I found this article earlier and wondered if anyone fancied having a crack at a story based on this. Manipulate it as much as you like!!!
Fourteen former Nashville Kats cheerleaders, who were videotaped without their knowledge in a dressing room at Gaylord Entertainment Center last summer, filed a $13 million civil damages lawsuit yesterday against the arena's management company and two of its former employees.
The lawsuit states that employees with Powers Management routinely placed hidden video surveillance cameras throughout the arena as a security measure and that, on at least one occasion last summer, videotapes were made of the women in their dressing room, ''in various stages of undress and other private acts.'' The Arena Football League's Nashville Kats team moved to Atlanta last year.
Powers Management is owned by Craig Leipold, who also is the majority owner of the Nashville Predators hockey team, which plays in the city-owned arena.
Gerry Helper, the Predators' vice president for communications and development, declined to comment on the cheerleaders' lawsuit, which was filed late yesterday afternoon in Davidson County Circuit Court.
''We have not seen the lawsuit,'' Helper said. ''Not having seen it, it would not be appropriate to comment on it.''
In the lawsuit, the cheerleaders said that when Powers Management officials discovered the videotapes, they launched a ''secret investigation, resulting in the willful destruction'' of the videotapes before the cheerleaders ever knew they existed. They also alleged in the lawsuit that the management company destroyed the videotapes ''with the intent to interfere'' with any legal action the women might take.
The 14 cheerleaders, who range in age from 19 to 32, said they learned of the existence of the videotapes only through news reports last October. They said they have suffered ''severe and serious emotional and mental distress'' since then.
They are seeking $3 million in compensatory damages and $10 million in punitive damages from Powers Management and two of its former employees, John Day and James Corn, who left the company after the videotapes were discovered.
''Powers' decision to make decisions for these young ladies without consulting them upsets them as much as anything,'' said Bill Ramsey, one of the lawyers representing the women.
Ramsey said it is ''difficult to quantify'' just how much the women have suffered from the violation of their right to privacy. ''Usually, that's what a jury does.''
Helper said in November that installation of the surveillance camera ''was not something that Russ (Simons, then the manager of the arena) or anyone with that authority would have authorized.''
Helper said last fall that the company's investigation showed that the dressing-room camera was used only once, during a Kats game in August.
Simons resigned last month as general manager of Gaylord Entertainment Center to join a sports facility design and consulting firm in Kansas City, Mo.
The cheerleaders' lawsuit said that Day and Corn placed the camera in the dressing room. The lawsuit identified Day as the former director of security for Powers Management and Corn as a former employee of the company's audio-visual department.
Neither Day nor Corn could be reached yesterday for comment.
Jim Higgins, an attorney representing Corn, said in November that Corn quit his job at the arena partly because ''he didn't appreciate the way he was brought in as being under suspicion in the videotape incident.'' Higgins said Corn denied any connection with the camera and denied that he ever saw the tapes of the cheerleaders.
No hearing date has been set for the lawsuit. Laura Cording, who was the cheerleaders' coach, declined to comment on the lawsuit yesterday and referred questions to the group's lawyers.
Powers Management hired Nashville lawyer Hal Hardin, who is a former federal prosecutor, to conduct a private investigation after an employee reported finding the camera in the dressing room. Hardin said he assembled a team of former FBI agents and a former military intelligence officer, who found the tapes.
Hardin said arena security officials reviewed the videotapes and destroyed them after he explained the results of his investigation to District Attorney Torry Johnson, who said he did not see any reason to file criminal charges against anyone
Fourteen former Nashville Kats cheerleaders, who were videotaped without their knowledge in a dressing room at Gaylord Entertainment Center last summer, filed a $13 million civil damages lawsuit yesterday against the arena's management company and two of its former employees.
The lawsuit states that employees with Powers Management routinely placed hidden video surveillance cameras throughout the arena as a security measure and that, on at least one occasion last summer, videotapes were made of the women in their dressing room, ''in various stages of undress and other private acts.'' The Arena Football League's Nashville Kats team moved to Atlanta last year.
Powers Management is owned by Craig Leipold, who also is the majority owner of the Nashville Predators hockey team, which plays in the city-owned arena.
Gerry Helper, the Predators' vice president for communications and development, declined to comment on the cheerleaders' lawsuit, which was filed late yesterday afternoon in Davidson County Circuit Court.
''We have not seen the lawsuit,'' Helper said. ''Not having seen it, it would not be appropriate to comment on it.''
In the lawsuit, the cheerleaders said that when Powers Management officials discovered the videotapes, they launched a ''secret investigation, resulting in the willful destruction'' of the videotapes before the cheerleaders ever knew they existed. They also alleged in the lawsuit that the management company destroyed the videotapes ''with the intent to interfere'' with any legal action the women might take.
The 14 cheerleaders, who range in age from 19 to 32, said they learned of the existence of the videotapes only through news reports last October. They said they have suffered ''severe and serious emotional and mental distress'' since then.
They are seeking $3 million in compensatory damages and $10 million in punitive damages from Powers Management and two of its former employees, John Day and James Corn, who left the company after the videotapes were discovered.
''Powers' decision to make decisions for these young ladies without consulting them upsets them as much as anything,'' said Bill Ramsey, one of the lawyers representing the women.
Ramsey said it is ''difficult to quantify'' just how much the women have suffered from the violation of their right to privacy. ''Usually, that's what a jury does.''
Helper said in November that installation of the surveillance camera ''was not something that Russ (Simons, then the manager of the arena) or anyone with that authority would have authorized.''
Helper said last fall that the company's investigation showed that the dressing-room camera was used only once, during a Kats game in August.
Simons resigned last month as general manager of Gaylord Entertainment Center to join a sports facility design and consulting firm in Kansas City, Mo.
The cheerleaders' lawsuit said that Day and Corn placed the camera in the dressing room. The lawsuit identified Day as the former director of security for Powers Management and Corn as a former employee of the company's audio-visual department.
Neither Day nor Corn could be reached yesterday for comment.
Jim Higgins, an attorney representing Corn, said in November that Corn quit his job at the arena partly because ''he didn't appreciate the way he was brought in as being under suspicion in the videotape incident.'' Higgins said Corn denied any connection with the camera and denied that he ever saw the tapes of the cheerleaders.
No hearing date has been set for the lawsuit. Laura Cording, who was the cheerleaders' coach, declined to comment on the lawsuit yesterday and referred questions to the group's lawyers.
Powers Management hired Nashville lawyer Hal Hardin, who is a former federal prosecutor, to conduct a private investigation after an employee reported finding the camera in the dressing room. Hardin said he assembled a team of former FBI agents and a former military intelligence officer, who found the tapes.
Hardin said arena security officials reviewed the videotapes and destroyed them after he explained the results of his investigation to District Attorney Torry Johnson, who said he did not see any reason to file criminal charges against anyone
