he was a high profile person in the Bay Area. However, no action was taken by the Alameda police.
The question becomes, what happened in that room with Tom Cable, Randy Hanson, Willie Brown, and John Marshall. Hanson says that Cable punched him and threatened to kill him. However, these allegations were not substantiated enough for the Napa DA to press charges.
Regardless of the outcome of this case, the Raiders are going to look bad and Tom Cable’s name is going to be drawn through the mud again.
Cable and the Raiders are named as codefendants in the case because of the Raiders lack of disciplinary actions against Cable as well as Hanson’s job responsibilities changing. The suit alleges that the Raiders support the actions of Cable. This suit has the potential to bring the inner-workings of the Raiders to light, or it may be settled out of court.
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