Ep. 348: 'TNH' Bollea v. Laser Spine (Parts 4 & 5)

Today's date is July thirty first, the time is nine thirty three. This
is disc number five and we're back on the record, continued direct examination by
mister train. Let me well, I'm still on oath for those who have
forgotten you assume that, mister Balia. We're starting up on day two and
like I told you yesterday, I hope to finish up in the next couple
hours. I'm just going to mark as exhibit number nine. This is notice
of taking your videotape deposition, which is deuces tecum, which just means it
asks you to bring documents with you to the deposition. Have you seen this
document? Exhibit nine, mark for identification. You know what it is,
mister Schletsa. It's the notice. Yes, have you seen that, mister
Balaiah? And did you attempt to bring anything with you that would have responded
to that? And I'll tell you I'm not trying to play some game.
You may have already given anything responsive to your lawyers, so just let me
know if that's the case. Is this a subpoena that I got the house,
No, sir, from a process server. It would have been served
on your attorneys. I've seen so much paperwork. I don't recall if I've
seen this or not. Okay, is there something missing that I need to
bring dude? No, not necessarily. We've asked him Discovery for any documents,
and we talked about a lot of them yesterday. But documents that when
I say documents, I mean that in the broadest sense of the term letters,
emails, text messages, whatever, memoranda, whatever. It might be
reduced to writing which reflect the negotiations you had with TNA, the negotiations you
had with ww in two thousand and nine, those kinds of materials. So
the broad question is do you think you have any of those documents materials still
in your possession that you haven't already given to your attorneys? No, I
don't, okay. And if there was documents out there that we don't have
and that your attorneys don't have, might they be in the possession of some
of the lawyers or agents that participated in those negotiations, and we mentioned some
of their names yesterday. Yes, okay, it either be Henry Holmes or
Scott Hervey for sure, Okay, on my side, anything else. I
know that there were emails from vinciic Man that we gave to you, okay.
Other than that, I don't know what documentation he has. We got
drafts of the original two thousand and five ash twenty year deal which we had
worked out all the terms, which I didn't saw him because I didn't agree
on the graduated descending skill. You know, Vince and I had a disagreement.
I thought I should be an ascending instead of descending, and we were
basically using that same format that we'd already agreed on to move forward in two
thousand and nine WrestleMania as a springboard if hypothetically I would have had the first
laser spine fix and been able to go. That was a platform to move
us on to the you know, because just the one time one off of
whole Cogan doesn't mean anything. It's a twenty or twenty five year deal generating
hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue and licensing and merchandise. And then Vince
wanted so those documents. You know, I know you should have okay on
that subject. There was an email or communication between you and Vince where one
of you said, well, it's off, We're not going to be able
to do this deal. You know, everything I did with Vince was on
the phone, so it's hard to explain. But because I just learned how
to text and I don't know how to send an email, I can read
one when I get them in, and if I have someone's email address,
I can push like the first letter or of Jim or John or whatever,
and it usually pops up. So I don't have an email trail with Vince
from talking back then. Him and I didn't text each other off and back
then. You know, it was a verbal situation. But that Vince and
I, you know, have always done since I started working for his dad
in nineteen seventy eight, was we would agree, you know, and get
the language down with the attorneys, and then Vince and I would sit down,
and that was always been where we ended up budding heads. You know,
I think I'm worth more than he does in the long run, you
know, so I think I'm worth ten times sometimes what other people think I'm
worth, and that's where we owe. We would always have to go back
and forth to negotiate the money to come to some type of middle ground,
so that's how we usually did it. But in this case, I just
told him, look, my back is screwed. You know, I can't
wrestle Sena and that's pretty much the end of it. Why was that the
end of it, mister Ballet? I mean I looked back last night at
the ww schedule. There were certainly a lot more events in two thousand and
nine than just the April WrestleMania and the August SummerSlam. I mean, when
I'd entered into this contract in April, May, June, July, August,
and you know, run the contract out and appear on Monday Night Raw
and appear on the Thursday night show and appear you know, at Rumble and
the Beach or some of the other myriad pay per views. Were there any
discussions about that, Well, that's a great question. No, there weren't.
You know, this is a different animal. He's very aggressive business wise,
but it's a plan A, Plan B, Plan C, pland and
sometimes Plan E with Vinis. You know, it's just business. I mean,
on a personal level, who'll give you the shirt off his back.
But business is pretty cut and dry. I mean, you know, wrestaurants
can be interchangeable parts. And at the end of the day, if somebody
comes up lame, or you break your leg, or if pretty much a
done deal until you're healthy again. So I don't know why. In hindsight,
I don't know why we didn't pursue it. You know, for me
physically healthy wise, I was just panicking trying to get better. So I
don't know why the conversation didn't resume. All I know is when I said,
you know, my back is not I can't wrestle. That was the
last conversation I remember having with him, and I was more about my physical
health, you know, I had to put that as a priority. But
I don't know the answer to that question. Why we didn't pick up the
conversation a month later, or after laser spot fixed me, after the second
surgery, or the third, or the fourth, fifth, or the sixth,
you know, why we didn't pick that conversation up, or why we
didn't talk to the next day. I don't know why. Is it possible
that you didn't pursue that conversation with Vince because you were in active negotiations with
Dixie at that point. No, No, I wasn't negotiating with Dixie at
that point. You know, Tenie was always an afterthought. Tna in my
mind was Tenna was always an afterthought. I mean TNA in my mind was
always the end of the day. But if I needed to survive, you
know, that was always something that was always an afterthought. It was never
never something. TENNA was never something I would put in some priority. Brother,
I had always I had been approached for a long time by then,
it wasn't it was. It would be like you going to work for a
young lawyer as twenty years old, with all the experience you have. That's
not something you do. Well, if I thought that lawyer had a huge
side potential, I might consider it. Well, this lawyer I was looking
at didn't have a huge upside or very small. Your contract called for one
point five million dollars and guaranteed money in the TNA deal that you signed in
October, didn't it. I don't remember if it was one point five was
the number? No, Well, if that's the minimum amount you would agree,
that would be just five hundred thousand dollars less than the two million dollars
you told us yesterday that Vince guaranteed. You do you remember telling us that
yesterday? Yeah, I remember that. But you have to look at it,
not just from the black and white numbers. You have to look at
it added perception wise. You know, TENA is very small company, and
the Hulk Hogan brand and name. You know, TNA never would never be
as big as a Hulk Hogan brand name. So for them to land Hulk
Hogan and spend a million or one point five million or one point twenty five
million or whatever that number is, there's a huge upside for them there.
If they knew the wrestling business and they handled me properly, such as the
way Vince mcman handles you. Would you be surprised to know that Eric Bischoff
was commun indicating with TNA as early as June two thousand and nine about possibly
reaching some agreement concerning you. Would that surprise you? No, I wouldn't
be surprised at all. Okay, And are you saying you didn't know anything
about that. I'm not saying, Matt, I don't recall talking with Eric
Bischoff, but negotiating in June. You know, he's a friend of mine,
and I know they were trying to land several shows on Spike TV,
which they had done a bunch of stuff on Spike. You know him and
Jason. So I don't know what the crux of the conversation was or if
my name was brought up in wrestling. But you know, Eric Bischoff is
a friend of mine and we have some business together and have been partners in
different productions. So I'm always telling me, know, hey, but there's
a deal out there and there's mighty be made, let me know about it.
Okay, Now, I always keep that door open. But I mean
as far as say, you know, after your second surgery and LSI,
was there any reason you didn't call Vince back and say, you know,
Vince, I'm feeling better. I've got this offer from TNA. I'm putting
together this trip to Australia. I'm going to wressell Flair, But I wanted
to talk to you about signing that contract. Did you ever make that called
events or make a communication to Vince? No, I didn't. I felt
that that I felt that I had what we call heat. You know that
Vince was pissed. You know that I didn't wrestle because there was a lot
on the line there with Sena and I just you know, I had such
a back and forth relationship with Vince over the years that this was kind of
like another stutter step. Would you call that relationship volatile at times? Oh
yeah, very did you Was there a group that you signed with very briefly,
and I think it was two thousand and seven or two thousand and eight,
was an x FW or something like that. No, I never signed
anything. I just wanted to help him get started. Okay, But you
just for the record, did you did not go back to Vince at any
time after that last conversation where you told him, Hey, I can't wrestle
Sena. You think that was the last communication you had with Vince the best
of my knowledge, I think that was last time. Okay. You know,
him and I talked and he wasn't very happy. Okay. And do
you know approximately when that was it was? Was it after surgery? I
think it was after surgery one. I don't know, you know, maybe
it could be surgery too. I don't recall. You know, there were
so many that that my back, yeah went out and I was with him
on the phone and I gave the heads up. I don't know if there
was another call where I just said, my back is screwed and I can't
do it because I was supposed to make TV. Make the TV the next
week. You have to go make to the TV the Monday night TVs to
build up this Sunday night pay per view. So there were you know,
three or four weeks or five or six weeks or whatever, the time frame
where I had to start making the TV's and actively run in and get beat
up and be people up and be active. And I couldn't do that with
my back. And when you're talking about wrestling SNA, you're talking about the
WrestleMania in April. Yeah, okay, And again I think I asked you
this yesterday. Had you had the fusion recommended by your rebay, there's no
doubt in your mind you were not going to wrestle scene at WrestleMania in April.
There's no way I could have wrestled him. But I could have known
exactly what was going on with myself and told Vince, and we could have
made plans to move forward knowing exactly what was wrong with me and what you
know, we had a parameter of four to six months, and whether it
was SummerSlam or Royal Rumble or King of the Ring or WrestleMania the next year,
we could have laun the brand. You made plans and calculated a very
strategic move to generate a ton of revenue. I mean you could have done
that anytime after WrestleMania. Yeah, okay, all right. So I think
we'd left off yesterday talking about some of the other agreements, and I've got
something I'm going to market as Exhibit ten, which is it's a trademark license
agreement between Just for the Record T and A Entertainment LLC and Eric Bischoff Group,
which they call EBG Exhibit ten, mark for identification. Do you have
a copy? I don't. I'm sorry, I'll make a copy. You
guys missed the most awesome sunset. Dude, I saw it. Brother.
It's it's nine forty seven. We're off the record, recess. The time
is time fifty two. We're back on the record. Continued direct examination by
mister Train mister Balaya. I'm just kind of going through some of my checklist
here. We talked yesterday about that agreement you had to go wrestle in Australia.
Do you remember you told me yesterday you were not paid everything you were
out under that agreement? Yes? Do you know how much was left to
be paid to you after that you'd ever received the best of my knowledge,
it was between three hundred thousand and three hundred fifty thousand. Oh there.
Now, I don't know that I would have any kind of real specific questions
about this license agreement, but you can read it. I'm just wondering what
is or what was in O nine the relationship you had with Eric Bischoff,
the Eric Bischoff Group LLC. Well we have, you know, we haven't.
I don't even know how to explain it. You know, it's not
an online gambling but it's a mobile gambling deal with endem All, which is
overseas in the UK, and Eric Bischoff set it up through I guess it's
h H Holdings or wherever the LLC is, And the best of my knowledge,
I think that's what we're talking about here with this paper. Okay,
end them All E N D E M O L Games Limited. Is that
yeah? Okay? Is that is that Almos paper that's on another's actually mentioned
in your current WW agreement. Okay, But you're just for the record,
you keep referring to this as an agreement. There's no signature on the last
page. Okay, I think you need to refer to it as something else.
Well, let me ask you this, mister, Blea. Did you
know whether Eric Bischof signed this Exhibit ten along with Dixie Carter? Have you
ever seen a signed copy of this document? I don't recall seeing a signed
copy. Okay, yeah, if this just to do with endem all this
was part of the override or the carve out with TNA or WW or anything
I've done, because it's still still active. Okay, did you've got the
original exhibit correct? Ten? It's got a sticker on it. Yeah,
this is ten with a sticker? Is this the original sign? It's not
signed, it's the original exhibit. They all look the same, they're all
unsigned. Did the Eric Bischof did? Did the Eric Bischoff group own any
kind of your intellectual property rights rights to any of the whole Cogan brand to
your knowledge at this time at oh nine? No? Okay, I mean
the only way they would be able to use my brand or lias if I
licensed to them, per agree. And was it TGB Entertainment that was one
of my LLCs, dude? And and do you know what the primary function
of TGB Entertainment is? Well, all my checks go in there, like
like from WW ETNA from well, all my checks go in there like from
w w ETNA, from rental center and loan mark you know whatever, it's
part of a cash flow. Okay. And did Bischof? I mean,
well strike that. How are you still friends with Eric? Yes? And
does he live out west somewhere early? Yes? And how often do you
see him? Say, in the last couple of years. Well, he
still works with TNA. Okay, so I don't see him very often.
His son, you know, his son lives here in clear Water. So
when he comes to visit his son, not as frequent as I used to
see him, Probably three or four times a year at best. Do you
have any end going business ventures with Eric or the Eric Bischoff group other than
the end of mel gaming that you're aware of. We're in the middle of
a script development for a movie, all right, Well, there's nothing been
signed, you know? Yes, there has something. Yes, there has
been something signed. I signed something with the writers to Eric scept the deal
up. He put me in touch with them on the phone. I signed
a developmental deal with a couple of Ron Howard's writers from Imagine Films to develop
a biopic on my life. Okay. Would this be for the big screen
or small screen? I would hope for the big screen, but you know,
who knows where would end up. Would you say that it's in the
development stages right now? Yeah, I've seen, I've seen a first draft.
Okay, anything else that you've got going with Eric or the BG group
that you're aware of, No, No, nothing, But it wouldn't be
unusual would it for Eric in two thousand and nine to start negotiations with TNA
or any entity that might be interested in the hull Cooken Brandon you they would
sometimes approach Eric with, you know, potential opportunities. Would you agree with
that? Repeat the question yet? Yeah? Would it be unusual in two
thousand and nine for Enna, for example, to come to Eric and say,
hey, we'd like to bring Hulk on board. Is that something we
can get going? I mean, that wouldn't be unusual, would it?
Well, you know, any think TV related or entertainment such as NBC in
American Gladiators, like any of the true TV stuff with the wrestling midget shows
or the reality shows or the Robin Bonaducci. You know, Eric is pretty
much out there, you know, like I said, looking for things for
me, you know, entertainment wise. Okay, Yeah, so there is
no there are no guidelines as far as reality or real or film or TV
or internet or YouTube or wrestling. You know, he knows. I like,
like I said, if there's money to be made and the deal makes
sense, you know, go ahead and let's entertain the idea. Do you
know when it was if your agreement with TENA was October twelfth, two thousand
and nine, like we discussed yesterday, do you know when it was that
you first heard from Eric or someone else say, hey, you know,
this opportunity has been presented to you. This offer is being presented to you,
an offer of a million dollars you know, appearance minimum per year plus
a five hundred thousand dollars. If I heard money in negotiations, it would
probably been through a lawyer, because Eric doesn't negotiate money from me. Okay,
how long were you under contract with TNA? Approximately approximately four years?
And what happened to terminate that relationship? They you know, they asked me
to wrestle at a bound for Glory, to have a match with Sting and
didn't want to pay me for it. And you know I was basically ready
to wrestle, but you know, they didn't want to pay me for the
match, and you know, this would have been a high end, you
know, pushing hard match. And I said, you know, if I'm
going to go out there and you know, really humped this thing. I
mean, it's not just like I'm like throwing a few punches. Basically.
You know, my contract doesn't say I'm supposed to wrestle. This is outside
the parameter of my contracts. I said, I wasn't going to wrestle on
this. You paid me. So a few months later, I felt a
shift in the energy of the attitude of TNA and Dixie Carter hired a new
guy, like a new production guy who was like her main guy. No,
his name was Big and I don't know his real name. We just
call him Big. There's some red haired guy, you know. When he
came down from the WWE, and him and Dixie sat in a room with
me, and there was a one year rollover option on my contract and I'd
been there four years and I realized the company was not going to ramp up
like they said they were. And they came to me and they made me
two offers. The first offer was for the same amount of money, but
not for a year. For a year and a half or for the one
year rollover with less money, and I said no to both offers, and
then they had ten more days. I guess to either roll my deal over
with the same money or I was gone. So before the ten days,
they came back and they offered me the exact same money, but they wanted
two years instead of one. I said, well, things of the way,
you know, the words disappearing in air, I said, put her
on paper, let me see it. And I just didn't think they would
get it done by that Friday, so I called my attorney and said,
hang on, there's an attorney client privilege. Okay, don't say any conversations
with your attorney. Okay, I got it. I suggest until you talk
with him, you don't waive it. So anyway, the option was a
rollover for one year with the same money that was locked. But they went
outside a contract and they wanted two years for the same money I was making,
and basically that was not in the contract. That was a breach.
So they didn't come through by Friday. I didn't have to make a decision,
and my contract ran out, okay, And that's how I got out
of there, and I wanted to go because I've been there four years and
we were doing the same thing. So it wasn't an actual termination. They
didn't terminate you for some reason. The contract basically just expired on its own
terms. Is that kind of how you saw it? Yeah? You know
they offered me a longer deal, which was a different contract, and then
what we agreed on, and I said, no, I don't want to
be here longer. And when was this bound for Glory Match? Again sting
supposed to have taken place? It was earlier in my final year. Whatever
that is. This is it's the same every year. You could find it,
okay, whenever it was. It was months months, months before my
contract when I said I wouldn't wrestle unless you pay me. I felt a
ship's an attitude towards me. So if you signed the contract at No.
Nine and this happened four years into the deal, maybe sometime around twenty thirteen,
would it be last year? I would be it was last year?
Yeah? Would it have been last year? Last calendar year, twenty thirteen.
I signed the deal in January first with the WWE this year, right,
so it would it probably been six months before it when it ended six
or seven months before. Do you know if Bischoff's group was paid any money
during those four years that you were at TNA by TNA? Oh, yes
they were. Okay, mister bala I'm going to hand you what I've marked
his Exhibit eleven, and I don't have any copies. The only questions I
have. It's a deal list that was attached to the agreement. I just
want you to look at that exhibit eleve it marked for identification. Let me
make copies I have it, and tell us if those were the deals that
you had ongoing during this time. If there's more, you can just tell
us on the record. This is a document that you prepared, No,
you served at a discovery on us, So what is this time period for?
It was attached with some of your discovery responses too. I think is
it the TNA contract. It might have been attached to one of the TENA
agreements. But essentially what I'm wanting to know, mister BALAA is worthies.
As best you can recall, were these the deals that you had ongoing during
the two thousand and nine, two ten, two thousand and eleven time frame?
These are the deal with Eric? Right? Well, I don't know
if they were all with Eric. I mean that first one that you mentioned,
it was mentioned the deal with w W. I don't know, did
you that involved Eric as well? Ber? Do you know who prepared so
where it came from? Do you know who prepared this? So where this
came from? It was produced by you all in discovery? Okay. You
see in the bottom left you can see the document identification two thousand and nine.
There's not a date on there. What where are you getting the two
thousand and nine? Well he said it was from two thousand and nine,
but there's no where is that coming from? Okay? Okay? Well do
you were you part of these deals that are reflected on the deal list at
any time in the last twenty years? Yes? Okay. And having looked
through this, these arrangements that are reflected on the deal list, do you
know if they were still in place at the time you were being seen at
LSI. I'm not sure which ones are still active and which ones were dead
in two thousand and nine. Okay, I don't have any way of knowing.
Are there any of these deals that are still ongoing? Yes? Right
now? Nods head? Which ones can you identify for the record that are
still in place, and you're still generating some revenue or income from well WWE
is still alive? Okay? Are the ongoing royalties? USA Sports is day?
The Saving American Services is dead, the Worldwide Wellness Partners is dead,
the Saint Martin's Press is dead, the Game is so active, and the
Fresh Horses the A and E television specials done, and the Fresh Horses Micro
Championship Wrestling is dead. Okay? The any TV special? Was that the
Finding Hull Coogan Special? Yes, that's a documentary. Yes, just for
your council's edification. That deal list was attached to an email and produced by
your attorneys from mister Hervey to Guy Blake, dated March twenty six, twenty
ten. The email states, Guy, here's a list of all active deals.
Let me know if you would like us to produce the underlying documents.
As your client signed an NDA yet, I would appreciate a copy. So,
at least from this email that was produced by your lawyers, it looks
like mister Hervey was representing that all those deals were active as of March twenty
ten. Do you have any reason to disagree with that? Yeah? Okay?
Which fields do you think we're not active as of March twenty six,
two ten. Well, I don't know. I said the reason I disagree
with it because Scott Hervey said it. He was a fifty fifty guy and
he was the only He was only right half the time. That's why he's
not with me. Brother. How long I don't know if I asked you
this yesterday? How long was he representing you? Approximately? Honest by two
to three years? Okay? All right? And did you learn of Scott
through Jason or did you know Jason through Scott. I'll learn of Scott through
Jason and Eric. All Right, I'm going to ask you this question with
the intention of cutting through some questions, so I'm trying to streamline this in
this lawsuit. Are you making any contention that you were unable to perform services
pursue into any agreements you had from micro Champion Wrestling, rent a Center,
Majesco Entertainment Company, THHQ incorporated any of these entities I mentioned? Were you
unable to perform services because of the injuries you claimed you suffered at LSI I
was compromised, and specifically, how were you compromised in a way that you
couldn't perform services under any of those agreements with renta Center. I was filming
these lighthearted fun commercials with Troy Aigman, and there were certain things that they
asked me to do, such as one time they had a shovel they wanted
me. They wanted me to bend over, acted like I was shoveling something
for a commercial, and I couldn't do it quick for them because my back.
And there were certain times, for example, trying to be sitting on
a couch as a camera would pan, I would have to get up and
talk about a good deal on a washing machine next to me, and then
move quickly over to the TV and say that for nine one to nine you
can get the TV or whatever. I just couldn't get up off the couch
without it looking like I was hurting really bad. So they had to readjust
a creative to work around my limitation. So I was compromised. Did renassentor
ever say to you, we're going to pay you less money under the contract
because you can't pick up the shovel or you can't cut off the couch.
No, do you know approximately when that was strike that it looks like there's
a contract that was supposed to run with renaissentor for March verse twenty ten to
February twenty eight, twenty eleven. Is that the approximate time if you're a
deal with rent to center as best as you can recall, No, because
they renewed it, so I don't know how much longer it was if that
was the original whatever those dates were, Okay, you know that they had
they had renewed it for another run or another term or whatever it was.
If we think about the timeline, and let me ask you, did you
review that timeline again last night that your lawyers had prepared for you? No?
Did you review anything last night, any documents ready for today? No?
If we think about the timeline that was in place in twenty ten,
and you had I think the first surgery with doctor Z in May, and
then you had the fusion in December twenty ten, where did this renaissenter?
Where do these renaissentar commercials fall? Do you know? Is it before the
Bresque first surgery? Was it between the Bresque surgery and the fusion? Was
it after the fusion? Do you have any recollection? No? I don't
recall, but at least under that contract. You were paid everything you were
due. It's best that you can recall with renaissenter. Yes. Have you
reviewed the complaint that was filed in this case, the actual lawsuit? Yes,
I have. You are aware that you're making a claim that you've suffered
provable loss of income and loss of earning opportunities well in excess of fifty million
dollars. Were you aware of that? Yes? Have we discussed here today
all of the documents which you can tend support a claim for provable loss of
income and income earning opportunities totaling well in excess of fifty million dollars. In
other words, are there any documents out there that you claim support that five
fifty million plus loss. Not to my knowledge, and just so I'm clear,
it's it's your belief that because of the procedures and las I solely you
were unable to enjoy an income opportunity that would have paid you well in excess
of fifty million dollars, exactly, And so that I understand everything about that
claim before I head back home. That's related strike that that is because that
fifty million dollar claim is because you were told by doctor Saint Louis he was
going to fix your back, which would have enabled you to wrestle in WrestleMania,
and then WrestleMania would have been a launch for this contract with Vince McMahon
for twenty years. Yes, have we discussed here today all of the income
opportunities that you claim you could not realize because of the treatment at LSI?
Well, every nowhere knowing no, there will be no way of knowing all
the opportunities. Well, okay, well, I'm not sure how to respond
to that other than I don't think a judge is going to let us talk
about things that we don't know about. So let's talk about what we do
know about. Do you know of any other income opportunities other than this WWE
contract that you missed out on because of being treated at LSI. Now,
we talked about the movies in the w stuff, you know, so,
like you said, there's no way of knowing about if I'd done one.
Adam Sandler movie usually keeps the same group in all of his movies. If
you watch you know his stuff, so you know, I don't know where
it could have went. There's no idea. I mentioned yesterday the Zohan movie.
Did you think about it? Last night about the second movie. No,
I was watched out for dealing with you all day. I don't believe
that for one second. By the way, just so he's not agreeing that
the only part of the complaint is the medical negligence part. There's also a
misappropriation part of the complaint, right, I just don't want there to be
any limiting thing by his testimony on that. So but yes, well I
don't think I mean, I mean, I assume you're going to ask him
about that anyway, Well, somebody will. But you yelled at me about
the complaint, so I actually read it last night. But I don't think
he's complaining about missed income opportunity from the unauthorized publication. But I hear what
you're saying. I hear you're not waiving anything. We'll get to that,
all right. So now we get to twenty fourteen. See, we're working
up to the present day. We're getting to the end. Here. You
have signed a new agreement with Vincent the WW Is that right? Yes,
So I'm going to markets exhibit twelve what's titled Loan out Agreement Exhibit twelve mark
for identification data December thirty one, effective December thirty one, twenty thirteen.
It appears to be signed by you and Paul Levesque l E. V E.
S Que Levesquo. Yeah, brother, so take a look at that.
I've got a copy for your lawyers. Yes, sir, you would
agree that this is the contract signed by you with the WWFECT December thirty first
of that last year of last year. Yes, sir, okay, I've
just got a couple of quick questions about this. When did the negotiations start
about this contract? I guess the first you know, whenever the TENA agreement
ended. I think it was on like a Friday. The Internet, they
have these things called the wrestling dirt sheets. For sure. On the internet
was just wrestling fans, right. They don't know anything about wrestling, but
they write like they do. One of me. One of the Internet sides,
it was posted that I was no longer with TNA on a Friday.
So on a Saturday morning, I was in New York and I got a
text message from Paul Lavec and he asked me if it was true, and
I said yes, And so it was during that next week we started talking
about me coming back. So we was the week after the TNA thing ended.
Did you were you the person who actively negotiate you did this deal on
your behalf or did you have someone else do it or a combination. I
talked with Well, you know, I didn't negotiate the contract, and then
you know, the contract was drawn up by Henry Holmes. The money was
talked about between me and Paul, and Vince was overseeing the conversations. You've
said that when you and Vince were talking in O nine that you would have
had basically sort of i'll say, face to face, but telephone conversations about
the two thousand and nine deal, right, is that what happened in twenty
thirteen? Did you have any phone conversations with Vince about this contract? I
think I had one, Okay, No, I know I had one.
Yes, Obviously I've never met mister McMahon. I take it he's a fairly
tenacious business man, very aggressive, Okay, aggressive? And you said that
in the past you have but at heads with mister McMahon. Yes, sometimes
he came out on top. Sometimes you came out on top of the negotiations.
What I don't know if I've ever come out on top. How did
the negotiations go pertaining to this agreement, Were they well fairly intense at times?
Or did the two groups meaning you and the w to become too an
agreement fairly quickly and painlessly? About this twenty thirteen agreement, Oh, it
was pretty quick. Okay. Now, they made me an offer, and
I countered it, and they went with what I countered. Just from my
real quick review of this, mister Balat, it looks like this contract is
in place for three years, yes, okay, And it looks like it
pays you a base rate of a half million dollars per year. Is that
you're understanding? Well, you know there's an advance against third party royalty.
So I mean the checks come in as if I was making a million bucks
a year, Okay, you know, but the first half a million bucks
from like the third party deal, whether it be a Toyota commercial or something,
I would have to recoup that half million bucks before I generated any revenue
for myself. All right, do you know how much you will? I
mean, we're now what in July end of July twenty fourteen, do you
have any idea how much you're going to end up realizing from this contract?
For twenty fourteen any estimate without wrestling. No, okay, And there's a
provision in here which says on page three, unless otherwise agreed to by the
parties, Ballet should not be required to perform in an actual wrestling match for
WWE is part of the twenty thirteen agreement, although he may be requested and
directed to participate in certain in ring activities WW events as part of WWE storylines.
Yes, and why was that clause put in paragraph two on exhibit A
that you would not be required to perform in an actual wrestling match. Well,
the thing I can say is from now, from you know, talking
events, they want to go with the younger wrestlers. Now, they have
changed their mindset in the last couple of years to PG wrestling, and they
just have wanted younger guys. So that's the only reason I could possibly think
they wouldn't want me to wrestle. So that's not something you asked for.
No, not at all. Okay. I actually want to wrestle because that
changes the amount of revenue I generate. Okay. And if you're in that
wrest in that ring wrestling, you sell more T shirts, you sell more
tennis shoes, Frisbees, potty seats, bedsheets. There's a big difference between
you between when you wrestle and when you don't wrestle as far as the type
of revenue you generate. When did the best of your knowledge, did the
ww change the mindset to go to the PG and I think you said yesterday
they didn't use chairs and things like that, ladders to go to a younger
wrestling crowd. Do you know when that change was over there? Well,
they had a guy named Jerry Lawler who's a commentator wrestling. He's on my
same age, maybe a couple of years older. And then he had him
wrestling in the ring. You know, pretty much they had a storyline goal
where he was pretty much in the ring every week for probably three months.
And it wasn't when he was in the ring that were These are just these
are just my opinions. You know, I don't know exactly what he's thinking,
but I don't know exactly what Vince is thinking. But all of a
sudden, Jerry Lawlers sitting at the at the table in Montreal and he's a
commentator with two other guys and he had a heart attack. And in my
opinion, since that happened and kind of said a president from staying away from
the older wrestlers. It has nothing to do with my health or the shape
I'm in or the way I look in the ring. But I just think
that they want to go with the younger wrestlers. It's just my opinion,
and that's why I think that Claus was put in there. Okay, the
clause seems to leave the door open that you're not required to perform, but
you might be asked to perform. Have you been asked to perform in a
wrestling match thus far by the WBE what's sub verbiage exactly? I'm sorry,
I'm missing somewhere. It's the very bottom of that paragraph too. It says
services paragraphs too. I'm sorry. It's on page three of seventeen. Okay,
paragraph two at the bottom. It says, unless otherwise agreed to by
the parties, BLEA shall not be required to perform in an actual wrestling match.
It does seem to leave the door open that the w W and you
could agree you would perform in a match. And I'm just wondering if that
discussion has been had yet. Yeah, it has. I volunteered in Japan,
you know, we were there two nights, and I wasn't there the
first night. I usually and usually the first night when you're in the same
building, usually the first line is the big night, and either the second
night is the big night or it kind of drops off. Well, you
know, they were there the first night and out of the ten thousand seats,
they only sold five thousand. So second night they were in the same
building. I was on the card and the building sold out, and the
crowd was full of Hogan shirts. And I had John Laurenidas, who was
who was the agent, call back to the States and said, let me
wrestle. You know, this crowd came to see me. Let me wrestle,
let me get involved, let me you know, put me in a
match. And the answer was we got back, was go out and enjoy
your promo, which means to go out and enjoy talking. Did you come
back and have any other conversations about why No, I haven't talked to anybody
since I got back, and that was at least two weeks ago. Right.
Have you ever been told since you entertained entered pardon me into this contract
with WWE by WW representative that they're concerned about your health condition, which is
why they don't want you in the ring. Has that ever been stated to
you, Oh, not directly, know, how about indirectly has it been
stated to you? Well, you know, Paul Beck has asked me how
I'm feeling, you know, how's my back? And I said, my
back is fine. The only thing that's bothered me is my toes y'arthritis.
You know. Everybody else is good. Every once in a while my elbows
act up, but my back is fine. Did you consider, say,
in two thousand and six, two thousand and seven, two thousand and eight,
that your wrestling career, meaning the active engagement in the physical aspect of
wrestling, was over. Did you ever believe that in those say, three
year period before you came to LSI, I knew I couldn't go and wrestle
four hundred and four hundred and twenty five times a year anymore, you know,
I haven't. I've been flying three hundred days a year and wrestling twice
on Saturday, twice on Sunday. I knew I couldn't do that, and
I knew I could keep and I knew I could keep wrestling if I picked
mine, chose my spots, you know, but I wasn't feeling as healthy
as I had earlier, and a lot of it had to do with my
back and the fact that it was getting progressively worser as I was getting older,
and I know something. I knew something needed to be done. I
just didn't know what was wrong with it. I just all the temporary fixes
with the fastened injections and the radio were frequency and the whole time the doctors
in LA were getting me up on my feet and I felt great once they'd
inject me. For a year or six months whatever it was, they all
they had all take an X rays, but no one had ever told me,
Hey, you know you got scoliosis. You know, I don't even
understand what that was. I just thought that something kids had, you know.
So I just really wasn't aware that my back was shuffling and moving around.
I just thought, you know, there were things being pinched. Do
you know whether you told anybody, either in the media or with any of
the fans sites you've been involved with, any of your Twitter communications or anything
like that, whether you said made the statement I'm done with wrestling. I
can't do it anymore and my body is giving out. I can't wrestle anymore.
Before you came to LSIE. Do you know whether you would have made
such a comment. Well, I mean, you know, I would never
have told the fans my body's worn out. I can't do it anymore.
I know several times I quit wrestling, and when Ted Turner wanted me to
run for the presidency of the United States, I actually quit wrestling, you
know, when I'm Jay Leno and made an announcement, went through about six
months of focus groups where I actually told the fans I quit wrestling. But
I've never did the best of my recollection, made a public announcement to the
fans my body's worn out and I'm too beat up to wrestle. I don't
ever remember making an announcement like that. Looking back, do you think you
could have wrestled at Summer Slam in August of two thousand and nine. Well,
with what I know, I know now after having the fusion and knowing
the timeframe and how I've filled it the four month of mark and you have
the six month mark, I would have toured down. Well, what I'm
really asking is to assume that you didn't have the fusion. I mean,
you didn't have the fusion in two thousand and nine. I'm asking as you
sit here today, had Vince called you in August first and said, hey,
can you wrestle in SummerSlam. Let's get this contract done. Would you
have done it if I had not had the fusion, Yes, sir.
I was still being in bed from what Elis I did to me. I
wouldn't be able to walk right now. Tell me and the jury what happened
between August first then in November when you flew to Australia and wrestled. What
happened? I had to get better all of a sudden since August first,
Well, I had booked a tour, and to the best of my recollection,
I had only had two LSI procedures. I had bookes a tour because
I felt good and said that, and they said I could go. And
a couple of weeks before the tour, my back went out on me again.
I was in chronic pain. I had another procedure with LSI, and
I I explained to them that the tour is as a couple of weeks away
or three weeks away or whatever I had said to them, and I said
I can't I can be okay to go do the whole Hogan style match if
I don't do anything crazy. And they said, well, yeah, you'll
be fine. So you know your back should be fine. Just go over
there and you don't do anything crazy. And so I kind of told him
that. I kind of like told him the standard protocol. Flair I've I've
wrestled forever. You know, he's lighter with his touch than my grandmother.
You know, he couldn't hurt a flee anyway, and I'm safe with him,
and I you know, I wouldn't wrestle anybody but Flair, and everything
would be calculated. And Elis I told me I'd be fine. That's how
I ended up in Australia. Who would you have? What strike that?
And your testimony is you could not have done that at SummerSlam. No.
After the L six L size surgeries, I was screwed well by the time
you by the time Summer Slam two thousand nine came around, you only had
two l SI surgeries. You know, I don't know how many I had
by then, but my back was screwed. So I couldn't go out and
perform on that level that I needed to perform at to have a main event
match of Summer Slam and not knowing who I was going to wrestle. And
you never called Vince and asked him about that. What could we get?
What could we do to get me in the ring? Who could I wrestle?
What's expected of me? You never called Vince and asked him? Did
you why the fun I could perform on that level? So no, I
didn't call. And just so I'm clear before I head home, when you
talked to doctor Eibay and Valey in February, you did not know for sure
whether you would be available in four months or six months. You knew that
was an option, right, yeah, And you knew another option was you
might be the same, right yes, And you knew another option is you
might be worse. Yes, Okay, mister Balaia. We've talked a little
bit about some of the financial pressures that existed in your life in oh nine
and twenty ten. Did you make money or lose money on the sale of
the Willowdale house, if you know, I lost money. Did you make
money or lose money when you sold the Miami Beach property. I think we
made about a half a million dollars on it. And what did that sell
do you remember, Oh God, I don't know. You know, it
would be it would have been at the end of the last season of Hogan's
Best you know. I just don't know. And we were there for a
year, you know, botha home. My wife left me and I had
to sell the home. I don't know the time frame. I'm at six.
Maybe one of the things I've kind of maybe it's my confusion, So
I apologize. When you met with doctor's Uribey and Valet to plan this fusion
surgery in February two thousand and nine, was that on the same day that
you actually saw the folks at LSI for the first time, Yes, okay,
And your testimony is that Jennifer was with you that day and Todd Farmer
was not with you. You know, Jennifer and Todd were with me both.
Do you recall coming back to LSI at any time between that first visit
and then the surgical procedure that was done on Saturday. Well, I don't
recall actually going back again, okay. You know. They they may have
had to check me for vitals, you know, or talk to the annis's
geologists or whatever, but I don't recall making another trip if I did.
I think you said this yesterday, but I just want to confirm doctor Ribe
or Valet or both of them. They told you to try to every conservative
option you could before the fusion. Is that right? They asked me if
I had tried every option, and I said yes, everyone I know about.
And they said, you know, you should try every option to get
healthy before the fusion. Where is Todd Farmer today? Do you know Todd
Farmer today? I mean not right now specifically, but does he live in
the area? Oh? Oh, yeah, he does. Is he still
a friend of yours or business associate or acquaintance? Last time I saw him,
I was. I ran into him in the food Patch. It's an
organic restaurant we go to. I ran into him in the food patch about
six months ago. I haven't seen I haven't seen him before then for about
three years. He told me he was living in the area, probably about
four miles from where from from here? You know some lady he met,
so he was close by. What was your relationship with Todd back in two
thousand and nine? How did you know him? Well? You know,
his kids went to school with my kids. You know, they grew up
together. They went to the same Catholic school. You know he was he
played college football, and I guess he says he played a year in pro
ball, but I don't know. He was just a real big guy that
I ended up meeting at the school and the kids hung out and we ended
up you know, working out together for a couple of years, and then
we went in different directions. Were you ever in any kind of business ventures
with Todd? You know, we tried to get some stuff going. I
mean, god, there were probably fifteen or twenty different things Todd tried to
get going with me, from infomercials to soap products that you know, you
know, fushigi balls. I mean, you know, there were so many
things because taught as someone that's like an inventor or entrepreneur, so he had
tons of stuff that he was always coming at me with every time I saw
me at another another idea, yeah, plan. Yeah. Did you feel
looking back or did you feel at the time or maybe looking back that maybe
he was trying to use your celebrity status to advance his ideas well as long
as I as it made both of us money. You know, I was
fine with that. Did you back at the time when he was presenting these
ideas to you. Did you feel like it was you know, too much?
Did you feel like he was trying to take advantage of things? No?
No, yeah, I was on the team. I said, man,
if you could find a deal or we can make money, you know,
if we make sense, I'm in. You know, I don't care
where the idea comes from. If it's smart and we can generate some revenue
and help some people make some money, let's do it. Do you know
whether he had any kind of existing ongoing relationship with the LSI docs at the
time you were talking about a fusion with Uribay and Valet and then you came
to LSI in February. Do you know if Todd knew any of the doctors
there. No, I don't think he knew any of the doctor Okay.
Do you recall having any conversations with Todd where he talked to you about,
you know, maybe this is a better alternative than a fusion. Did you
have any conversations with him about that? Oh? Yeah, okay. And
what did he say about that? If you can remember, well, he
says worth a shot. You know, if they if they say they can
fix you and you don't need a fusion, you gotta go for it.
Do you know whether he ever had a spinal fusion? I'm not sure,
but he's got a scar on his back. I don't know if if his
fusion or not. He may have one or two scars on his back.
I've seen Before you came to LSI, I think you and I have talked
about that you at least had seen doctor Saint Louis, maybe at Key West.
Do you remember that conversation yesterday? Yeah, we talked about seeing him
in the Key West. I mean I don't recall seeing him there. I
may have, okay, I mean there's so many of Chapman's friends that run
around there. Saint Louis lived next door to me for years, and I
never saw him. Did you know any of the other doctors that treated you
well you were at LSI. Did you know them sort of on a personal
level or acquaintance level, either doctor Scott, who is the African American doctor,
Doctor Z or doctor Gruber. I never knew any of them before I
went there. When you presented copies over the last day six years from two
thousand and eight to the present day, when you're given an agreement and I
suspect. You've been asked to sign a lot of agreements, trademark agreements,
license agreements, independent contract or agreements, contracts for all your myriad of businesses
and ventures. Do you read these documents carefully before you put your name on
them or your signature on them. What do you mean by these documents?
It's vague. No, it's not any kind of business agreement. When I
just described for you an independent contractor agreement, a license agreement, a trademark
agreement, a contract for services, any business agreement, whether it be with
a movie company, a book company, a reality show, a wrestling organization,
rendo as center, any business contract that you're presented with, do you
read it before you sign it. I can't given anything that I haven't gone
through. You know, some things with more intensity than others. There's a
certain amount of trust with my attorney, Henry Holmes. He just renewed a
loanmark agreement, and basically he said it was the exact same agreement, but
the numbers of change. So, to tell you the truth, I didn't
read that one. So that's the only one I can think of. Other
than that. I like the contract Act. That pretty much. I pretty
much know these wrestling contracts. If so, I'll read them, and you
know, sometimes I'll microscope it like I'm filming a movie. I'll read a
paragraph over and over. Yeah, but I cannot think of anything that I
have that I have not gone through and read. It's important to read a
document, isn't it that you're going to sign? You would agree with that,
Yeah, it's more important to retain and understand why you're reading. Sometimes
I'm good and bad at that. Do you deny that, during the time
you were at LSI that the doctors told you repeatedly that you may still need
a fusion despite their best efforts. Well, yeah, I deny that,
okay, And I can't think of one doctor that told me repeatedly, repeatedly
that I need fusion. Did you ever hear from any physician at LSI that,
despite their best efforts to reduce your pain to a tolerable level, you
may still need a fusion. I mean the closest thing I heard of that,
you know, and he wasn't a doctor. It was the pain management
guy, Gruber, And he told me because I was I was asking,
I can't they You'll get more aggressive and do more of this and more of
that. I remember Grouper said, if they keep cutting away too much bone,
you may have to you may have to have a more aggressive type of
surgery, which, in my mind, the only type, the only more
type aggressive surgery I could think of, was the Arriba surgery. You know,
he never said that. He never out and out said that you need
a fusion. And you're on camera and one of the reality shows of the
documentary. Do you ever tell doctor Grouper everything is perfect with my back?
All? Yeah, I mean there's a high probability. I would have said
that if it felt perfect at the time we got together for doctor Grouper's deposition
last week. I think you told me you haven't looked at the video of
his testimony or read his testimony. Have you reviewed any of the footage from
the Finding Hulk Cogan documentaries it relates to this case. Obviously been some pieces
of it. You know, sometime sometimes I'll rewatch it, you know.
I mean, I have a problem with my new wife. She keeps telling
me I'm living in the past because I watch old wrestling matches and old footage.
And one of the things that I pull up a lot is the Finding
Hulk Hogan because sometimes it puts me back on track, you know, if
I get around a bunch of negative energy or negative people, it's kind of
like it takes me back to square one. So I have seen it.
I probably watched it. I probably watched the whole documentary a month ago.
I mean you just almost specifically quoted a passage from that show from Doctor Gruber
where he talked about too much bone, and the transcript from that show says
that he states, if we take too much bone out of that one site,
that could create additional instability, and a fusion is going to be necessary.
Is it your testimony? He didn't say fusion. No, it stop,
it's my testimony. I don't remember him saying the word fusion. Do
you remember asking that the camera be turned off during that documentary said that you
could ask him specifically to inject you so that you could get one more big
event and make some money. Do you remember that, well, I'll remember.
I don't remember asking the cameras be turned off. I Suppo was something
that was pre produced by the producers for drama, But I do remember begging
him for relief. I was in so much pain now several times. So
you know, inject me, do whatever you've got to do to get me
out of pain. You know, what's going on here isn't working. And
he kept telling me, you know, yours are only supposed to have one
or two upper duels a year, not one or two a week. And
I just I was to the point where I didn't care about I took.
I just wanted to get out of pain because that what was going on in
Elsie did not work. Do you remember saying to him, I don't think
you understand if this was just a daily routine for living my life normally,
hanging out with the kids, Jennifer, my friends, I'm fine. My
back feels great, Bro, it really does. You guys did a great
job. Do you remember saying that to doctor Gruber? Just for data?
Are you talking about two thousand and ten for the filming of Finding Hull Coogan
and Ane? Yeah, is that what you're talking about. Yeah, well,
i'd have to look at the TV show to see if I if I
said it verbatim. Okay, well, you're telling the jury is you don't
remember one way or the other saying that. I don't. Well, no,
I'm telling you we probably shot two hundred hours of footage, and a
lot of it gets confusing to me because I have raw footage, you know,
I watched stuff that we didn't use. We didn't use it's better,
you know, for me storyline wise, and a lot of it because there's
only a timeframe. I don't remember what I saw, you know, the
raw footage or what's on there and whatever it is. It was scripted by
Hervey and Eric, so I mean, you know, I had to make
it work, and if it was true, I don't know what's the difference
between now, between what was true and what I felt at the moment.
And there were a lot of times when I came out of the laser spine
procedure and I would have been injected a day or a week earlier. I
felt great, but there was still slippage going on in my back, and
I kept asking Gruber, I feel like my back is slipping. Why is
my back slipping? Brother? I mean, do you deny that that conversation
would have taken place? I mean, I think your lawyers have the video.
Do you want to see the video right now? No? I don't
deny, but I I just know if it was you know, it's said
because I felt a great You know, I felt great at the moment I
was asking, I don't remember turning the cameras off. So if you say
you've got video of that, well, then we turned cameras off for the
TV show. Oh we've got the audio. Excuse me, we've got the
audio. Well, I don't know. I don't have a clue. For
whatever reason, we made it work for the storyline and whatever it's at the
beginning, the middle of the ark or whatever it is, it's produced.
So if there's audio still on the cameraman I told to turn the camera off,
left the audio one on purpose. So is it your testimony, mister
Balaia that if you did say, I don't think you understand if this was
just a daily routine for living my life normally hanging out with my kids,
Jennifer and my friends. I'm fine. My back feels great. Bro it
recently? Does you? Guys did a great job. If you said that,
your testimony is that you didn't really mean it. You were just saying
it for entertainment purposes, because a producer told you to say that. Is
that what you're telling the jury? Well possible. You have to understand in
telling a story, the final outcome or the climax of the story is to
set is to get in the ring and wrestle. So through finding Hulk Hogan,
we had to build a story, you know. We had to have
beats, and we had to have a momentum. We had to build drama
and excitement to get to the final scene of this documentary. Because it is
a scripted TV show, it's not what really happens in real life. So
I'm saying, if that was said, it could have been said in that
vein, it's very possible. Or it could be that you meant it and
you really did appreciate what those guys were doing for you, and you really
could do everything you wanted to do in your daily routine. That could be
possible too for that day. It could have changed the very next day one
I begged him for another surgery too, because things won't arrive. That's possible
too. And as part of this storyline and building these beats and building them,
whatever you just said, would your comment to the director or the cameraman
towards the end of this footage, your statement, when you get the footage
together, give the doctor a copy so he can see it. To make
sure we don't say anything because these guys help me so much. I don't
want to screw them over. Is that part of the storyline? How mean
it can be? So what you're saying is if you said that that you
didn't want to screw them over back in twenty ten, after you had three
procedures, something changed at some point where you've decided to screw them over now
and file this lawsuit? Is that correct? Object to form? I'm not
trying to screw anyone over. Brother, Those are your words, dude.
I suspect my clients would agree with me on that one, but we'll discuss
that another day. That's argumentative, it is you're right. Did you do
you recall providing doctor Gruber a copy of the footage so he could review it
before it was aired and make sure that he was okay with it? Do
you remember doing that odds hot for him about it? And I don't know
if I provided it or somebody from Pink Sneakers did, but I wanted to
make sure you had it. I mean this exchange where you're begging for medication
from doctor Gruber and he's referring refusing to give it to you because it's not
medically indicated. I mean, that's a doctor who cares about you and is
trying to do good for you. Wouldn't you agree with that? Oh?
Yeah, of course Ruber is not a defendant. Have you ever had any
conversation with doctor Alan Hughes at Orthopedic Specialists about the treatment that you had at
LSI that you can remember, mister Balaia, Well, I'm sure I have.
I don't remember a specific conversation. He's a friend, neighbor, and
he has performed several surgeries on me. Did he do a hip replacement on
you? He did two two, okay, and one of the hips was
replaced after the LSI treatment. Isn't that right? Sometime in twenty twelve?
I think probably? I don't know the timeline of the dates we talked yesterday
about despite the fact that doctor Kapus injected you numerous times and put a spine
stimulator in your back that by your own admission, didn't provide you any relief
such that you had to have the fusion December of twenty ten. We talked
about that and that you have not You certainly have not filed any lawsuit against
doctor Kephis. Were you aware that you have a testimonial that's on his website,
sir, where you proclaimed thank you doctor Chen and doctor Caphis were getting
me back on track. Were you aware of that? Well, yeah,
I'm pretty sure I filmed something in their office when they were trying to help
me. Okay, they were trying to help you. Yeah, and ultimately
they were not successful either, were they. Well, the spinal cords stimulator
provided relief, you know, for a short period of time, but it
wasn't something that I could stand full time. You know. It did take
me out of the crazy zone where I couldn't think straight and just couldn't even
remember my wife's name or anything else. I was so out of it.
It got me where I was to the edge off, but it wasn't something
I couldn't live with it because I you know, every time you'd move at
night, the thing would zap you. So it would take wake up hundreds
of times a night when you had it on. So it was something that
you know, it took me out of the crazy zone, but it wasn't
a permanent fix for me. And you were in the crazy zone because of
the fentin ol drug that campus had prescribed for you. Well, I was
in the crazy zone from all the above, you know, the pain,
the surgeries, just everything. There wasn't one specific thing. It was everything
I'd ever I'd been through the last year and a half or whatever. Speaking
of all the LSI treatment, Yeah, you know, since I first went
to LSI, from that point on, I never got my legs back underneath
me. As my dad would say, I never was the same person that
year and eight months. You were just crazy, inability to get your legs
out and get up on your feet, inability to do anything because of the
LSI treatment. Is that what you're telling me? Well, I no,
No, that's just a general statement. I wasn't myself. I had ups
and downs. LSI surgery, you know, would put me on my feet,
the pain injections afterwards would put me on my feet. It would be
temporary. Then I would go into a downward spiral until the next surgery,
And it was just an up and down crazy ride until I got the fusion.
Do you believe that you complied with the instruct you received from the physicians
at LSI about what to do after surgery and what not to do, what
activities to engage in and not engage in. Do you believe you complied rather
one hundred percent with those instructions. I mean, to the best my ability.
I don't know if it's one hundred percent. Well, was there ever
a time where you did something you knew was against their instructions? Where you
exercised more than they told you you could, Where you went out and wrestled
when they told you you couldn't. That caused you to have more pain,
that exacerbated your pain, that brought the pain back. And you ever remember
an episode like that in the year and eight months you were in their care
Well, not to my knowledge. Would you agree that at the time you
were being seen at LSI for two thousand and nine and up to two thousand
and ten or whenever that was, you were also seeing other doctors like doctor
Hughes and maybe doctor Hunger and other physicians. Isn't that right? The infinite
fatality? Guy? Well, I'm sure I was. You know, I
got to hit the restroom real quick. Time is right, we're off the
record, recess. The time is love and thirty worked back on the record.
Continued direct examination by mister Train mister Balah. When you had the first
procedure at LSI, we've talked about this. You knew there was a possibility
that they might have to perform a second procedure. Correct, We discussed that
yesterday. Well, yeah, I was hoping the first one would work,
right, And you know when they when Saint Louis told me that he should
not, that he should have got more aggressive and done a second level.
At the time, I was okay with it because the first surgery was so
easy. So I was just there to be fixed. I mean, I
wasn't really detailing it out. You know, I didn't expect it would be
anything more than just another quick fix. I didn't know it was going to
keep just keep going on. So I just I don't know what I expected.
I don't know what I remember. I just know I was on the
team and everything was fine at that point. Was it your impression at the
time or now that the other surgeries that you had, the third, the
fourth, the fifth, the sixth that you had at LSI, were those
different surgeries on different areas or different types of surgeries, or do you believe
that the third was the same as the second, or the fourth was the
same is the third? They were just repeats of the same thing. I
believe they were trying to find what was wrong with me. I don't think
they'd go back to the same place twice. Okay. I think you've already
answered a couple of times for me, so I'm not going to ask you
to repeat it about how you would respond each to the procedures. You know,
you said that there would be a period of time, a couple of
days where you felt good, amazing, and then things that would go back
to the way they were or worse. It's that a fair characterization of what
you've told me about the other side procedures. Yes, so my question is
this, with that background, was that the same for the three procedures you
had in two thousand and nine and the three procedures you had with doctor Z
in two thousand and ten, Not exactly. I mean, they'll last three
got really intense, you know, instead of being of good than being bad,
it got more intense, like Persecci. You know, it was good
for a short while, and when it got bad, it was intense,
and then it got more intense. About the six one, I was out
of my mind. It just felt like, you know, it didn't feel
like after the first one that doctors that Saint Louis did. By the time
I had the sixth one, my body was rejecting, not responding, not
recovering. I don't know what it was. I was. I was screwed
after that last procedure by doctor Z. Was there any period of time where
you felt good, even just today or so? I don't recall after the
very last one. There were so many of them. You've told me.
Having you about any conversations, all the conversations you can recall about having your
situation with doctor Saint Louis, doctor Scott, doctor Gruber, and doctor Z.
We've talked about all that, right, I hope. So, okay,
What about anybody else from LSI? Did you have any conversations with anybody
in the office of LSI, any of the managers, the board of directors,
anybody else at LSI during at any time about your medical condition, how
you felt about the care and treatment you received, anything, any conversations or
communications you can tell me about. Oh, I recall, and you're complaining.
There's a reference to a Bloomberg article that the subject was LSI. Do
you know anything about that? Yeah? I remember reading it all right.
Were you contacted anybody at Bloomberg to be interviewed about that article. No,
okay, when did you read that article? So do you remember? I
don't remember. It was something I picked up on a plane or in Miami
or something. You know, I wasn't hear. It wasn't here in Tampa.
I remember, I wasn't here what I saw, all right, So
you kind of just came across it. Nobody provided it to you. I
don't recall exactly had you at that point when you read that article, had
you already decided that you were going to pursue a claim against LSI? I
remember the timeframe. Okay. Have you been shown a series of text messages
that were exchanged between yourself and doctor Gruber in the twenty ten two eleven time
frame? I remember seeing them. Yes. Okay. Do you have any
reason to believe that those messages from doctor Gruber or anything more than just,
you know, a desire to see how you were doing? Yeah? I
think they were more than just a desire to see how I was doing.
Okay, what do you think about those messages? I think Gruber legitimately was
trying to help me out get out of pain. So you think the messages
were sort of were evidence of his caring nature about you and a genuine desire
to see how you were doing. And that's what it was. It No,
that's not what I said. It was a desire to see how I
was doing. And then hey, how are you know? Are you okay?
You know, call me if you need something. I think we had
a genuine desire to see how I was doing, like you said, and
like I repeated before, to get to get me out of pain and help
me. Do you think there was any alterior motive to his text messages other
than what you just said, a different motivation. I'd have no reason to
think that unless there's something I'm missing. Do you have did you exchange any
text messages with any other of the physicians at LSI, doctor Saint Louis Scott
Berserki that you can remember? I don't recall. Let me ask some quick
questions about some of the witnesses whose names have come up in the case.
And again, like I said yesterday, it's not our desire to run around
the country to posting people that don't need to be deposed. Does Nick know
anything about any of the visits that you had at LSI? Did he come
with you? What? I don't think so. Do you know whether he
was with you in February when you met with doctor Euribay and and Valet or
in December of twenty ten when you went back to Euribay in Vallet Gosh,
I don't care. I don't you know. He wasn't there when I met
with him originally. I don't know if he was there when I went back.
To my knowledge, I don't think Nick was ever has ever met with
them? Okay? In other words, would Nick be able to offer any
testimony to me about anything that was going on at LSI other than what maybe
you told him? No? Okay. Who is your current accountant? Our
lady name Missy Gathrow or Guthrie. I can't pronounce her last name. It's
a French name. Where she located between here and Tampa, I'm not exactly
sure. You know, she was with another firm I was with, and
she decided to go off on her own, and about six months ago and
she went off and you know, on her own, and I had to
go with her because she was the only one that handled all my accounts.
What was the name of the firm she was with? I can't get I
can't get it for you. You know, I don't remember. It was
the man's name John something. It was two different names. I'm not good
with names. Brother. I can get that stuff for you. My wife
would have it all. Can we You want a break now? Yeah?
The time is eleven forty. We're off the record. Recess time is eleven
fifty four. Were back on the record. Continued direct examination by mister Traine.
I mentioned to you, I think that I read something about TNA not
and again this media, so we take it, maybe not take it at
face value, but it was reported that TENA has not reapted with Spike TV,
and maybe TNA has nowhere to go. To your knowledge, has anybody
tried to blame you for the demise of TNA and said that, you know,
you let them down, you should have done more for the company,
or anything like that to your knowledge, yes, who said that? Fountains
of wrestling fans. Okay, you know when I got rid of the sixth
sided ring which looked like a UFC ring and went back to the traditional wrestling
ring which you could actually hit the ropes and have a correct wrestling match,
the fans that I destroyed TNA then and then and then when this hypothetical situation
came up that Dixie lost the TV. They blamed me for that the last
couple of days. You know, now as of last night, she's made
an announcement that she's got a new network deal and they're all blaming me that
she's not on Spike and the deal is not as good. So yeah,
you know, there's never been any discussion or mentioned by Dixie or her people
that they were ever going to file any kind of breach of track against you
or anything like that that you know often I know of. Okay, did
you have any kind of relationship with Vince Russo? Yes? I did.
How would you characterize that relationship? Is it a positive relationship, a friendly
relationship and amicable relationship or intigonistic relationship or all of the above? All the
above? Okay? And he was like sort of the head writer for Dixie
was what was his role with Dixie? Eric Bischoff was the head of creative
okay, because he became an executive producer for the network once he went over
to work there. You know, Vince Russo worked for Vince McMahon. Originally
he was a head writer, but he wasn't originally said he was a head
writer, but he wasn't. Then he came to God, then he came
tow and before he met me or any of the other wrestlers, he made
it. He made a statement he was gonna fire anybody that was over forty.
That was back in the nineties. So we went to war then,
you know. Then I went to TNA. When I was there, he
was one of the writers there and Dixie said that if he if I couldn't
get along with him, fire him. And so I said fire. And
Eric Bischoff met with him, and Eric Bischoff told me he was a changed
man. He was on the team. So what am meeting with him?
And I said, okay, let's give him a try. You know,
it didn't last very long because he was the same guy. So it's been
a back and forth relationship. You list, mister Beale, a bunch of
folks on this witness list, and we've talked about all of them. I
think are most of them, and I'll just read you the list, Vince
McMahon. Have we discussed everything that you and Vince have talked about that would
relate to the issues in the lawsuit to the best of your knowledge, Yes,
does he know you're pursuing this lawsuit, mister McMahon, I don't think
he does. I mean you haven't talked to him about the actual lawsuit.
No? No. What about John Cina he's on the witness list. Have
you talked to him about the lawsuit at all? No? What about Scott
Hervey? Have you talked to him about this lawsuit? I? No,
Peter Young? Who is Peter Young? He's on my agent. He's my
angent for TV and movies entertainment agents. I suspect brother, he might have
been put on the witness list because he might be able to talk about TV
and movie deals that you may have had. Yes, Okay, does he
know anything now about the medical aspects of the lawsuit, the negligence claims that
you have? No? Okay, what about David Houston? He's on the
witness list. What does he know about the lawsuit of the allegations you're making.
Well, David is pretty much one of my attorneys and a good friend.
And I just you know, even with me on account by count basis
a daily basis, conversations on the phone daily and you know, with me
on certain occasions, you know so, And I'm sure he's heard me vent
and talk about everything from my pain to the lawsuit to whatever. I'm sure
you know. So he's been one of the main people I think with about
things. Brother, Just so we're clear, he's because we put the list
together, I know. But he's on because of the letter that he wrote,
okay, regarding unauthorized unauthorized use. Yes, okay, mister Leslie Brutus
the barber. What does he know about the lawsuit, the allegations you're making
anything, Nothing. I've never talked to him about it, you know,
I haven't seen him for years. Okay. We didn't talk about Jimmy Hart
necessarily when you were out off the record. We discussed that he's got a
place over at a parking spot over at your bar. Wow, yes,
what does he know? What is your relationship with Jimmy these days? Well,
first, let me just have you answered that. I guess, well,
well, you know, he's him and I have been. You know,
the wrestling manager thing is actually a fake title. He's not a wrestling
manager, just creatively for TV. He is. You know, Jimmy has
been a friend for thirty five years and now he actually works for the WWE
and he travels with me and he does everything from help me with engagements and
like this Saturday, we're doing an engagement in New Jersey where it's like a
you know, a Hogan On censored where there will still be there will be
thousands of or five hundred or whatever many people show up at the auditorium.
You know, fans are fans to to to ask me questions, and Jimmy
Hard is like the commentator, the moderator, and so you know, you
know, he'll make a payday for helping me. You know, he works
at Hogan's Beach beach shop, you know, full time. He's like the
celebrity man and George Hogan's Beach. You know. So Jimmy has been with
me for thirty five years plus. He has been with me for every surgery
you know, in recovery and then been there through everything with me. Dude,
Okay, I mean it was interesting. I know you guys have been
close at least through the business. And I haven't seen any record that you
know, reflects that he came with you to a doctor's visit, like Todd
Farmer's name is mentioned and sometimes Brian nobs His name is mentioned. Yeah,
you know what patient accompanied by friend Brian or something like that. But I
didn't see that for Jimmy necessarily. Do you think Jimmy actually did come with
you to either of the Uribay visits or any of the Uribay visits? Uh
yeah, yeah, okay. You know he's always in the recovery room.
You know, when when I came out of surgery, he'll spend the night
in the room or stay there until he thinks I'm good. I'm good enough
for him to leave, you know, even if I'll tell him to leave,
Okay, I'll wake up and he'll still be there. You know,
what about the LSI visits? Do you think he came with you in any
of those? I'm sure he did. If he didn't come to the LSIS,
I guarantee you he was there to pick me up and get me home.
Would there be some times where he would come and Jennifer would be there
too, or was it more of you know, if Jennifer was there,
she'd take you home. But if she couldn't do it, Jimmy would do
it. Uh well, you know, I know they were always there together,
but Jimmy and when Jennifer would leave, like if I was getting ready
to go to bed, Jennifer would leave and go home because I'd tell her
to leave, and Jimmy hard if I told him to leave, he'd spend
the night. I wake up in the morning he would still be there,
So he would be there. He would be there with her. But then
but when she left, he would keep staying. You know, probably should
have married Jimmy brother right now, that's all the record. Jeez, I'm
not good to touch that too late now, Jeez, it was a joke,
dude, that's not let that get in the hands of your ex wife.
Oh god, yeah, thanks for any reason to believe that Jimmy knows
anything about the allegations you've made in the complaint concerning what you say is the
negligent care provided to you by the folks at LSI, no other than just
me venting. I may have talked about it with them, how I feel,
I don't. I don't think he's got any facts or anything like that.
He hasn't wasn't involved with that stuff. What about Brian Nobbs? Are
you still close with him? Yeah? Where is he these days? Is
he still in the Area's wrong somewhere? Who knows? Is still in the
wrestling business? He has to know. You know, he puts on independent
shows, like for Major League Baseball, like for the Raise Miami, I
know, because they're trying to get more attendance to the baseball games. He's
a go to guy for them to put a bunch of wrestlers together, like
Bill Goldberg or Hulk Hogan. I've never worked one, but guys Knobs would
put together in a card which does attract more at tenants to the games during
the slow part of the season. So we still carry. He still wrestles
in that way, but not for a big company. There's a video I
saw where you wake up from I don't know if it was the fusion procedure,
brother, but he's got some flowers for you. Maybe it was,
maybe it was the Morton plant. When you get home from Morton Plant,
he's got some flowers that he brings into your room and you're laying on your
back and you wake up and say, hey, why are you giving me
flowers? Brother? We're not dating or something. I mean, it's a
funny scene, and I sort of picture Knobs as being one of these guys
kind of like you described Jimmy, one of those guys who was with you
during a lot of the medical things you had at LSI in other places,
Is that right? Well, it was pretty much like Jimmy. You know,
he would show up for the recovery. He wasn't involved with decisions.
Okay, Yeah, I didn't see him very often. I mean, he
wasn't a guy I talked to every day like Jimmy. Okay, obviously Knobs.
Maybe you know I used see him maybe once a month, and now
it's turning into a couple of times a year. Okay. I mean if
I took his deposition and said, what do you know about what Terry and
doctor Gruber talked about with regard to the back surgery or doctor see, he
probably couldn't tell me anything other than maybe you vented to him or something.
Oh yeah, I know he doesn't know anything. And you list Rick Flair
on there is that Does he know anything about the allegations in the complaint?
No? Did you? I I just thought you would want to meet him.
You know, I don't want to meet him. You know that you
know the figure four leglock brother, now that you've told me he's a woos
Oh I think you know this anyway, just because he doesn't know anything about
that particular issue. Doesn't mean that we're not going to call him on some
issue at the trial or any of these people. I understand, well,
would Flair be able to testify? Will strike that? Have you talked to
Flair about the lawsuit? No? Okay? Was Flair with you in any
visits to Laser Spine Institute? No? Okay. So we're back in two
thousand and nine twenty ten. Were you friends with Flair outside of the wrestling
industry or were you just sort of business acquaintances by virtue of being in the
same industry. Now we've been friends, you know. Plus he was on
the Australia tour with me. Yeah, you know, he knows my situation.
He knows. I mean, he's the only guy I would have wrestled
in Australia. The only guy, you know, I completely trust is Derek
Bischoff living out in Montana now, dear knowledge, he's in between Montana.
You know, he has a house in Phoenix. He goes back and forth.
Okay, do you own all the rights to your intellectual property, the
whole the Maniacs, Hollywood, whole Oak and all that stuff. Is that
owned by you? Or do other people own some of it too, I
own it. Okay. Do you remember giving an interview to Wrestle's Own three
nights ago or three days ago or doing some kind of podcast for wrestle Zone
July twenty eighth while I was on the phone, you know, is a
conference call, and they were like two hundred and twenty radio stations on their
websites, so that could have been one of them. Okay, I listened
to it in my recollection of what you said, they talked about your health
condition. Do you remember them talking about your health condition during that? No?
I don't. Do you remember responding to a question about your health that
you had nine botched surgeries or for the fusion? Do you remember saying that?
No, I don't recall that. Okay, If you said it,
I think I can assume, sitting here today, that you would characterize the
six LSI procedures as botched surgeries. Are we in agreement or am I wrong
about that? Well? If I said it, I'm miss spoke number one
and number two I'm on the radio. You know, there's a million reasons
why I'm miss Spoke. I just wasn't thinking. I mean, I didn't
have nine botched back surgeries, how many did you have my opinion? Six?
Okay, that was my question. All the surgeries you had, all
the procedures you had at LSI were botched in your opinion? Yeah, whatever
botch means, Well, it was your word. I know. I don't
even know what the means. Do you have a Twitter account? What?
Yes? I do? What is your Twitter handle? Her name? My
son set it up, but I think it's at hulk Hogan. What is
hulk Cogan for real? Do you know? I've no idea, but there
there all our Hulk Cogan accounts which aren't me. I think there's about forty
or fifty of them. There's also Terry Ballet accounts, which is my real
name, which aren't me. So the one my son set up, I've
got it here. I can show you what it is, but I think
it's at Hulk Hogan. Have you ever had an account that says Hulkogan for
real with the number four? No? No, I thought I can remember.
Have you ever sent out a tweet? Now I'm not on Twitter,
so I think it's right to be called a tweet, But have you ever
sent out a tweet that said going for the make it or break at Hill?
Marry at four pm having an electrical spinal cord stimulator inserted for a test
run, praying it works. I've had six small back surgeries. Everything was
fine. Then for four hours I was picking up shells on the each my
back blew out. You guys really gave me a shot in the arm that
I needed. Thank you for all the love, support, positive vibes.
Right now, Do you recall sending out a tweet that said that, oh
no, I don't. Does that sound like language you would use? Possible?
Did you ever reference any type of procedure, either the spinal stimulator or
the fusion as a hail Mary, make it or break it type of procedure
that you could ever remember in any conversation? All that I recall, Okay,
you did have an electrical spinal cord stimulator putting for a test run originally
though, right, yes, okay, And you also had six back surgeries
prior to the stimulator, which would be the LSI. Yeah, and when
you went strike that a statement to fans that says something like thank you for
all the love, support and positive vibes. That would be a language consistent
with the way you present yourself to the public at large. Correct, into
your fans. Specifically, yes, as possible. I mean go on Twitter
at six in the morning and say I'm going to go downstairs and work out
in two arms. I'm not doing that. I mean I'm sitting there eating
cereal. So Twitter is an entertainment account, you know, for me too.
You know, even if I sent that out, I don't recall it.
So you know, I send out several tweets a day, so I
don't even know what it was. And if this trial occurs, mister Blay
and we were to play for the jury excerpt from Finding Hulkigan or Hogan Knows
Best or Brooke Knows Best? Are you saying without exception that everything you said
in those shows was simply for reality, I mean for entertainment purposes, and
there is no basis in fact. Now I'm not saying that at all.
Okay, I'm going to turn it over to mister no Pick. Mister Balaia,
thank you very much for bearing with me. Well, thank you.
Well switch places so it's easier for you, mister Balaya. Thank you.
Further examination by mister Noah Brother good an afternoon, mister Balaya. We met
during the course of these proceedings. My name is Chris Nopick. I will
ask a few questions, as with mister Train's questions. If there's anything I
ask you that you don't understand, please tell me you don't understand. I'll
be happy to try to rephrase it and in a way you do. The
idea being that when we finished today this very limited portion of the discussion,
that I will have questions that you understood and you will love answered them.
Is that fair? Oh? Very fair? All right? And I'm going
to do my best not to repeat or go over other topics that mister Trey
and asked you about. I will do my best to be respectful of your
time and your lawyer's time, and the time of everybody here. I know
you have been at this for a good while. Now, it's okay.
I try to respond as quick as possible because I know, I know,
I knew you wanted to get home as soon as possible, so, sir,
I try to be efficient. Thank you. What you wrote and had
published a book called My Life Outside the Ring? Is that correct? Yes,
sir, yes, sir, as I understand there are two versions of
the book, the original version that came out and then a second version that
came out a bit later with a new what's called afterward added to it.
Is that your understanding, to the best of my recollection. Yeah, you
know, I actually forgot about it, but I'm sure it did. Okay.
Is the content of that book truthful and honest? I would I would
say you'd be closer if you said the content of that book was entertaining,
of think that would be a better statement for Are there portions of the book
that you believe are inaccurate? I'm sure there are, Okay. Are there
inaccuracies in the book that you are aware of? Inaccuracies that you had placed
in the book for entertainment purposes? You know, partially for entertainment, you
know, partially they would be inaccurate because of the passage of time, and
partially inaccurate because of At the time, I was a different person and had
a different agenda as far as my personal health, my personal mental state,
and my personal attitude towards situations and people. Brother, that was the different
attitude that you had at the time that the book was written and published.
That differs from your attitude now. Well, you know I was pretty much
jaded at the time. You know, I was going through a lot of
personal changes with people I trusted and love that didn't feel the same about me.
Apparently, you know, I was going through a lot of physical changes
with pain and my body readapting. That gave me a different atitude and a
different edge to certain things which were not me. I don't feel that way.
That's not who I really was. So it's who I was at the
time. I was in an emotional and painful state. So I would say
it's not the truth is the truth? And when you put it on an
edge on it, or when you put an attitude on it, to me,
it's it's not the truth. Well, for example, the book contains
descriptions about the physical toll that participating in the wrestling industry is taken on your
body. Are those portions of the book accurate. Well, I would have
to reread them and tell you if they were completely accurate. All right,
I'm sure I was pretty close to being on point with injuries and it's very
physical. Your book contains the passage and I'm quoting now true honesty is it
for me now? With my kids, my ex wife, my business dealings
in everything closed? Quote? Is that an accurate statement of your approach to
life now now, Yes, sir, yes, okay. Is it your
understanding, mister Balaya, that by the time you went to the Laser Spine
Institute for the first time, that you had sustained significant damage to your spine
because of your wrestling career and the physical toll the wrestling had taken on you.
Yes, Why well, could you repeat the beginning of the question?
I'm sorry, sir, Yes, sir, Is it your understanding that by
the time you went to the Laser Spine Institute for the first time, that
your spine and back had sustained substantial damage because of your wrestling career and the
physical toll of that career. Yes. One of the things that you had
come to now is that performing one of your signature moves, the leg drop,
had taken significant toll on your back. Is that fair? It's true.
Yes, it's very fair. For anyone who sees this video deposition,
it was otherwise discussing your case and it's not familiar. The leg drop is
a move that involved you propelling yourself or jumping in the air and landing with
your full body weight and your left butt cheek at the base of your spine.
I try to appropriate the weight, but I would say the majority of
it went on the left butt cheek. Yeah, brother, And you had
performed that move for more than twenty years during your career. Correct. You've
estimated that before you went into the Laser Spine Institute, your tailbone was bent
from landing on your rear end four hundred times a year and twice on Saturday
and twice on Sunday for more than twenty years. I don't know if it
was for a twenty year period, but I did have a few years where
I wrestled that much, and the leg drop was a move that you frequently
did because it was a signature move that your fans identified with you. Yeah.
Along the course of your very successful career, you had some specific instances
where you injured your back and matches specific Yeah, I don't remember specific one.
Okay, let me give an example. Have you written that the tombstone
move by the Undertaker, which was performed on you in nineteen ninety one,
may have been the straw that slaughtered the camels back? Did I write that?
Yes, I don't recall writing it in nineteen ninety one, Or you
have written that in November nineteen ninety one, the Undertaker nearly put you in
the grave by dropping your head on a metal chair and the nastiest tombstone of
all tombstones, and that your neck, calves, shoulder, biceps, triceps,
forearms, everything went numb. Did I write that, you're asking,
sir, I don't recall writing I could add. Is that a true statement
of what happened in nineteen ninety one? Not completely? What's inaccurate about it?
My trap muscles went numb and my shoulders went numb. That's the best
of my recollection. Now I don't remember calves and everything else going numb.
I just remember my traps went numb because my neck was hurt. Did you
write it? The repercussions for you physically of the Undertaker's team stone in nineteen
ninety one, I've never gone away, and you still can't feel anything as
of two thousand and nine, and the tips of your fingers. You have
trouble tying your bandannas, and you have trouble buttoning shirts. Well, a
lot of that has changed. I got my hands burned very severely by a
radiator, you know, and well, for whatever reason, the scars in
my hands from the burns a lot of the feeling came back in my fingertips.
I don't know if it's new nerves or whatever, but that has changed,
thank god, as of recently, because of getting my hands burned.
Why did that occur about a year ago, and you attribute this to the
incident with the burning of the radiator. Yeah, until that time when the
radiator incident occurred, was it accurate to say that you had a numbness in
the tips of your fingers, you had troubled tying your bandanas, and you
had troubled shirts. I've had numbness in my tips of my fingers. That's
accurate. I adapted. I figured out how to tie bandanas and button shirts
without having the feeling of my fingers. So that wasn't accurate anymore. But
it took me a while to figure out the move. But I can do
it without feeling anything. Okay. Have you written in your book that you
tore all the muscles in your back at WrestleMania three and then wrestled for twenty
ninth straight days. I don't recall, but I could sound like an addurate
description of what happened at WrestleMania three. What happened in wrestle mania three?
Is I tore a lap muscle, the back muscle away from the insertion of
my tricep, and then I continued wrestling in Japan. Did you tear all
the muscles in your back or was that an exaggeration for entertainment purposes in your
book? Well, it had to be, because I didn't tear all the
muscles in my back. Okay. Before you went to the Laser Spine Institute,
have you ever had received an opinion that you should have neck fusion surgery?
Well? I had several opinions and one of them was neck fusion and
one of those was massage acupuncture and see a chiropractor, which I chose and
it worked. Okay. You have, during the course of a career had
a number of knee injuries? Yes? How many orthroscopic knee surgeries have you
had during the course of your wrestling career? Five? You know, five
or eight? Maybe five to seven. Have you had ANEE replacement surgery?
No, I've had lateral compartment replacement surgery. Okay? And when was that
done? One was done probably twelve years ago, and was probably done two
years ago. And who performed those that was doctor Repecci in Buffalo New York.
All right, have you had mister Train asked you about hip replacement surgery?
I just want to try to get the specifics of that, if I
may. How many hip replacement surgeries have you had? Two? When did
you have those? Did the best of your recollection? The best not recollection?
One was gone I don't even know, you know, ten twelve years
ago estimate? Another one was two three years ago estimate. Is your estimate
about the most recent hip replacement surgery is accurate and that it was two or
three years ago, that would mean that your most recent hip replacement surgery was
after the time that you were at Laser Spine Institute. Oh, I don't
recall. I'm sure it's documented. Doctors would have it. He performed the
surgery. All right, Did you have the most recent hip replacement surgery by
doctor Hughes here locally? Because pain or other conditions associated with your hip were
limiting your activities so much that you thought a hip replacement surgery was necessary?
No, No, I didn't. I didn't limit my activities. I just
had a sharp pain in the hip that wouldn't go away, you know,
And when he did the X ray, it was bone to bone on bone,
brother, And after all the surgies I've had, the hip replacement is
by far the easiest. It's like trying to tie your bones. It's so
easy. It's like what it's like tying your shoes. It's so easy.
Broad, Okay, I just opted for that to get rid of the pain
in my hip. What so, the conditions that led you to make the
decision to have the most recent hip replacement surgery were not conditions that limited your
activity in any significant way. No. I pretty much did everything I always
did, except it was painful, dude. Okay, mister train asked you
a few questions about a video testimonial that is posted on the website of doctor
Kapis. Do you recall being asked that question? Yes, I do.
Was that video testimonial one which was scripted for you? Or alternatively, did
you just sit down and make a video testimonial on your own without a script
It wasn't scripted, but they did that. But they asked me. You
know, doctor Kapabe said how long do you want it? What do you
want to say? He gave me suggested verbiage to say, and I don't
know if I used his verbiage. If I use mine or if I'm mixed
and matched. But there was nothing written down. It was just you know.
I asked him what would be the best message and how much time do
you have? So he gave me those parameters. Did you charge him for
that video testimonial? No? Did you have an opportunity to review the video
testimonial before it was posted? Yes? I washed it back in the video
assistem And did you approve of it if it's content? Yeah? Okay.
Let me take you forward in time to your first visits at the Laser Spine
Institute. In between your first visit on that first day at Laser Spine Institute
and the date of your first surgery a couple of days later at Laser Spine
Institute, did you talk to any other healthcare professionals about the options you were
weighing at that time relating to your back? I didn't discuss options. And
sometimes we get caught up in trying to make these questions perfect. Here's what
I'm trying to find out. You went and spoke to the folks at Laser
Spine Institute and they laid out surgical possibilities for you there at Laser Spine Institute
Is that fair? Yeah, you know, we wouk an employment to have
a laser spine procedure. Okay, if those are the words you're looking for.
In between the time that you spoke with them at Laser Spine Institute that
first day and the time that you actually had your first surgery or procedure there,
did you talk to doctor your Rebay, doctor Valley, doctor Hughes,
doctor Kaphus, doctor Moreno, or any other doctors about Here is what they
told me at Laser Spine Institute. Here is what I'm actually Here's what I'm
thinking about doing. What do you think about that? Anything like that?
Talk to them? But nothing, you know, I talk to them about
nothing, nothing, anything like that. What did you talk to them about
other than what you may have already talked about in your deposition? Who is
them? It's vague sure. What physicians or healthcare professionals did you talk to
about the fact that you were considering surgery at the Laser Spine Institute in between
your first visit at the Laser Spine Institute and your first surgery at Laser Spine
Institute. Oh, nothing different that I've already testified to. Okay, during
your consultations at Laser Spine Institute with the doctors there, did anyone tell you
that you had spinal stenosis or narrowing at a number of levels of your back?
Yes? Do anyone at any doctor at Laser Spine Institute tell you that
you had scoliosis that might predispose you to residual or recurring low back pain and
like pain in the future. Now, I don't recall that. Now,
when you say you don't recall that, do you mean that you don't remember
whether it happened on the one hand, or alternatively, do you mean I
remember that discussion and no one said anything like that to me both? Okay,
I remember anyone saying anything like that to me, and I don't recall
it being said. What do you think It's possible that doctors at the Laser
Spine Institute told you that that you had scoliosis that might predispose you to residual
and recurring low back pain and leg pain, but you just don't remember it.
It's possible, Okay. Did any doctor at the Laser Spine Institute tell
you in the first two months three months that you were there that your future,
mister Balaia, was reasonably certain to include pain management, restricted physical activity,
pain medication, and pain injections. Never, okay, did any doctor
at the Laser Spine Institute tell you that there was a possibility that you would
need future spinal surgery, including a fusion. I thought, I recall,
you know, we approach each laser spine, all all six laser spines,
and the doctors had the same vision as I did, in prediction that this
would be the one that fixed me. That's how the whole situation was approached.
That's why I kept having more, you know, then them cut on
me more. It was every time throughout all the surgeries, we all felt
that this is the one that's going to fix the last week or the pain
or whatever is getting worse. No one ever said your future is you know
what you said it was. You discussed with mister Train that it's your recollection
and understanding that each of the Laser Spine Institute procedures was at a different level
of your back. Is that fair to say, yeah, I understand that.
Now is it your recollection that in general terms, the doctors at Laser
Spine Institute would perform a procedure it would give you relief of the pain that
you were having, and then later you would come back to Laser Spine Institute
with an onset of new pains in a different area. I'll repeat the question,
yase, sir. Is it your recollection that generally you would have surgery
at the Laser Spine Institute at a particular level of your back, that that
surgery would provide your relief at that level, and that later you would then
come back to Laser Spine Institute and have a complaint or description of pain at
a new level in your back. You know, sometimes sometimes it was the
same level or the same place. You know, at anyone at the Laser
Spine Institute, following any of your procedures, there ever a place or restriction
on you that you should not use the treadmill. No ask if I could
use a treadmill? Okay, and you were told you could? Yes?
Well you told in connection with being told you could use the treadmill, Were
you told that you should restrict in any way the way in which you use
the treadmill? Yes? What were you told? And by whom I was
told? A walk? But to'll walk aggressively? Just walk on a treadmill?
Were you told not to do any sort of crossover work or speed work
on the treadmill. I was told not to do speed work, but nothing
was said about crossover work. Okay. Did you ever injure yourself or experience
an aggravation of pain after a Laser Spine Institute surgery and after using the treadmill?
Yeah, after the surgery and after the treadmill, it was pretty much
the normal period of time if things went awry. Okay, So I want
to make sure I understand your answers. It was given in response to my
question on at least one occasion, maybe more than once. You want to
win a procedure at Laser Spine Institute. After that procedure, you used the
treadmill, and after you use the treadmill, you would experience pain in your
back. Yeah, it was pretty much the normal amount of time where the
pain would come back after multiple surgeries. A gut to be pretty much a
pattern at the pain would come back at a certain time. You know,
whether I use a treadmill or not, it would it would come back.
Was there ever a following a time following one of the surgeries that you hadn't
used the treadmill yet after the surgery? Every time? Okay, so you
did not attribute at any time the onset of pain after your surgery to your
use of the treadmill. I never thought about that, you know, I
was just aware that the pain was back as usual. Did anyone, any
doctor or nurse practitioner, a physician assistant, ever tell you when you came
back to Laser Spine Institute complaining of pain that you cannot engage in the type
of activity that you were engaged in that brought you back here? Yes?
How many occasions did that occur? When I went back to Gruber and ask
for injections, or I went back to talk to a doctor. I ended
up talking to Gruber and he asked me what was going on, and I
said pretty much the same thing, except the treadmill. He said, well,
don't use a treadmill anymore. And was that after I use a treadmill?
And you can you place that in terms of what was it after your
first surgery, your second surgery, or some other time? Uh no,
I can't remember. After we're sure I use a treadmill. Do you think
that that would be accurate? Would you expect that the conversation would be reflected
in the medical records? Oh? Why it should be rub was pretty consistent.
Okay, During the time that you were receiving care and treatment at the
Laser Spine Institute in two thousand and nine, did you ever report to any
other doctor that you were seeing that you had been traveling and performing heavy sports
activities? Way, excuse me to repeat the question. Yes, brother,
During the time period that you were receiving care at the Laser Spine Institute in
two thousand and nine, did you ever report to any other doctor that you
were seeing that you had been recently traveling and performing heavy sports activities. Um,
don't. I don't use the word sports activities, so I seriously doubt
that would be in my words, And I don't recall I don't recall having
the conversation with any other doctors. Do you think that you had conversations with
any of your doctors outside of LSI in two thousand and nine during the time
that you were receiving carried LSI in which you said that you had been traveling
and had been in a heavy physical activity schedule. I don't recall the conversation.
No, were you in the middle of mounds let's say, August September
October ifty thousand and nine, were you traveling a lot and engaging in strenuous
physical activity. The only time I recalled traveling would have been to Australia.
That was after August, September or October frifty thousand and nine. Correct,
I don't recall it was after the second or third surgery whenever that was.
The records reflect that you went to Australia and you had your tour in which
you wrestled Rick Flair four times, was in November of two thousand and nine.
Then if there was a report that you were engaging in heavy sports activity
and traveling in August, September and October of two thousand and nine, that
would be different from the Australia tour. Correct. I don't know if any
sports activity I did, so it would be way different than anything I remember.
Okay, all right, who I'm going to shift gears with you five
minutes, sir? Who is your current sports agent or representative, Darren Prince?
And where is mister Prince located in New Jersey? See with a particular
agents here roup, It's his company, It's Prince Marketing. Thank you.
Are you currently in any medications or do you currently have any prescriptions? That
are prescribed for you. Yes, I do. Can you tell us what
those are? Please? And the purpose of H. Well, I've got
anti aging, you know, d H E A HH. I have Xanax
for sleep if I need it. I have purpose it from my hands and
feet arthritis if I need it anything else not that I can recall. Okay,
brother, wait, oh I do. Hold on a second. There's
one more malos account. What is your understanding of what that is for?
That's another anti inflammatory from my joints daring earlier parts of your career, did
you take various supplements for assisting in your athletic performances or appearance? Uh?
No? Did you ever take it alex steroids? Yes, during one period
of time uh, late seventies, eighties, late seventies and eighties mainly.
Did someone prescribe those for your use? Yes, sir? And who is
that various doctors? I mean you could get a prescription from anybody because they
were legal. Okay. Do you remember the names of any of the physicians
Proper Stephen Proper Proper is local here in this area? Yes, yes,
after Zahorian Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Doctors Zahorian in Harrisburg Pennsylvania, Jay Weekley,
I don't have no idea where he's at now. I don't know. There's
probably ten more that I don't remember their names, or five or two more,
I don't know. But it was, you know, something that was
pretty much normal across the board. Okay. Have you ever taken a medication
or supplement called nandrolone? Yes? What is nandrolone? That is what the
bodybuilding or the fitness industry calls Decca durabolin? Why were you talking taking that
recovery? Basically? You know, it's pretty much you know, once again,
it was an anabolic steroid that was legal, okay, that would assistant
recovery from training and whatever it was. And it wasn't performance enhancing. It
was just you were still currently taking HGH human growth hormone. Yes. And
how long, to the best of your recollection, have you been taking HGH?
Probably four to five years. Is that provided to you by doctor proper,
No, sir, that's provided you by doctor by the doctor of the
vitality wellness yes or Wolfstein thank you. Where you're currently taking to stosterone or
to stosterone product? Yes? And how long have you been taking that same
amount of time? And is that also provided to you to do that by
the same doctor. Yes, you mentioned that you were taking DHA. Yes,
and how long have you been taking that? It all comes from him
the same amount of time. It's a vitamin supplement. Okay. Have you
ever taken something called hCG? Yes? And what is hCG? It is
human why? Which is as you cycle or as you there's an amount of
time as your as you're monitored by the doctor and your blood is checked,
there's an amount of time where you're not supposed to be taking the testosterone and
you're supposed to be taking the h hCG. It's a cycle that they use
when the doctor is checking your blood to keep your levels normal, so to
keep you as as healthy as possible. Okay, how long have you been
taking hCG. I haven't taken it for a while, so I don't know.
It has prescribed to me about the same amount of time. Okay.
And also by the same doctor. Yes, have you taken something called genotropin
that's the same as a thing as genotropin? Thank you? And have you
taken something called our throw tech? I did, but I quit taking it.
It's an anti inflammatory like maloxacam. You can't take both them the same
time. We've talked about a number of these products. Has any physician ever
told you that any of those products that we have just been talking about can
have an adverse effect in your bones or the tissues associated with your spine or
back. No, sir, there is, mister Blair, as you likely
know, an allegation, the complaint that has been filed in your behalf about
an authorized publication of name or likeness by Leaser Spine Institute. Are you're familiar
with that generally? Yes? Oh right, the complaint and I'm not reading
it word for word. I'm just going to give you the justify, may
and if you would like some more explanation, please ask me. The gist
of part of the allegation is that the Laser Spine Institute used your name and
likeness without your permission in promotional materials. Yeah, your understanding of the allegation?
Yes, okay, what is your understanding of the way in which Laser
Spine Institute, according to you, used your name or likeness in a way
that you didn't authorize. One of my attorneys, David Houston, made me
aware that I was promoting Laser Spine on their website, okay, and the
best of my recollection. I signed an eight by ten picture for them to
hang on their wall of fame or wall of shame, or whatever you they
call it. I don't authorizing them to use my image and likeness for publicity
to promote their business, so I don't recall that, you know, okay,
Did anyone ever show you any sort of an authorization which appears to have
your signature on it, which you authorize the Laser Spine Institute to use your
picture or your likeness. Yes, my lawyers did. When they did show
when did your lawyers show you that? David Houston sent me a copy of
what was on the website, and then I saw it here when we were
getting ready for this case. Say a couple of things, if I may
too, Maybe it will ease our conversation here, mister Balaya. First,
I believe, Madam Court Reporter, our next numbered exhibit would be Exhibit their.
I think that's right. So let me show you what will mark is
Exhibit thirteen. Exhibit thirteen marked for identification. This is a two page document.
Let me provide a copy to you one for your lawyers. This was
also attached to your complaint. This is a the two pages of Exhibit thirteen,
or firstly a letter of March thirteen, twenty eleven, from the laws
of David R. Houston and miner Nevada to the Laser Spine Institute, and
the second page appears to be a copy of an ad a page a print
from a computer screen regarding the Laser Spine Institute with your picture in a quote.
Do you see that? Yes? I do? Okay. First of
all is the letter of the March twenty third, twenty eleven letter from mister
Houston, the one you were describing a moment ago. Yes, all right,
And it's the copy of the page or the screen which is attached to
this letter and part of Exhibit thirteen. The use of your likeness or picture
by Laser Spine Institute that you contend you didn't authorize. Yes, okay,
there is a photo there on this page, and that appears to be a
photo of you. Correct. Yes, you recall posing for that photograph.
I doesn't look like I'm unposed. It looks like I'm looking over something.
It doesn't. I don't usually pose that way, so it doesn't look posed.
It's like something maybe they took when I was walking broad. I didn't
mean to get hung up on the word. Do you remember anyone taking this
picture? No, I don't. Do you remember giving your permission for anyone
at the Laser's Spine Institute take any pictures of you? Yeah? I took
pictures of several of the nurses and doctors. They told me they've been fans,
so I'll pose for several pictures. Sure were some of those pictures once
in which you were pictured by yourself without anyone else like a nurse or a
doctor. No, okay, you did not pose or allow any singular photographs
of you to be taken often, I recall. Okay, let me show
you what will Mark has Exhibit fourteen. Exhibit fourteen marks identification. This has
been previously produced and bears a numbering system in the lower right hand corner.
Mister p of LSI zero zero zero seven zero seven one zero. There's a
copy for your lawyers. Does this exhibit appear to be in your handwriting?
Oh yeah, and it says to LSI, thanks for getting me back underlined
on track. Oh hoken, correct, that's what it says, Nicole,
When you wrote this to the best of my recollection. I signed a on
an eight by ten like two l side to marriage Jane, just an autograph
on a picture to hang on their wall of fame. Okay, so it's
your recollection that this handwritten message here to Delasi, thanks for getting me back
on track. It is one that you signed. It an eight by ten
photograph of yourself to the best not recollections. The photograph that you signed the
same one that is shown in the second page of Exhibit thirteen that we were
just looking at a moment ago. Well, I don't recall sign him out.
Well, okay, it's possible, but I don't recall signing it.
You have a recollection of what the photograph looks like that you signed for Laser's
Fine Institute and wrote on it to LSI, thanks for getting me back on
track. No. Yeah, they get to ask me to bring one in,
and I kept forgetting every time i'd come in. And I've got several
promotional eight by tens. I don't know which one it was that I signed,
but there are several of the of them where I pose with the red
and yellow wrestling stuff unlet they wanted. Okay, so would it be fair
to say that since you told us they asked you if you could bring one
in. You agreed to bring in a photograph, and you forgot a number
of times and then finally brought one in. That you brought the signed autograph
in sometime after sometime during your care and treatment at Laser Spine Institute, but
after your initial appointments. Well, that'd be fair to say. Let me
show you what we will mark as Exhibit fifteen. Exhibit fifteen mark for identification.
This has been previously produced in the case sir. This is a two
page document. It bears in the lower right hand corner again the same sort
of numbering system. This one is LSI seven O eight and seven O nine.
There you go. Here's a copy for council. Have you seen this
two page document entitled Authorization for Use and Disclosure of Protected Health Information before Yes.
If we look near the bottom in the right hand page side of the
first page of Exhibit fifteen LSI seven O eight, there is a signature.
Does that appear to be your signature? Looks a copy of my signature?
Yes? Okay. If we look on the second page, about two thirds
of the way down the page, this would be an LSI seven O nine.
There is what appears to be a signature next to the typewritten words patient's
signature. Does that appear to be your signature? Who? Yeah, it
looks like another copy of my signature. Okay. There's other writing on here
that's not my writing. Okay, So the handwritten words Terry boleyan printing which
appear on seven to eight and seven or nine are not your handwriting? Correct?
Yeah? And the exs aren't mine either, Okay? In the exs
do you think those were placed by someone else? Yeah? I don't do
exits. Okay, do you think that you signed this authorization for him?
What? I think you're asking me? Yes? I think if I would
have signed this, I would have written a testimonial in there. If I
was signing a testimonial, Why would I sign something and have someone else fill
my words in If there's no testimonial, I don't No, I don't think
I signed it. Answer a question, no, do you think is it
your testimonial? Under the oath? That you think that Exhibit fifteen, LSI,
seven to eight and seven or nine are forgeries? Are false fraud documents?
I don't know what legal definition constitutes fraud, but I'm saying, this
is a copy of my signature, and I don't know if I signed it,
because it's a copy of my signature which could have been gotten from the
computer screen I was signing for other documents there. And whether it's fraud or
not, I can't be the judge of that because I don't know what legally
constitutes fraud. Okay, do you think that someone else took your signature or
a copy of your signature and put it on Exhibit fifteen these two pages without
your knowledge? That's one option. Yeah, Okay, what are the other
options? Well, the other options are I don't know what the other options
are. The other options could be Any's it possible that you sign this document
in these two places yourself in voluntarily? Repeat the question again, yes,
Is it possible that you signed this document yourself voluntarily? I would say no
unless I filled them the testimonial or the know my name and anything. With
this big of a company, I probably would have definitely have run by my
attorney because this is a major company that was advertising internationally, and with the
liability at risk here, I would have Yeah, I'm sure there's a copy
with my lawyer. If I did sign this, And did you learn that
the Laser Spine Institute advertises internationally? Well, if they have articles, and
you've seen articles on flights when I was flying overseas that had Laser Spine advertising
and the inserts of the airplanes. So I figured, since the magazine is
going to a different country, that would be called international. Okay, Yeah,
you signed the advertised magazines after you went to the Laser Spine Institute for
the first time. Correct, Oh, I don't recall. Well, didn't
you tell us yesterday that when mister Chapman and you had a conversation by telephone
when you were on your way from doctor your reband, doctor Valet, that
mister Chapman told you about the Laser Spine Institute and you had never heard of
them before. I don't know who they were. I had seen LSI when
I was flying on Chapman's plane. They were always in with all of us.
Whatever his company is, Auto Trader, you know, whatever his company
is. So I had no idea what elis I was. But I've seen
the advertisement on Steve Chapman's planes, the private planes. He would let me
use you agree, and please take your time and read this, mister Palia.
Would you agree that Exhibit fifteen, this two paid, two page authorization
does provide authorization for use of your likeness on the LSI website. Let me
ob jack that calls for a legal conclusion. Go ahead, sir. In
my opinion, I don't know what legally the answer is, but in my
opinion, I think this gives the right to my likeness in whatever written testimonial
should have been written on this paper. Well, let's look at on the
first page under the bold entries is my home, city, state, and
country. If outside the USA, would you agree that Exhibit fifteen reads I
understand the above protected health information PHI, called media information, constitutes use and
disclosure of my PHI for which I must provide authorization to LSI. I understand
that once this media information is obtained, LSI may use it for purposes deemed
appropriate in this individual case, will include the hanging of provided photos and testimonial
in any LSI facility along with the name surgical treatment is listed above in home
city, state, and country. In addition, the posting of provided photos
in the LSI website along with the name surgical treatment is listed above and home
city, state, and country. My signature below authorizes LSI to use and
disclose my media information as described above. Do you agree that I've correctly read
that portion? Yeah, you correctly read. Okay. If we go down
to about three quarters of the way down the page, mister Palaia, the
second to less sentence above the signature line, please confirm that I read this
correctly. The document reads quote, I understand and agree that I will receive
no financial and renumeration for the use and or disclosure of the media information as
described in this authorization closed quote That I read that correctly? Yes, oh,
okay, but we previously marked this Exhibit fourteen. The note in your
writing says to LSI, thanks for getting me back on track, Hogan.
Do you consider that to be a testimonial? No? What do you consider
that to be in the terminological for that to be a personal note to LSI,
Because it's personalized when it says two, But then you took it out
of context when you put it on the website, because you took the two
off and you have laser spinings the dude, thanks for getting me back on
my feet. That makes us sound generic, like it's an endorsement, and
it's not. If you use the whole context of what I wrote. It's
too LSI, it's personalized. If you're going to transcribe it, it should
be verbatim. You can't take words and leave them out or add them and
changes the meaning. Okay, let me ask you, mister Bill la in
your view, since this is your claim, if in this ad that is
or screen that is marked as the second page of the exhibit with your lawyer's
letter, if they're next year picture, rather than saying quote laser spine,
thanks for getting me back on track like it does, if it instead listed
stated to LSI, thanks for getting me back on track, would that be
an acceptable use in your opinion? Well, I wouldn't have done that.
I was going to write a testimonial sign it. I would have written it
here and it would have been different than generic statement. I would have told
you how great the company was, you know how much they helped me.
It would have been It's just I signed a picture different than I do a
testimonial, written testimonial. And is it your claim that LSI improperly used a
photograph of you and improperably used a version of the note that you wrote,
Yes, okay, and in your written complaints you have indicated that this use
that you were just describing by LSI Laser Spine Institute has injured you by constituting
an invasion of your privacy. Can you tell us what you mean by that.
Well, I've had several people come to me since it has been placed,
this ad for Laser Spine, and I've had people ask me if they
should go there. You know. I've had people tell me that they got
bad back surgery there and they financed their home and got no results. You
know, I've had several people to come to me since this ad came out
and asked me about Laser Spine, good and bad. And that's what I
would call an invasion of my privacy. Okay, did any of those folks
that you just describe tell you affirmatively that they went to Laser Spine because you
had endorsed laser Spine. Yes, who are those people? Well, people
have coming to my restaurant across the street. People I've met different places traveling
that I've been with Laser Spine, But mainly the people are coming to my
restaurant because they're right across the street, because it's right across the street from
Laser Spot. Do you have any information about these people, names, addresses,
anything like that. No, I don't attempted to gather information like that
to provide to your lawyers. No, I haven't. If you wanted to
track those people down, how would you do it? I'd probably just not
take that challenge on and just probably go sit in my restaurant for a few
days, and I'm sure someone would come in and say they went across the
street of Laser Spine because of me. I'd probably start over. You know,
I don't know how i'd track down the old patients of Laser Spine.
Okay, you stay in your complaint that Laser Spine's use of these materials has
damaged you by giving a misleading public perception of you as being an endorser of
the services provided by Laser Spine. Correct. Correct, There was a period
of time in which you did endorse the services provided by Laser Spine. Correct
Well, that calls for a legal conclusion. There was a time in which
you talked openly about the fact that Laser Spine Institute had provided you relief.
Well, during the period of time where I was going through the six surgeries,
other than the disappointing day when Saint Louis said after the third surgery,
I can't help you anymore. You know, Breski brought my spirits back up.
During that time when I was going through those six surgeries, I definitely
was very positive and very hopeful and believe that they were going to they were
doing everything they could help me. And on that note, I'm going to
take a break. Bro times when sixteen we're off the record, recess time
is when twenty nine we're back on the record. Continued examination by doctor no
Pick, Mister no Pick, Mister Blaup. You have alleged in your complaint
that LSIS Laser Spine Institute's use of your photo and written message has caused you
loss of income. Can you describe how you have experienced a loss of income
due to the Laser Spine Institute's use of your photograph or message about being put
back on track? If we were doing a business endorsement such as a standard
deal like, for instance, loan Mart which is California only, that's a
foreigner in twenty five thousand, four and fifty thousand deal for California only.
If I was going to endorse a testimonial, I would have a choice of
or an option to make a business deal with LSI. Depending on how many
states they covered, there would be broad strokes of what the deal would be,
So I would consider that a loss of income. In other words,
I just won't. Don't let me put words in your mouth, and I
know you won't. The loss of income that you're describing is the loss of
any fees you would have charged Laser Spine Institute for the use of your picture
and message. That's correct, okay, And since we've talked to I assume
you would agree that you have provided endorsements to other healthcare professionals for use on
their websites, which can be accessed by anyone with a computer free of charge.
For example, doctor Kaphus, No, he's different than a backdoctor.
To me, he was someone like a pain specialist who was trying to help
me get through this. I don't think he was someone that told me he
could fix something and either didn't deliver or didn't tell me the truth like alis
I did. Do you consider doctor Kephis different from doctor Gruber the Laser Spine
Institute. No. I think that doctor Gruber had best intentions of trying to
get me out of pain and trying to help me through all these transitions from
surgery to surgery. And do I take it then from your comment that you
think doctor Saint Louis, doctor Scott, and doctor Breski did not have good
intentions with regard to their surgeries and other care and treatment of you. Well,
I'm of them, so I don't know what their intentions were. But
my opinion is as professional doctors and back doctors, they should have looked at
the film and said, you know, you need a fusion, we can't
help you. And if they had said that to you, if the doctors
at LSI had looked at the films and said to you, you may benefit
from a fusion because you have disc or other back problems at a number of
levels, but we can try something that is much less invasive and less involved
to see if it will reduce your pain. If they had said that to
you, would you have decided that their care was appropriate and not brought a
lawsuit? No, I don't know what I would have what I would have
done at that time if they would have said that. They didn't say that,
and you were certain of that, I'm positive I was. There is
anyone else? Well, first of all, who are the people at the
Laser Spine Institute who you are certain never said to you that you could benefit
from a fusion or you still might need a fusion. That's a double negative
question. I don't understand the question. Okay, who are the people at
Laser Spine Institute that you think should have told you that you needed a fusion
but did not. Well, I think the very first time I met doctor
Saint Louis, who was positioned as the main guy to me, everyone said
he's the genius, the hero. You know, I didn't know doctors.
I don't know who's better than who, but he was positioning to me as
the hero, the man so and I think that he should have told me
that that day, with the knowledge he had by looking at the spine and
looking all the vertebrates out of line, and the scoliosis and the bone on
bone and the distance between the gifts or whatever was wrong on my back.
As a professional doctor, I think he should have been the one to tell
me that, you know, we cannot help you. You know, Okay,
is there anyone else that you think should have told you that, but
you were certain did not tell you that. Well, there's nobody I'm certain
did not. I just don't recall who who else was there that agreed with
him. Okay, do you think it is possible that doctor Saint Louis did
tell you that you still might need a fusion, but that you just don't
remember him telling you that. No, Basically, the only thing I really
heard was it was almost like God was speaking when he said, you know,
you don't need a fusion. I can get you back on the ring
wrestling. That's why immediately switched gears and canceled the fusion, which I had
already planned an hour before, because he told me that. Did you agree,
mister Belaya that when you went to the Laser Spine Institute you were at
that time you were hoping someone would tell you that you didn't need a fusion
because you were concerned about her to going a fusion. Repeat the question,
yes, sir. Do you think, mister Belaya that at the time you
went to the Laser Spine Institute you were looking for someone to tell you you
didn't need a few because you were concerned about her to going a fusion at
that time. No, I had heard so many opinions that I need a
fusion, I need a fusion. I need a fusion from so many doctors.
I never dreamed i'd hear those words. I never dreamed i'd hear i'd
hear I heard, you know, Saint Louis say you don't need a fusion.
I never thought that was going to happen. That was that came was
a huge surprise. That's why I said, oh my god, you know
there is a god in heaven. Before you went to doctor Reband, doctor
Valet, you had received or heard opinions from other spine surgeons that you needed
a fusion. Correct. Correct. One was doctor Moreno. Yeah, who
else? You know? There was another doctor before him that I just don't
have a guy's name. I went to one doctor before Moreno that said I
needed a fusion. Okay, do you recall where that other doctor is located.
Oh, he was in North Tampa in office by Saint John's Joseph's Hospital.
I just remember he had a lab coat on and he was, you
know, he reminded me of Comedian. He looked at my pictures, he
goes, oh my god, you need a fusion. He looked a He
took it so lightly and shocked me. And I remember the guy with his
attitude because I wanted to talk to him really bad and have him explain to
me what was going on. And he just took it like, oh,
it's a big deal. You know you need a fusion. And I said,
well, can we talk about it? He goes, no, make
another appointment. I got patience to see and I just his attitude, the
way he treated me. It was like I was just a number, like
I was just a standard procedure. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you need
a fusion. He blew me off. That's why I went to the next
doctor Moreno. Is that opinion given to you after that doctor whoever he or
she is, looked at films of your spine? Yes, okay, so
you received that opinion that you needed diffusion and you did not follow through on
that and have a fusion with that doctor. Correct. Yeah. I didn't
think I could trust him. Just his attitude. Yes, you had an
opinion from doctor Moreno that you needed effusion and you did not follow through on
that. Correct. How long before you saw doctor Uribe? Was it that
doctor Moreno provided you the opinion that you needed diffusion? I'm sorry to repeat
that. How long before you saw doctor Uribe? Was it that doctor Moreno
suggested you have a fusion the das I saw doctor Marino. He told me
I needed diffusion, and we made an appointment. We made an appointment to
have the fusion dog. Okay, that day I canceled that after us talked,
talked to our rebo. Okay, how long was it that you saw
doctor Moreno and heard his opinion before you saw doctor Uribee. I don't recall
as part of your discussion with miss doctor Moreno, did doctor Morino tell you
that it could take you up to a year to rehabilitate and recover from the
fusion he was recommending. I don't remember those words from Moreno. Do you
remember words to that effect that doctor Moreno stated that your rehabilitation or recovery period
from any fusion that he might perform could take as long as twelve months.
No, I don't recall that. I think we're already established. I'm just
doing this as a foundational matter. We've already established that during the time that
you were at the Laser Spine Institute receiving care from the Laser Spine Institute,
you went to Australia and wrestled in those matches with Rick Flair. Yes,
do you recall that when you came back from Australia and began returning to the
Laser Spine Institute, you went to Tena's Orlando studio and tried to wrestle once
or twice and blew your back out. Oh no, I don't know if
that happen. No, not that I recall. That's all the questions I
have. Thanks for your time, sir, Thank you. I've got a
few could I would you mind if I use one of your exhibit things here?
Have you guys been numbering exhibits in sequential order? Have you been doing
defendants and plaintiffs? Well, we just Eric has been doing one through whatever
for each of the defendants, and and we've just done obviously I through whatever
here. If you want to call it plaintiffs one for this, that's fine
with me. Have you marked the mis defendants? I don't think I said
defendants. I still want to know, you know, who's right or wrong
with this showing a document stuff? What? I still want to know who's
right or wrong? You were him though, these guys. You know we're
showing the people documents, you know, because I still understand what the protocol
is. Oh, I'm right, you're right. Oh, okay, I
figured that I'll get that as I said it in the rule yesterday. Do
you expect a different answer? No, I expected that answer cross examination by
mister Florin. Let me show you what will mark is Exhibit number sixteen,
Exhibit sixteen mark for identification. Does that appear to be your signature or a
copy of your signature? In the bottle of that? Yes? And below
that it says witness and it says Terry Boley as the witness is that you're
printing. No. To the right of Exhibit sixteen, there appears to be
two different signatures. Do you recognize either one of those? Well, Terry,
the Terry signature's mine. The other one is and there's a slash Barbara
right Nelson or something r N. Yeah. I do you know who Barbara
Nelson r N is? No, I don't recall. And this is dated
February twenty eight, two thousand and nine. Yes, and this is a
patient authorization for Use and Disclosure of Protected health information. That's the title at
the top. Yes, okay. Now, the same title exists on Exhibit
number fifteen, does it not at the top Authorization for Use and Disclosure of
protected health information? Yes, yes, all right. Do you notice that
the logo is different at the top of the one number sixteen then the one
on Exhibit fifteen, LSI has a different logo. Yeah, completely different.
Okay, do you know when yourself? Do you know when LSI started one
logo and stop the other logo in their marketing No, I have no idea.
Do you also notice that the facts number is different on Exhibit fifteen than
it is on Exhibit sixteen, Yes, it's different. Do you know when
LSI first started using either one of those facts numbers? No idea. Do
you notice that the font that is being used, in other words, the
type set it's being used on Exhibit sixteen is different from Exhibit fifteen. Yeah,
completely different. And do you notice that whereas Exhibit sixteen, the one
I've just showed you has the name of apparently a nurse at LSI, BARBERA
Nelson or something to that effect, also signed the document, but Exhibit fifteen
does not have anyone from LSI signed the document. Yes, I see that.
In addition to noticing that the logos that LSI is using for marketing purposes
is different, objection to form the facts number that appears on Exhibit fifteen and
sixteen is different, the font type that's used on the two documents is different,
and the fact that one contains a signature and the other doesn't from someone
at LSI. Do you also notice that on Exhibit sixteen it appears that is
made part of a patient chart, where Exhibit fifteen is not. Yeah,
there's no stamp on part of your chart. Objection to form? Yes,
all right now. When David Houston, in March of twenty eleven, referring
to Exhibit thirteen, sends a letter to LSI requesting any documents authorizing the use
of your likeness or your name to promote LSI, are you aware that LSI
didn't send him anything back, but instead removed you from their website. No
object to the form. I wasn't aware of that. Are you aware that,
prior to filing the lawsuit that we made a request for any documents for
authorization and we're not provided Exhibit fifteen? The defense counsel has asked you about
well, wait a minute, are you asking your client to testify to communications
you and he have had. I'm asking about his knowledge as to whether or
not he knows whether or not we were provided by LSI Exhibit fifteen, which
purports to be an authorization. Well, I'm assuming that he would have learned
that from you. I didn't, But if you want to wave it,
that's fine. An object to the relevance what he knows or doesn't know about
that whole process is irrelevant to anything. What was a question? I'm sorry.
Are you're aware of whether or not we received anything prior to the filing
of the lawsuit. No, I'm not with regard to Exhibit fifteen, No,
I wasn't. Let's talk about when you went to LSI and you had
mentioned earlier in your direct questions by defense counsel that you signed something on some
type of credit card pad. I think is the way you describe it.
Do you recall that testimony? Yeah, it was during the surgeries when they
were prepping me and getting me ready to take When they were prepping me getting
me ready to go into surgery, there was it looked like an iPhone but
bigger, you know. And I had a lady to the ride of me
that was facing her computer, you know, and she just kept changing the
page on the computer. And I assume they were all still you know,
they were all stuff that had to be signed for the surgery. Now I
signed my name over and over again. She'd go sign it. Then she'd
change the page, she'd go sign it. So I signed several things with
an electronic iPhone looking pad with my name. Okay, let's talk about the
seating sequence here, And this would have been all the surgeries, including the
first one where you'd sit. You're seated there and signing on an iPad type
of thing. Yeah, I know. It's always the same lady in the
same seat and actually like it had arm pads for blood pressure, and it
faced this way. You know, she sat this way facing her computer screen,
and as I signed things all right, Now, were you looking at
the computer screen? No, in order for you to look at the computer
screen, would you have had to go around her desk and look over her
shoulder what she was having you signed? Well, you either that or just
lean over and crank my head to watch what was going on. But I
was just would it have been readable on the screen from where you were sitting
without going around and looking at it? Oh, I have no idea.
I didn't look all right, So the sequence is that she's putting something up
and saying signed and you signed the iPad thing right or iPhone type thing,
and then she puts some other document up and says sign right, and puts
another one up and says sign and so on. Correct. All right,
And I understand your testimony to be that this to LSI, thanks for getting
me back on track. Hulk Hogan on Exhibit fourteen came off of a picture
that you got from your own home and gave to them for use of putting
you up on their will. To the best of my recollection, they kept
asking for an eight by ten and I'll eventually sign a picture for their wall,
okay, saying thanks all right? And would you have written this big
on the picture or would you have written that in smaller? No, this
is a size of an eight by ten picture, you know, so it
would be written at the top or down in the corner. But it would
have been written this big, otherwise you wouldn't see the picture, okay,
So someone would have had to enlarge this Exhibit thirteen. Yes, And when
you said that with a company this size, you would have have your lawyers
look at any endorsement situation. And you mentioned the fact that there is someplace
in California that pays you four hundred and twenty five thousand dollars. Do you
recall that testimony? Yeah, And there is a company called loan Mart and
that specifically services the southern California area. And they're a loan out company that
I indorse and I get paid for the endorsement. It's the four hundred and
twenty five thousand dollars. Was that a one time deal or is that an
annual situation? It's annual? Okay, So that's four hundred and twenty five
thousand dollars annually for that one state for purposes of your endorsement. Yes,
all right. When mister Chapman said, why don't you stop by LSI,
did he tell you that he was an owner an investor in the company.
No, he didn't. Have you ever talked to him about whether or not
he's an owner or investor in the company. Never, as he ever volunteered
to you that he's an owner or investor in the company. No. The
first visit, when doctor Saint Louis is telling you that you don't need a
fusion, who all is in the room? My wife, Jennifer, a
Todd farmer, myself, the best of my recollection my daughter Brooke, Saint
Louis, to the best of my recollection, Gruber and a bunch of people
with suits, like very expensive suits on the back. They could have been
doctors if what I remember. You know, they were introduced as owners of
the company. Okay, how many guys are women that are introduced to you
are as owners of the company. Were in there object to the farm?
Mistakes the test, and I remember I remember two to three men that were
dressed very impressively said they were owners of the company. Did it occurred to
you at the time or seem to you at the time, that you were
there for a medical appointment with a doctor that there would be business people from
LSI that would be in the room with you while they're discussing your personal health
information object to the farm join. No, I didn't think about it.
I was there to see doctor Saint Louis, and I just figured they were
all wrestling fans or they were there to help me. At the time.
I was just I had never been in a hospital or an area like that.
I was impressed. So the doctors were dressed almost like p Diddy or
something. They had They had immacula looking clothes on and I just figured these
guys were the cutting edge guys. I mean, I just I was just
there to get help. I wasn't evaluating you. Who was there and for
what reason? I mean, when you went to see doctor Uribay earlier that
day and he talked to you about the need for a fusion, were there
any marketing people or business people from Tampa General in suits or USF and suits
in the room object to the form. No, you know, they were
all in doctor artifice with doctor hats on. They looked like, you know,
they were working. Brother. Did doctor Saint Louis tell you at any
time when he said you don't need a fusion that he himself nor anyone at
LSI could do a fusion at LSI that they couldn't even do that or perform
that surgery at LSI I was never mentioned. Did doctor Saint Louis or anyone
a day LSI ever tell you that as a matter of state law they couldn't
perform a fusion at LSI. No, did they ever tell you that,
as a matter of state law that they couldn't perform multi level surgery at LSI
object on the farm as opposed to one level at a time. Well,
not the first day, but after the first surgery, Saint luc had me
he should have gotten more aggressive and done the other level. Okay, But
did he tell you that he couldn't have done those two even though he may
have said that that he couldn't have done those two levels at the same time
because he was prohibited from doing that. No, he never said that.
Did he tell you that he was prohibited at LSI from performing surgery that required
instrumentation, such as you had with the fusion. No. Did he tell
you at all that during the surgery that you would be given an interoperative steroid
bath and that is the reason why you feel great for the first couple days,
and as the steroids whereof you progressively feel more pain and other problems.
No, he never mentioned a steroid bath. Did he ever mention to you
the fact that they only do patient surveys at LSI during the acute period right
after the surgery, and that there's no surveys done for patient outcomes or patient
satisfaction more than thirty days afterward, at the time that their steroid baths wear
off. Did he tell you anything like that object under the farm. No.
If he had told you all of the things that I just said,
the questions I just had for you, would you have had a different feeling
about what doctor Saint Louis was telling you about not needing a fusion object to
the form. Yes, let's talk about the what's the TENA contract? What
exhibit number was that? This was number eight? I think let me double
check, yes, number eight. You were asked about the TNA contract that
you signed when you went to work for them, had a one point five
million dollars guaranteed minimum. Do you recall that question? Yes, In fact,
the contract doesn't provide for one point five million. It provides for one
point It provides for one million, Yes, five hundred thousand dollars for talent
appearance fee and five hundred thousand dollars for income participation and that five hundred plus
five hundred totals one million. Correct. Yes, And so I guess mathematically
the difference between your testimony regarding the ww minimum money that you would have made
two million dollars versus the contract with TNA of a million is not five hundred
thousand dollars difference. It's a million dollar difference. Well, I would have
been a minimum, Okay, you know for WWE, and I would have
been wrestling, so it would have been above and beyond because the wrestling money,
you know, plus the wrestling generates more revenue with licensing and merchandising.
So yes, the minimum was much different. Could you talk about what would
have been involved above the minimum in terms of the money that had the ww
agreement been executed, that you would have made and how the money would have
been made in other words, you talked about you talked about wrestling. Yes,
how do you get above the minimum in terms of wrestling? Well,
they have twelve pay per views a year, and when I was wrestling,
or when I would wrestle or when I was going to wrestle, I would
participate in a majority of the pay per views, and usually the revenue was
between seven hundred thousand and one point five million, you know, one point
six million per night. That's one example of revenue above and beyond the guarantee.
And then the merchandise, which is generated by your popularity and your consistent
appearances on TV. When you're wrestling, the merchandise numbers jump up dramatically.
So when I was wrestling before, I mean, you know, for Vince,
the checks were between four hundred and five hundred grand per quarter, and
that was in the eighties, and entering into that same type of agreement would
have provided that much more, you know, that much money or more above
and beyond the guaranteed two million. That's how the extra money above and beyond
would have been generated. You mentioned the fact that you weren't planning to wrestle
three hundred nights a year. No, what did you and mister mcmahn envisioned
from an actual wrestling standpoint, starting with a match against John Cena, what
would you have envisioned? How many times a year would you have actually wrestled
and what would that have translated to from a money standpoint? Objection to the
forum speculative, you know, well, a minimum of four pay per views.
It could have been as many as ten, but I doubt it,
you know, minimum of four to six, let's say, And it would
have you know, that actual revenue if you want to say that, the
seven hundred would have been a base from any my previous pay would have changed
the numbers drastically. Plus, you know, when you wrestle and you're on
TV wrestling, TV wrestling, it changes the amount of merchandise the amount of
licensing deals you get in ther placement as far as a priority of or a
pecking order. When you wrestle, you're pretty much moved up the ladder of
the pecking order to the upper ech E colons of of priorities as far as
making deals. So it changes the numbers drastically across the board. Okay,
so it changes the income you're making off the wrestling itself as well as the
income you're making off the merchandise. Yes, okay. Did you have a
goal or a plan that you thought was reasonable in terms of for how many
years you would be wrestling starting in two thousand nine or two thousand and ten
with WWE, where you would actually be in the ring wrestling, Well,
I knew for shri at five, you know, praying for ten, depending
on how you know things went as far as my in ring look in fact,
even five in terms of the five years, even as recently as two
weeks ago, which would be roughly five years from when Summers Slam in two
thousand and nine would have occurred. You volunteer to wrestle in Japan? Yeah,
you know, in me just being there, change and numbers drastically from
the night before that I went when I wasn't there, and it should have
gone you know, it should have gone down. But what I was trying
to say before you are rudely interrupted by your lawyer. You were trying to
say, go ahead. I was trying to say, was five years for
sure, in ten years, depending on my in ring presence and my look.
All I can say is that by the way I look now. You
know, if you if you look at pictures of me in the early eighties
and the ring standing there with my shirt off, I looked the same or
better now with my shirt off standing there in wrestling gear than I did back
then, because my body is more cut and I'm built better than I was
back then, because my body is matured and I got a lot of the
baby fat off me. So I don't know how long the wrestling would have
went. I know for sure five years. I just don't know if that
would have been That would have been hopefully a graceful exchange between Vince and I
deciding on the winding down on my inn ring. Now, you talked about
the fact that there was the draft contract that you and mister McMahon were basing
this two thousand nine discussion on is the two thousand and five draft that was
never executed, and you talked about the fact that it was the two thousand
and five was a twenty year contract, but then you also mentioned that the
two thousand nine deal would have been a twenty five year contract. Do you
recall that testimony? Yes? Did you explain how that came about and why
the difference in the five years, Well, whether I was dead or alive,
you know, wrestling or not wrestling, Vince wants the intellectual property to
create new product, a new licensing deals with my name and brands, and
so in casual conversation, you know, when we brought up the twenty year
deal, he said, he said, well, I'd rather have twenty five
years and twenty so working for it on map basis. That's what I was
planning on, was using Scena as the springboard, you know, in a
perfect world, you know, Saint Louis fixing my back correctly the first time,
like he said he could, you know, perfect world, being cleared
to wrestle because he said, I would be ready to wrestle with Sena,
you know, would be the springboard for my wrestling events, which would launch
all the merchandising and licensing. So that was a basic outline if things were
to work out perfectly with LSI. Now I don't know if I answered the
question or not. We let me ask the question a little differently. If
you had not been talked out of the fusion with doctor Uribay by the defendant,
doctor Saint Louis, and you had gone ahead and gun through the fusion
surgery, what would the outcome have been with mister McMahon your talks and when
would the wrestling the main event issue have first occurred to form object, to
form unintelligible leading. Well, iould have done the same thing I did with
the fusion. I would have had a fusion. The outcome would have been
the same. I would have told Vince that I was having the fusion.
He always works backwards. He could just readjust the time frame if he knew
what was going on with me, and if he knew, you know,
when i'd be healthy enough to rustle, whether it be a four to six
month period of time, when I was ready, you know, in about
four months after this fusion, I felt great, and we would have adjusted
the timeframe. The deal would would have went through. It would have been
given more time to plan the licensing and the merchandising in the launch of my
brand, and I should have been in the main event in SummerSlam with the
window that has since has happened since I've had the fusion this time. Now
I know that the window would have been in four months, and I didn't
pursue that because I believed that Saint Louis could fix me, and he said
I didn't need a fusion, So that's where I was at. Are you
able to tell us spaced on the discussions that you had with mister McMahon as
well as you understanding of the basis of the two thousand and five contract which
was being discussed again in two thousand and nine, and also using your experience
from your earlier years with WWE, what type of revenue would you have been
able to generate for each main event you would have been doing That was a
summers lamb or WrestleMania objection and other words above the minimum appearance fee calls for
complete speculation. Well, all I can tell you is things haven't changed.
But I was a host of WrestleMania thirty. I walked out in front of
eighty thousand people and it was the loudest moment of the Wrestlemanian of nine.
So I've been on running that raw several times. It's been the highest peak
rating for that quarter hour and for a minute by minute, because we watched
the numbers. And when I went to Japan, I went into a situation
that was supposed to be tapering off and totally upended it and made things go
the other way where the buildings should have been worse than the night before,
and it was twice as good as the night before. So if I was
a based on I was a based on the future, hypothetically on things still
working now and Hulk Hogan still being a main event star and focus. You
know, there were times when I was in WW I was making a meal
dollars a month, So I mean those were numbers that are reasonable if I
was healthy during that period and I would have been back to work during that
period. Are those numbers achieved by being in the main event? You getting
a percentage of the gate and the pay per view revenue on top of the
pearance fee. I don't know how. I don't know how that works.
Nobody's really figured that out yet. All I know is Vince decides what to
and how to pay you. Yeah, I'm sure there's a percentage he pays
a talent. I'm sure with the pay per view buys, there's a big
difference in your payday if you have a half million buys or a million buys.
Now, I don't know what that percentage is, but Vince makes a
final executive decision on who gets what and what and who gets paid. But
all I know are the numbers I was paid in the past, like the
last pay per view I worked for Vince. No, you know, I
take that back that the last Russell Mania I worked for Vince where I was
not the main event. I was the semi main event. I got paid
seven hundred grand and I wasn't even the main event. Now, this discussion
that you and Defense counsel have had about doctor Gruber for this A and E
special Finding Hulk Hogan, where he apparently other talks about aggressive more aggressive therapy
that may be needed or affusion that may be needed, that would have been
in February two thousand and ten when Finding Hulk Cogan was being filmed. Correct,
Correct, That wasn't a conversation that you had with Gruber. The first
time you went to LSI in February of two thousand and nine. No,
it wasn't in By February of two thousand and ten, year window with ww
had long closed. Yes, could you Could you explain the difference between being
able to wrestle as a main event on a w W pay per view and
wrestling with Rick Flair in Australia? Oh yeah, there are apples and oranges.
Now you can't compare them. How about physically, could you explain if
there's a difference. Well, yeah, so physically there's no risk with Rick
Flair because he knows my limitations. And I talked to him before I go
in the ring. I say, hey, you know, don't pick me
up, don't drop me on my head, don't slam me. Brother.
Anytime I go down, it has to be under my own control. You
know, I can't run from corner to corner. I might take a few
steps and lean with momentum, but I can't run, so don't throw me
to the rope. So everything was calculated with Rick, you know. And
I've wrestled him so many times. Your Rick has been in the ring so
much he knows how to turn them out. Dial up turn the dial down,
you know, if the dial was turned way down. Now, if
you watch all four matches, which I'm sure you have copies of, they're
all the same. Each match was identical. If you watch all four,
you know, maybe there's a misstep here or a misstep there, but everything
pretty much is the same storyline. So if you go into a main event
match of the WWE, if you go into a main event match, you've
got to put it in high gear. You have to adapt I'll call audibles
like I did with The Rock. You have to change the plan. You
have to get overly aggressive to get the crowd, you have to beat on
people harder to get reactions. You know, it's not even in the same
it's not even the same physicality wise. Is there an expectation that Vince mcmanonon
WWE? Is there an expectation that Vince McMahon and ww have that you were
able to perform at a main event level for them or him to put you
in a main event Object to the forum, Object to the forum. Yes,
there is, you know, And when I talked to Vince about wrestling
The Rock, the last thing I remember him saying on the phone is if
you're coming back here, you better bring it, which means you better be
able to push hard and keep up. And that is the theme when you're
there. If you can't go hard and you can't keep up with whoever it
was in the rings, such as the young guys, the stronger guys,
the faster guys, you don't belong there. What would you have been paid
for WrestleMania twenty six or twenty seven had you been able to go through with
the WW contract object to the form? For those events, what would the
range of income to you have been? You're talking about different after oh nine.
Yeah, for WrestleMania two ten, WrestleMania two thousand and eleven, WrestleMania
two thousand and twelve, WrestleMania Well, you know, I don't remember the
buy rates. I don't know how big the stadiums are, the arenas.
But let me let me have you assumed the by rates for WrestleMania in those
years were around nine hundred thousand to one million. And and I was a
made event? Yes, objection, Well, the byre was one million.
I was a made event. I would say it would be between one million
one point two five million. And how about if you had. In addition
to performing Wrestling Mania, had performed in two other pay per views during the
year that we're you know whatever, the tell me what the likely names of
those would have been. Well, there's a couple of big ones, you
know, Summer Slam, King of the Ring. If I perform in those,
the money would be higher than some of the other ones. You they
have the tables, ladders, and chairs, pay per view match, you
know, they got gosh, there's so many of them, I can't remember
all the names will be the minimum numbers have been for those of the for
two of those types of matches each year. Objection, you know, for
Summer Slam or in King of the Ring you're talking about the other ones.
Talk about the two others will finish with SummerSlam, So the two others,
the best estiment I could give could be around seven hundred grand, okay,
for each, Well, if I was the main event, if I was
an off the main event, which it hasn't happened, Yeah, you know,
for each it would be could be maybe five hundred grand. But the
last time I was paid around five hundred grand was in nineteen eighty three.
Okay, you know that was always the main event. Yeah, pretty much
so as long as I can remember, you know, except for the match
with the Rock, where when I was the semi main event and I got
paid seven hundred grand. And how about for Summer Slam, And let me
have you assumed that Summer Slam at two thousand and nine head around three hundred
fifty thousand or three hundred eighty thousand pay per view buys. Well, that
wouldn't happen. It's ever been that low. If you're involved, Oh,
if I'm involved. But the one that occurred in the summer with whoever was
the main event in the summer of two thousand nine, those were the numbers
three hundred fifty thousand, three hundred and eighty thousand. Yeah, I get
I get it. I get it. Well, it depends on if I
was in the main of vent or not. You know, if those were
the numbers three eighty and I was involved, gosh like six hundred and seven
hundred grand. But I would have to think the numbers would be a little
bit higher than that. Based on your experience and knowledge, What would the
numbers have been for Summer Slam two thousand nine if you were the main event
the pay per view numbers, My best estimate would be probably be half a
million buys. And yeah, because because I'd be coming back, i'd be
you know, i'd be the you know things would put a rocket on my
back, and I'll be my first time back there in a long time.
And he'd promoted correctly. All right, that's I think. That's all I
have. These folks in suits, did any of them introduce themselves to you
as owners of LSI? Or were they introduced to you as one of the
LSI owners at this first February visit the first time you were at LSI.
Yes, And do you remember if there was more than one that was introduced
as an owner that was present in a suit or just one person? Now
there are two or three. And I remember one of the guys said he
was from Aspen or he asked me if I had a place in Aspen.
I remember because I'd never been to asprom Colorado, But yeah, I met
him. I'm out. A couple of people have said they were owners.
They didn't even introduce themselves as people from the marketing department or the business department.
I don't recall that. Okay, it's all I have. Thank you.
Redirect examination by mister Train mister Balaia on Exhibit sixteen, which your counsel
marked. This document was a release so you could talk about your medical condition
and my clients could talk about your medical condition for your reality show. Isn't
that right? Oh? You know it seems to be that way, Yes,
it does seem to be that way. This has got nothing to do
with anything regarding putting your name or your likeness up for a you know,
a testimonial. This was created at your request or the request of the producers
of your reality show so we could share information about your health to third parties.
Right. Oh, well that's a possibility. Yes, it could have
been a late you know you've been laser spine wanting to participate in the show
too. I'm not sure who asked for this. Well, you may not
be sure who asked for it, but I can represent to you that nobody
at LSI calls themselves uh Fresh Horses Group or Pink Sneakers you would Can you
go with that? Can you go with me on that question? Yes,
yes I can. That's companies that you were related to that produced your your
television show, right, yes, And in answering your attorney's questions. You're
not saying that you were upset by the fact that there were some folks in
the room who might have had suits on discussing or listening to doctor Saint Louis
talk about your proposed treatment. That's not anything that bothered you as it.
No, okay, I mean your health condition is no secret to anyone in
the continental United States who gets VH one, right, I mean people who
watch your shows have heard about your health condition. Well, if you believe
what's on TV. I guess you know you have an opinion from watching entertainment
show, But I don't think they know exactly what my health condition is.
Well, are you saying that you did not discuss your back condition during the
two seasons of Brookno's Best in detail? Those are your words. I never
said that. I said that no one who watches the reality show knows the
truth or exactly what my health condition is. I said nothing about my back
or any of those words that you just used. Did you share information about
your back condition to the audiences of Brookno's Best, Well, you see,
they's all sneak peaks of surgeries and discussions and partial themes of back related situations.
Yes, and that involved you discussing your back. I want again,
please, brother, I said they saw sneak peaks of surgeries and discussions and
partial themes of back related situations, and that involves you discussing your back situation
in some form, some manner with different people, maybe Brooke or Todd Farmer
or physicians. Yeah, what would the underlying theme of it being entertainment generated?
Yes, I mean you keep saying entertainment generated. I don't know why
you're making that distinction, because I'm trying to make you understand that anything you
read on TV that you present here as facts, anything that you hear on
the radio that you come in here and present it's facts, or anything that
you see on TV, especially when I've already told you it's a scripted,
a lively scripted. It's not real. You know, it's off the word
real. It's reality real like it's a reality show. It's a reality show.
None of that is facts. So that's all I want you to understand.
You can so I can understand what you're trying to ask me. I
mean, I guess I assumed that when I see you on television talking to
your daughter about Hey, I don't want to have a fusion. I'd rather
do something a little less severe and have another alternative. I assume you're being
honest. Am I a fool for that? Well, no, you're not
a fool. You're supposed to be entertained for that, So I don't want
you ever to feel like a fool. You were asked a number of questions
about how doctor Saint Louis didn't tell you he could perform a fusion. Do
you remember that? No, he never mentioned that, right? Well,
did he ever mention he couldn't perform a knee operation or Hannah will repair a
torn oblique muscle? Did he ever tell you he couldn't do those things?
He never said he could grow hair on my grow my hair bag, or
make the perfect example. I mean, there's a lot of things he didn't
say. I'm just answering the questions asked. Bright, you already knew at
least three doctors who could perform a fusion on you by the time you even
arrived in doctor Saint Louis's office, Right, yes, sir. And then
you were asked about your contract concerning the TNA deal and the w W deal,
And you were asked a number of questions about the minimum amount of money
that you would have received under the WW deal. And would you wouldn't you
agree with me that those that the TNA contract was similar in that there were
other ways for you to make money under that TNA deal besides the guaranteed payments.
The verbiage was similar. The company wasn't similar, I understand, but
the contract said there was in addition to the one million dollars it guaranteed you,
there were additional appearance fees for TNA. Correct. Yes, there was
some back end income participation five percent of all gross income correct, yes,
and there was merchandise royalties wrecked. Yes, all right, so at least
the opportunity was there in two thousand and nine when you signed that contract.
Hypothetically you could have made more money with TNA than you could have made with
WWE. Well, it's not true. So the opportunity was not there.
You know, the words were there on the contract, but there was never
an opportunity. There was never a back end share. No, never made
any money. They made one T shirt a year, which there's no way
you can ever make more money than the WW with just selling. You know,
would just make a one T shirt a year and all this participation never
happened. Though. There were words, but well they were words in a
contract with which you signed, right. Yes, Now, mister Florin asked
you what your goal was for in his words, your goal in two thousand
and nine and two thousand and ten, but actually wrestling in the ring,
and you said you had five years hopefully tend you would call that response.
Yes. Did you ever call Vince at any point after WrestleMania, between WrestleMania
and Summer Slam, after Summer Slam of two thousand nine, before WrestleMania two
thousand and ten, did you ever call Vincent and say, let's get this
thing going, let's do it, let's try to back end this, let's
restart negotiations. Did you ever do that? No? Okay, and even
today or two thirteen, when you signed the contract with WWE, which you
have testified would have been a twenty five year contract in two thousand nine,
but for the negligence of my clients, when you were signed to WWE,
you were not signed for twenty five years or twenty years or fifteen ten or
even five years. You send a contract in two thirteen for three years.
Isn't that the case? Repeat the question. Please, sure you testified that
you have signed You could have signed a twenty five year contract in two thousand
nine with VINS, A twenty five year contract, yes, okay, Now
you have signed a contract in twenty thirteen with VINS, right, yes,
And that contract is not for twenty five years, twenty years, fifteen years,
ten years, or even five years, is it? No, it's
not. And when you were making a million dollars a month to WCW,
which you used sort of as a benchmark to determine what your future earnings would
be. What years was it you were making You were working at WW earning
approximately one million dollars a month. All's mid late nineties. And what would
be your best estimate of when the last year was that you made a million
dollars per month in the wrestling business just form mer wrestling activities and royalties and
things like that. Well, I would have no idea what month that would
be, but year would it be? Probably late nineties? Okay, it
could be your two thousand, I don't remember when the WCW thing ran out?
Testified you last work WrestleMania and you got seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars
and you were not even the main event. You just told mister Florin that.
No, I didn't. You didn't say that. No, you said
the last WrestleMania I worked, I got seven hundred and fifty thousand, and
I was not the main event. Did I write that down? Wrong?
Oh? You're down rong? Okay, what was your testimony in that regard?
My testimony was the last Trestlemania, I wrestled against the Rock, I
was off the main event and I got seven hundred thousand. Okay, what
year was that? It was ten years ago? So estimate ten years ago.
You're approximately two thousand and three, two thousand and four, probably two
thousand and four. All right, So now you were asked if in February
two thousand and ten the window would be twenty ten, the industry had closed
for you. Do you remember mister Floren asked you if the window had closed
in terms of your negotiations with Vince. Yes? Can you and I agree
that the visits you had with doctor Bretsky then have nothing to do with the
damages in this case? No? I can't agree with that. Okay,
even though the window was already closed. Well, the window wasn't closed.
The window was more open than ever. Two ten. Yeah, I've been
doing Hogan's best. You know, I had a whole new demographic which I'd
never had before. My TV view was higher than ever. I was the
most recognizable man in the world because of the show. Now I had a
huge female demo that I never had before, and the launch was going to
be a huge coming back. You know, the door was more than open.
It just what it wasn't closed at all? In twenty ten, he's
saying two thousand and ten not. I don't know what you're talking about here,
but I think he's got his years. What your attorney's question was he
started talking about the remember me asking you about your interaction with doctor Gruber and
the finding Hulk Cogan right right, And he said, mister Bella, don't
you remember that that was filmed in February two thousand and ten? And you
said yes, okay, And then he said, by February of two thousand
and ten, wasn't the window closed? To Vince McMahon in the WWE oh
buy two ten? Yes, okay. So we can agree then that the
visits you had after that with doctor Breski and those surgeries. They didn't have
anything to do with causing you any damages in this case, because that window
had already closed. I don't understand why you're trying to stay here. It
seemed very simple to me if the window was closed on you going back to
the wbe as if February two thousand and ten, does it make any difference
what treatment you got in two thousand and ten. The window was closed.
The window closed because when I didn't come out of the surgery, you know,
the opportunity was gone, okay, for that twenty year deal and me
going back to wrestling. The opportunity was closed one Saint Louis didn't do what
he said fix me. Yeah, yeah, I was finished then when I
didn't finish the deal with Vents, and and I never could get right.
You know. I started talking to Vents, and then I realized, ma'am,
my back is not coming back. He's got to cut me. Caught
me again. He's got to cut on me again, dude. So I
actually Saint Louis closed the door for me when he told me I didn't need
a fusion. It was over then, you know, I just had to
go through the motions of getting cut on to see that he was wrong before
I realized it. So the door was closed back then when he told me
I didn't need a fusion. I just didn't know it as early as that
first surgery February twenty eighth, two thousand and nine. Yeah, you know,
well he told me I didn't need a fusion. It screwed me because
if he said you need a fusion, I would have told Vince, hey,
I need a fusion. Brother. You know, here's how long it's
going to take you get better, and we would have planned everything out and
he would have moved forward with the deal. So you had answered mister Floren's
question about how much money you think you lost a minimum a Mountain twenty twenty
eleven, twenty twelve, if you had been the main event and there had
been hypothetically one million buys for pay per view, your testimony was that you
would have earned between one million dollars and one point two five million. Do
you remember telling him that a few minutes ago? Yes, So in two
thousand and nine, knowing that you could get a minimum of one million to
one point two five million dollars, you never once made a phone call to
Vince McMahon in August September or October, November December of two thousand and nine
and tried to get those negotiations started again, even knowing that you were going
to lose one million to one point two five million dollars for the next three
or four or five years. Never called he never called no. I never
called okay, And knowing that you were going to give up on the possibility
of getting all this money, you never called doctor Euribay back and said,
Hey, I want to have this fusion. I missed out on Smmer's Lam
twenty oh nine in August. Give me the fusion right now. I'll be
ready. My body heals quickly. You know my knee operation, they said
back in three months. I came back in six weeks. Do the fusion
because I'm going to be up and ready to go by the time January first,
twenty ten rolls around that I'm going to be at WrestleMania. You never
had that conversation with doctor Euribay, did you. I was so off my
game ball the botch surgeries from laser spine and then line to me and put
me in more pain and making me worse off than I was. That was
not an option. I couldn't call and plan anything. I was so screwed
from getting cut on by laser spine, I couldn't even think straight. I
couldn't even remember my own name by the time they got done with me.
Were you on some medications at the end of two thousand and nine, that
just that somebody put you on, that you had no idea what was going
on or where you were well? Well, I told you there were certain
times going through this whole pain in area where I couldn't remember my wife's name
or my dog's name. Well, that was two and ten. I'm talking
about the end of two thousand and nine because you have sat here and told
us that doctor Saint Louis lied to you and prevented you from getting all this
money in February of two thousand and nine. And now I want to focus
on the end of two thousand and nine. You've now been through two procedures
with doctor Saint Louis. You're still in pain. You say there's been no
improvement whatsoever other than the first couple of days after the surgery. Let's assume
two days after his second procedure, you wake up and you're in all this
pain two or three days after the surgery, Why didn't you call doctor Uribay
up and say, you know what, I need to have this fusion done.
Because I was on the team with LSI and Saint Louis told me you
don't need a fusion, and these surgeries are supposedly minimally invasive. So if
I'm on the team with you, I'm all the way. I thought he
could fix me. And then when he told me, you know, he
couldn't fix me, and I was walking out with my tail between my legs.
You know, you know, Berserker saw me. He says, you
know, hey, go don't leave. You know I can save you.
I can fix you. So they cut on me three more times and made
it even worse. That's why I never called. I was never back on
my feet to think, hey can I rustle? Can I get back on
you know, I kept thinking LSI was going to save me because they kept
saying we can fix you. And you just basically followed them like a little
puppy dog and took them at every little word they said. And that's your
testinonity to this jury. You had no input into any of this decision.
You relied on them, hook line and sinker. That is what you're telling
the jury today. Argumentative, Well, I trusted the doctors that they were
doing the right thing. You know. I trusted they were professionals and they
knew what they were talking about. When they said I didn't need a fusion
and they could fix me. You trusted that they were doing the best they
could and they could not guarantee any results. And you knew that they could
not guarantee any results. And that's what was printed for you in the informed
consent, which you had to read twice and signed in order for them to
do the surgery right. All I know is at day one, before anything
was signed, Saint Louis told told me you do not I need a fusion
that I was getting. I was betting on the bet in the farm on
that I believed him. And if we have hours of raw footage from Brookno's
Best or Finding Hulk Coogan which directly contradicts what you have testified here today,
your testimony to the jury is that that's simply for entertainment and it's not to
be believed. That's argumentative. It assumes it's just so overbroad. It's an
unanswerable question. You can answer. I would say, understand that it's an
entertainment show. It's not real it's TV, and take it for what it's
worth. It's not real life. It's an entertainment show. And we're all
about the ratings. You know, my son is doing the computer's homework and
the proosh goes Nick, Hey, you know, go throw water and balloons
to the neighbors. And that's not who Nick is. But you know they
portrayed Nick as the bad boy. It's not real. You know, it's
scripted, it's written out. This is what we want to happen. We
want magic to happen. You know. The dogs aren't allowed in the house,
but let's let them in the house, so maybe they'll take a ship
in the house. They're paying for magic to happen, you know, So
that's what it is. Just so I'm clear, before I leave, I
want to understand that you believe that doctor Saint Louis and doctor Gruber and doctor
Bretsky and doctor Scott lied to you about their hope and desire with regard to
the procedures performed on you. Well, I'm not saying that. I'm saying
that Saint Louis told me he could fix me, and I didn't need a
fusion, And now I know that's not true. I'm saying that doctor Gruber
was there to help me with pain management, and maybe when we had the
dialogue about more aggressive surgery, you know, maybe he was trying to warn
me not to have Elise I caught on me anymore. I don't know why
he said that, you know, But for whatever reasons, I didn't say,
they all lied to me. I said, I said what I said
to you, I didn't say those words you said. I said, Saint
Louis told me I didn't need a fusion, he could fix me, and
that's what I said. How many buys do you estimate would have been garnered
had you been on WrestleMania twenty five and twenty five? Yeah, the one
we're talking about. How many buys do you think? That's an irrelevant question.
He's already testified that if he had the fusion, he wouldn't have been
at WrestleMania. That's really not part of this case. You asked the question.
You asked the question. No. I asked about WrestleMania in two thou
ten. Wrestle Mania twenty six, oh, would have been huge I don't
think WrestleMania in two thousand nine is even in play. He's testified to that
he would have had the fusion and he would have been there under any circumstance.
Depends on who we talked to her, what we look at as to
whether WrestleMania is in play or not. It seems to be a shifting asset
here. Okay, My question is, let's assume that doctor Saint Louis never
told you he could fix your back pain and eliminate your back pain and allow
you to go to WrestleMania, because you and are not going to agree on
that. But let's assume that took place and you were able to wrestle at
WrestleMania. Well he did say that, Okay, Well, I am not
agreeing with you. Oh I understand, I get it. But let's assume
that happened and you were at WrestleMania as the main event against John Cena.
How many pay per view buys would there have been? Empathetically all but huge?
Wherever it was? Would it more? Do you know what it was?
No, I don't know what it was. John Cena was at his
peak then and I hadn't been back for a while and with the promotion,
it would have been twenty five percent or thirty person higher than what the number
was. I'm feeling a little slighted, mister Belaia, because it seems like
when your lawyer asked you what number of buys there would be from a pay
per view event, you're able to give him a number, but you can't
give me a number. So well, I never had a chance wrestle scene
in this Pride, Okay, so I don't know. You know, if
you know the number, tell me if you can, I can give you
a better estimate. How many pay per view buys were there? Pay per
view buys were there when you came back in April of this year? Do
you know that number? In April this year? The number was nine hundred
thousand for oh nine, by the way, I mean, give or take
well, I didn't wrestle, so I didn't wrestle. I'm on a guaranteed
salary. Things have changed since, you know, since I didn't wrestle,
you know, I mean maybe it was nine hundred thousand. I don't know
the exact number. That was two thousand and nine. Do you want me
to look it up? The number four round twenty three. Now I want
you to know what your witness has to say. I think we're done.
Cool, it's a couple to finish. Then we're not done. What recross
examination by mister Florin brother looking at Exhibit sixteen. LSI was aware certainly earlier
than February twenty eighth of oh nine, in order to prepare this document that
they would be filming an LSI. Correct. This documentis dated the twenty eighth
of February two thousand and nine, and it obviously was prepared on Hunter before
that date, so at least as of that date they were aware of that
there was going to be filming an LSI. Okay, yes, Do you
recall whether they asked to be included in the filming or if the procedures from
the film crew asked that they filmed at a LSI. I don't recall.
Okay. Of course, if doctor Saint Louis had said you need a fusion
and we can't perform fusions, there's nothing we can offer you to fix your
back, then they would have never had the opportunity to try to utilize your
name for business purposes or get the publicity from the filming that took place at
LSI because you never would have been a patient. They're correct, correct,
And is it what that you're referring to earlier when you said during the earlier
testimony. I believe yesterday when you found out that your name was on the
website and your picture was on the website with this endorsement of LSI, that
mister Houston had to write a letter about that, that's what made you think
that they were trying to use you for their promotional gain rather than to help
you object to the form, object to the form of the question. I
was appalled when I saw it, because they knew I wasn't better, but
they used for publicity like I was better. They knew, you know,
maybe after the third surgery, maybe after well, you know, Saint Louis
knew after the third surgery because he told me he couldn't help you anymore.
But definitely after the sixth surgery, I knew and everybody there knew that they
couldn't help me. But they still advertise like, hey, you know,
thank you so much for doing a great job. Get me back on my
feet. How's a Paul that they would use that when they knew I wasn't
fixed. But even at that first visit where Saint Louis is telling you that
he can fix you when you know in diffusion, as opposed to telling you
that doctor Morino and doctor your Rebey and doctor Valey had told you you need
a fusion and you had a fusion scheduled with them at Tampa General. Even
as of that first visit with the suits and the owners in the room,
whoever they were, if they had told you you need a fusion, we
don't do that here. There would have never been any opportunity for Laser's Spine
to appear on television, to use your likeness on their website, or to
use you for any of their marketing purposes. Would there object to the farm
That's true, That's all I have, true redirect examination by mister Trumer.
Would you agree with me, mister Would you agree with me, mister Bola,
that your medical records going back the last thirty years are replete with physicians
who have treated you and tried to make you better and feel better, and
they were unsuccessful. And let me give an example. You had knee pain
for years before you had a partial knee replacement. Do you agree with that?
Object to the farm. Yeah, I remember the end of the eighties,
Arnolf was thirty years ago, in the end of the eighties or right
evenine ninety. I remember my knees were starting to bother me, and you
had injections in your knees and conservative therapies to try to help you get better,
but eventually you needed to have part of your knee replaced. Right,
yes, okay, you know there's an article with your picture out in the
lobby of this law firm. Is that right? I'm sure there is.
Okay, did you know that? No? I didn't know that. And
were you interviewed by I think the Tampa Bay Times and your lawyer is there.
Do you recall it was on your book tour. No, I don't
recall. And you told the newspaper something like this is in September. When
when was the book published? Do you remember? No? I don't remember
when your book tour was. Was it late two thousand and nine? I
don't know, Okay. I mean if you said to the folks at the
Tampa Bay Times that you know, you found religion and your life has changed,
and you know you're with Jennifer and all is good, why did you
say that to the newspaper. If you barely know your name and you're all
crazy in the head from all these surgeries, I mean, why, you
know, things happen on virtuality and religion change your way of thinking. I'm
not saying that in a human incarnation you don't go through trials and tribulations,
but it changes who you are. You know, you become a more positive
and better person. So that's where my head was been, you know,
through all this, you know, and it is. And if it's on
medication, I'm over medicated and I can't remember my dog's name. It doesn't
mean I'm not a better person. I'm not trying to get healthy. So
that was just an isolated snapshot. If you were interviewed in September of h
nine or whenever that was, and you said all is good in my life,
that was just an isolated snapshot, and you probably went home and woke
up the next day and we're in copious amounts of pain and couldn't get out
of bed because of the folks at laser Spine. Is that what I'm led
to believe. We're talking about an article in the newspaper, an entertainment newspaper
vehicle. It could have been an oscolate, and I said a snapshot.
It could have been twenty four seven. I mean, I have no idea
what I said and what they wrote was accurate and factual. Okay, I
have yet to have a newspaper quote me accurately. All Right, I think
we're done. Thank you. The time is two fifty one. This ends
the deposition for to Taylor