TV Crew Trespassed at Home, Judge Rules

A federal judge has ruled that a reality-based television show crew trespassed at the home of baseball legend Curt Flood’s widow--despite having permission from the LAPD.

Jude Pace-Flood sued Telemax Entertainment Inc. and the Los Angeles Police Department last year after officers came to her home in July 1997 to break up a party she threw for her college-age daughter and some 100 friends.

“The record was so crystal clear regarding Mrs. Pace-Flood telling the crew not to enter the house, and insisting that they leave, that the court decided that that part of the case didn’t need to go to a jury,” said Edward Slizewsky, an attorney for Pace-Flood.

Telemax’s lawyer could not be reached for comment.

The widow of the former St. Louis Cardinals center fielder, whose landmark lawsuit decades ago led to baseball’s free agency clause, contends that the officers’ actions were racially motivated because most of the party-goers were young blacks in expensive cars. She has a $10-million federal civil rights suit pending against the city and the LAPD.

In his decision last Friday, U.S. District Judge A. Howard Matz did not rule on the LAPD’s culpability. A trial is set for next month in which a jury will decide that, and how much Telemax must pay Pace-Flood.

An internal LAPD investigation was launched into the incident but a department spokesman would not comment on the status of that probe.