An lawyer representing Mike Tyson stated the previous heavyweight champion is not going to pay a pre-litigation settlement demand of practically half 1,000,000 {dollars} to a person who says he was punched repeatedly in the face by Tyson on a aircraft at San Francisco Worldwide Airport final 12 months.
Legal professional Jake Jondle despatched a letter final week on behalf of consumer Melvin Townsend III to Tyson lawyer Alex Spiro asking for $450,000 “in an effort to resolve this matter previous to protracted litigation.” The letter has been seen by The Instances.
“In change for that quantity, Mr. Townsend will present your consumer with a mutually-agreeable launch that may bar him from submitting a future lawsuit, in addition to cheap phrases requested by your consumer,” Jondle wrote within the letter. “If we’re unable to achieve an settlement, we are going to proceed to organize Mr. Townsend’s case for the submitting of a lawsuit.”
In an announcement emailed to The Instances, Spiro stated his consumer has no intention of constructing a “shakedown cost” to Townsend.
“I’ve obtained a shakedown letter associated to some instigator’s harassment of Mike a 12 months in the past and the aftermath,” Spiro wrote. “There can be no shakedown cost.”
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Jondle didn’t reply to a number of requests for remark by The Instances.
The incident between Tyson and Townsend occurred April 20, 2022, when Townsend was seated within the row instantly behind Tyson on a JetBlue Airways flight set to depart from San Francisco for Florida. Townsend appeared intoxicated and was allegedly making impolite remarks towards passengers, San Mateo County Dist. Atty. Steve Wagstaffe informed The Instances in Might 2022.
Matt Morgan, an lawyer for Townsend, informed TMZ final 12 months that Townsend denies reviews he threw a water bottle at Tyson. Video posted by TMZ seems to point out Tyson standing and reaching over his seat to repeatedly punch Townsend within the face, whereas a minimum of one different passenger requires him to cease.
In his letter final week, Jondle offered Townsend’s account of the incident.
“It’s our place that Mr. Townsend was excited to see your consumer on the flight, started discussing the marijuana industry and psychedelic mushrooms with him, and Mr. Tyson grew to become aggravated,” Jondle wrote. “Mr. Tyson then reached over the seat, grabbed Mr. Townsend by the shirt collar, and proceeded to repeatedly punch him within the head.
“As a former undisputed heavyweight champion, the potential to trigger extreme accidents to a different individual goes with out questions. There have been a number of different cures out there to Mr. Tyson, however he selected bodily violence.”
Wagstaffe informed The Instances final 12 months that neither Townsend nor Tyson needed expenses to be filed. The D.A. obliged.
“This case doesn’t belong in legal justice,” Wagstaffe informed The Instances in Might 2022. “If the events wish to file a civil swimsuit, that may nonetheless occur no matter this resolution.”
Within the letter dated Nov. 28, Jondle indicated his consumer intends to do exactly that if his demand is not met. He writes that Townsend, who was 36 in Might 2022, instantly suffered a extreme headache and neck ache following the incident and “because of his lack of medical insurance and residing in an remoted space of Northern California on the time, he was unable to hunt constant medical remedy.”
“He’s nonetheless struggling with the results of the assault to at the present time,” wrote Jondle, who added that “Mr. Townsend skilled the lack of a number of jobs because of the unlucky notoriety he skilled because of your consumer’s actions.”
The letter additionally mentions a 2022 look by Tyson, now 57, on the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” present, throughout which the retired boxer laughs in regards to the incident but additionally appears to precise regret over it.
“I used to be incorrect, that ought to’ve by no means occurred,” Tyson stated on the present. “That is me again in my primitive baby levels, I should not have carried out that, however I used to be simply irritated, drained, excessive and pissed off.”
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This story initially appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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