Wrestler's widow suing WWE, Conn. Senate candidate

HARTFORD, Conn. — The widow of a World Wrestling Entertainment performer who died in a 1999 stunt says she's suing the Connecticut-based company and its leaders, including Republican U.S. Senate candidate Linda McMahon.

Martha Hart said McMahon, who stepped down as WWE chief executive to run for Senate, and her husband, Vince, the current chairman, have continued to use Owen Hart's image to promote the business despite agreeing to stop after his death.

Hart is filing her lawsuit Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Hartford.

Owen Hart died when he fell 78 feet from a harness as it lowered him into a wrestling ring in Kansas City, Mo., on May 23, 1999. He was 34.

His family sued the WWE and several other defendants in the death. Martha Hart agreed to a $18 million settlement with the WWE in 2000.

In her new lawsuit, she alleges the WWE and the McMahons violated a contract that restricts the use of Owen Hart's name, likeness and wrestling footage.

She said in a written statement Tuesday that she learned earlier this year that his image was appearing in WWE promotional materials.

"In the 11 years since Owen's tragic and avoidable death, I have worked tirelessly to disassociate Owen's name and likeness from anything related to WWE in order to protect our children from any reminder of the circumstances surrounding their father's death, and to avoid any misplaced perception that I endorse WWE," she said in a statement.

Representatives for the WWE and McMahon's Senate campaign said they could not immediately comment but expected to release statements later Tuesday.
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The Vancouver Sun has a piece on Martha Hart's lawsuit against the WWE and Vince and Linda McMahon up available at http://www.vancouversun.com/ Some of the highlights are below:

WWE attorney Jerry McDevitt stated in regards to Martha's claim that the company agreed to no longer use Owen Hart's name and likeness, "We own the copyright (to footage featuring Owen Hart) and we believe we're fully within our rights under the contract to do exactly what we did." The article stated that McDevitt "insists that there is no provision in the 2000 settlement agreement" that would have led to WWE giving up its rights to the footage.

McDevitt stated that several months back, Hart filed an injunction to try and prevent the Canadian release of the Hart & Soul documentary and DVD set. Ontario courts denied the injunction. Yesterday McDevitt stated the company had not heard from Martha since 2000.

Owen's brother Ross Hart commented on the lawsuit by saying, "If (WWE) exploited (Owen's) name negatively...I can understand, but this really was a documentary about the whole family. It was done in pretty good taste, even by WWE standards." He also stated that "Wrestling is really what made Owen famous and successful and such a legend and you can't erase that," Ross said. "As tragic and wrongful as his death was, you can't erase his legacy and what he accomplished in wrestling."
Martha Hart has filed a 21-page lawsuit against WWE. One of the reasons is to try and get WWE to no longer use any footage of Owen Hart and have no connection between him and the company. This would make it impossible for WWE to induct Owen into the Hall of Fame.

Martha also wants royalties based on WWE DVD's released that have Owen matches on them. Martha says it was the marketing of the recent Hart Family DVD that caused her to take action. Martha found at least 37 WWE DVD's that featured Owen and she says the family never received royalty checks for them.

WWE's Jerry McDevitt told the Hartford Courant: “Martha Hart does not have some exclusive right to tell the story of her husband. He was a public figure...he was part of WWE.”

This is actually the second time Martha tried to take action as she tried to get an injunction on the release of the Hart Family DVD in Canada back in March of this year. Martha's request for injunction was thrown out of court quickly and the DVD was released in Canada. Martha was ordered by the courts to pay WWE's legal costs. Martha found out about the DVD on March 20th. Five days later, her lawyers contacted WWE saying they had no permission to use the Owen Hart name or likeness. Martha says WWE ignored her letter.

Martha is worried about a connection between Owen and WWE that hurts The Owen Hart Foundation. Martha says a key component in the success of the Foundation is that his name was completely disassociated from WWE. Martha says WWE has a public image that is inconsistent with the Foundation. Martha claims that WWE has attempted to latch onto Owen's good name based on the good work of the Owen Hart Foundation. The lawsuit claims that Owen on a WWE DVD “has tainted the Foundation’s image by creating the false impression that the estate has now abandoned its longstanding policy of disassociating itself from all matters WWE and McMahon-related. As a result, defendants have damaged and continue to damage the Foundation’s reputation that it has unrelentingly built up for ten years.”

Martha says the lawsuit has nothing to do with Linda McMahon running for political office. Martha says she has never spoken to any of Linda's opponents but did say voters should question her moral character. McDevitt said: “I don’t think you’d see what happened today if Linda wasn’t running for Senate."

It's also said that the new lawsuit against WWE and Bret Hart leaving is purely coincidental.

Martha is seeking an injunction to prevent WWE from using Owen's name or likeness in the future and are looking for damages in an amount to be determined in court with interest and lawyer costs. Martha's lawyers have demanded a complete accounting from WWE of sales and revenue from everything that has used the Owen Hart. name or likeness.