It was short and sweet. A one-page order by United States Judge James Whittemore denying Bubba The Love Sponge the opportunity to present his conspiracy case against Nielsen in his ratings tampering case.
Earlier this month Bubba filed a 46-page counterclaim against Nielsen claiming they conducted a sting operation designed to entrap him designed to entrap him into engaging in ratings distortion activity. He also claimed Cox Media Group and CMG host Mike Calta were in on the ploy. Judge Whittemore had none of it.
The reason the judge denied the counterclaim is because of all the redacted information in this case. A lot of documents Nielsen has filed have been redacted and that’s what Bubba is using to claim the conspiracy. Bubba’s counterclaim also includes pages of redacted information, and its the information that includes a lot of the detail Bubba is using to build his conspiracy story. Judge Whittemore wrote, “The proposed counterclaim and third party complaint is heavily redacted, at Plantiff’s request. As a result, it is impossible to determine whether the proposed pleading meets the standard for granting leave to amend, including whether the proposed claims are meritless and therefore futile, as plaintiff contends.” And he denies Bubba’s motion.
Perhaps, as a result of this latest setback, Bubba filed a request with the court to extend the time for discovery. The deadline to complete discovery is today and Bubba is asking that the deadline by extended to March 24 so Randy Michaels and 11 other witnesses can be interviewed in the case.
