TORONTO (AP) -Steve Moore has rejected an approximately $350,000 offer to settle the player’s $15 million lawsuit against Todd Bertuzzi and the former owner of the Vancouver Canucks, according to recently filed documents.
Moore’s lawyer Tim Danson said the offer “was calculated to be an insult and was an insult.”
Lawyers for Bertuzzi and Orca Bay Sports and Entertainment made the offer to Danson during an NHL-brokered meeting in December 2006.
A letter sent by Danson to Bertuzzi’s lawyer Geoffrey Adair that details the meeting is among the documents in Ontario Superior Court.
Danson declined comment Tuesday other than to say “the letter speaks for itself,” while Adair didn’t immediately return a message seeking comment.
The lawsuit, currently in the discovery stage, stems from an ugly incident during a March 8, 2004, game in Vancouver when Bertuzzi, then of the Canucks, attacked Moore, who was playing for the Colorado Avalanche.
The trial isn’t likely to start for at least another 12-18 months.
Moore suffered three fractured vertebrae in his neck, a concussion and other injuries after Bertuzzi grabbed him from behind, punched him in the head and drove his head into the ice. Moore has not played since.
Bertuzzi signed a two-year, $8 million contract with Anaheim in the offseason.
A month earlier, during a Feb. 16 game in Denver, Moore checked Canucks forward Markus Naslund and that led to talk of retribution against him, culminating with the Bertuzzi hit a month later.
The lawsuit was filed in February 2006, just as Bertuzzi was preparing to suit up for Canada at the Turin Olympics, and four months after a similar case in Denver was thrown out when a U.S. judge determined the suit would be better handled in Canada.
Bertuzzi was also charged criminally with assault by Vancouver authorities. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to probation and community service.
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