Judge orders LaMelo Ball to stop canceling legal interview over fan’s broken foot
LaMelo Ball must sit down for a legal interview about the day he is accused of running over a child’s foot outside the Spectrum Center, a judge ordered a month before the star Charlotte Hornets player is expected to go to trial in the civil case.
Angell Joseph was 12 years old when he and his family say Ball drove over and broke his foot while leaving an October 2023 scrimmage. Now, the boy has a “permanent, painful and debilitating medical condition” called complex regional pain syndrome, according to a lawsuit his family filed in Mecklenburg County Superior Court two years ago.
Ball last month denied the incident ever occurred. He has also previously argued the boy’s own negligence caused his injuries and asked the boy and his family to pay Ball’s attorney fees.
For the last year, the boy’s attorneys say they have been trying to schedule a deposition to ask Ball questions about the case and that day.
But Ball kept “cancelling it last minute,” attorney Cameron deBrun said in court Tuesday morning.
After hearing from deBrun, Judge David Strickland told Ball’s attorney to step outside the sixth-floor courtroom to call her client and get his availability. Ball has been absent from court during hearings in this case.
After a few minutes, Erin Young told the judge she was waiting for Ball to text back.
Judge Strickland said he would wait until the end of the day for Ball to give his preference. If he didn’t hear back, Strickland would pick a date for Ball’s deposition, and it would be no later than June 1, he said.
If Ball fails to appear, he would be violating a court order.
Ball now has “no choice but to appear and give his account of what happened,” deBrun said in a statement to The Charlotte Observer.
“Mr. Ball and his attorneys have employed every strategy under the sun to avoid having him sit for a deposition and answer questions about how he injured our client,” deBrun said in a statement to The Charlotte Observer. “Their delay tactics have been relentless and transparent, and we are incredibly pleased that the Court has finally put an end to their nonsense.”
A judge last month also ordered Ball to turn over a list of any prescription drugs he was taking at the time of the October 2023 incident. During that hearing, attorneys said Ball denies he ran over the boy’s foot.
The lawsuit is expected to go to trial in mid-June. Strickland cautioned that any motions to delay the trial would likely be denied.
