BODDY, DRIVELINE BASEBALL ENTERPRISES LLC V. POURCIAU, TOP VELOCITY LLC, ET. AL.
First published: June 21st, 2018
Last updated: February 6, 2020
RESOLUTION
Brent Pourciau and Top Velocity were named as parties in a resolved defamation lawsuit, the summary of which are detailed below.
We are looking forward to putting this unfortunate event in the past and continuing to do the work required to continue to develop the best training programs and products for the baseball community.
We direct all inquiries or requests for further comments to our outside litigation counsel, Tyler Peterson at tyler@petersonbakerlaw.com
SUMMARY OF THE CASE
On November 8, 2017, an anonymous account named “Chris C” posted an image of a supposed conversation of a former athlete claiming that Driveline Baseball facilitates usage of performance-enhancing steroids inside its facility.
Those claims are utterly false–the messages at issue were fabricated by an internet troll and sent to Brent who published and amplified them within hours of receiving them, not knowing if they were true.
We determined through subpoenas issued to Twitter and internet service providers that this anonymous account was created on November 8th, 2017 in Covington, Louisiana at a home owned by Brent Pourciau, the owner of Top Velocity LLC. Brent used an email address from a website he registered for a friend. In later months, Brent would amplify that message by responding to it from his own account.
Legal discovery determined that the steroid allegations were originally falsified by a former athlete and sent to Brent via Twitter Direct Message from an anonymous Twitter account called “NE Scouting Bureau” as a means of “trolling” Brent.
Brent (after consulting with others) posted those allegations of steroid use and distribution with what we believe to be disregard for the truth and an intent to cause reputational and financial damage.
ATTEMPTING PRIVATE RESOLUTION
Prior to knowing the source of the defamatory messages, Mike Rathwell, Driveline’s CEO, reached out to Brent privately to provide evidence that the steroid allegations were false and the images from the anonymous account Brent was interacting with that month were fake.
Brent’s response, dated the same day, was, among other things: “This new rumor of PED use is just the icing on the cake and I have no idea if it is true and I don’t care….Its [sic] obvious you are reaching out to me because you, not me, have hurt your bottom line. Karma is a bitch….” (link: full email text)
He stated in his email disregard for the truth of the information, hiding his own participation in the scheme.
During the subsequent legal discovery process, Brent spent his own time and money attempting to validate these false claims after he had published them, hiring a private investigator to call our customers, employees, and former employees.
His apology and the resolution of this case demonstrate the fruits of that effort.
MOVING FORWARD
We are excited to resolve this case and renew our focus on creating the best baseball player development solutions on Earth.
In the months since this case began, we’ve continued our work in that vein, launching our continuing education platform with DrivelinePLUS and EDGE; building TRAQ, our integrated athlete management software, and making it free; sending dozens of coaches into professional and collegiate baseball; and helping thousands of athletes get more out of their baseball careers.
Helping players and coaches get better is the work that compels Driveline Baseball forward every day–it continues unabated.