Price’s attorney asks judge to allow SI libel suit to move forward

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — An attorney for fired Alabama football coach Mike Price has asked a court to end legal wrangling over the identity of a confidential source used by Sports Illustrated in its story about a night of drunken partying by Price.

Price attorney Steve Heninger said topless club dancer Lori Boudreaux, who received $200 from Sports Illustrated writer Don Yaeger as cab fare to come to a photo shoot for the article, is the only person who could have provided info for the story.

Price is suing Sports Illustrated publisher Time Inc. for $20 million over the story. The magazine is appealing a judge’s decision that it must reveal the identity of a source, an appeal backed by a number of national news organizations.

But Heninger, in a motion filed Tuesday, asked a judge let Price’s slander case move forward since evidence gathered through sworn statements made it clear Boudreaux was Yaeger’s source.

“Why fuss when we know who we’re talking about?” Heninger said. “Let’s move on and get to the facts.”

Sports Illustrated spokesman Rick McCabe said Wednesday the story had “multiple confidential sources,” and the magazine was bound to protect the identities of all of them.

While the magazine has a policy against paying sources for information, he said, it did cover transportation costs for Boudreaux to a photo session. The magazine published a photo of Boudreaux with the story on Price.