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WTO Represents Vancouver Canucks

Date: 10.04.05

DENVER - Michael O'Donnell of Wheeler Trigg O’Donnell LLP is the lead trial counsel for multiple defendants in the highly publicized civil lawsuit of Steve Moore, a former Colorado Avalanche forward, against Todd Bertuzzi, a Vancouver Canucks forward, and the Vancouver Canucks management, coach, and other Canucks players.  Moore suffered fractured vertebrae and a concussion from injuries sustained during a confrontation with Bertuzzi at a National Hockey League game in March 2004 in Vancouver, British Columbia.  Bertuzzi pleaded guilty to assault in a Canadian court, was granted a conditional discharge, and was suspended from play until August 2005.

Moore has charged the defendants in this civil case with conspiring to harm him after he hit and injured Canucks forward Markus Naslund during a February 2004 game in Denver, Colorado.  At a hearing on October 3, 2005 before Denver District Judge Shelley Gilman, O'Donnell argued that the lawsuit belongs before courts in British Columbia, where the incident took place, rather than in Colorado, where Moore claims residency.  "We're here because of something that happened in Canada between citizens of Canada.  Most of the witnesses and evidence are in British Columbia," said O'Donnell.

O'Donnell and Wheeler Trigg O’Donnell attorneys Carolyn Fairless and Michael Williams represent the Vancouver Canucks and Coach Marc Crawford.  Scott Barker, Gregory Goldberg, and Jonathan Bender of Holland & Hart LLP represent former Vancouver Canucks President and General Manager Brian Burke, now General Manager of the Anaheim Mighty Ducks.  Roger Thomasch and Jon Bernhardt of Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP represent Todd Bertuzzi. Lee Foreman of Haddon, Morgan, Mueller, Jordan, Mackey & Foreman, P.C. and John Purvis of Purvis, Gray & Murphy LLP represent the plaintiff.

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