<p>The nerve of the parents…what happened to accountability?</p>
<p>[Ex-NFL</a> star Brian Holloway may be sued by parents of teens who allegedly trashed his upstate NY home - NY Daily News](<a href=“http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/ex-nfl-star-face-lawsuits-parents-house-crashing-teens-article-1.1462008]Ex-NFL”>Ex-NFL star Brian Holloway may be sued by parents of teens who allegedly trashed his upstate NY home – New York Daily News)</p>
<p>Threatening to sue is meaningless blather. I doubt they have legal grounds and the process of suing would reveal more about their families.</p>
<p>Those parents are fools. Let 'em try. Then there will be website created revealing their names and identifying them as stupid parents.</p>
<p>I would guess that there’s a good chance if the parents sue, then he’ll simply countersue. Let it all come out in court!</p>
<p>If you’ve followed the story very closely, you’ll see that the reason some parents are threatening to sue is because he posted names of kids involved based on a ‘list’ that he asked other students to make of people in attendance… not necessarily pictures of them.</p>
<p>I don’t for a second excuse what some kids did at the party, nor so many parents for trying to make excuses for their kids, but without evidence, how do we really know that all 300+ kids ‘listed’ were even at the party, much less responsible for damage? The whole thing is a big huge mess, but I’m trying not to jump to judgement of every kid that was there (how do we not know that certain kids were there, but when they saw what was going on, left?). I just have a hard time believing that they had 100% participation in the vandalism by every kid present.</p>
<p>^^^^Well, anyone who was there was trespassing.</p>
<p>“I didn’t know the owner hadn’t invited me” might not be sufficient legally.</p>
<p>Nrdsb4 - in one of the articles I read very early on about this incident, there was a brief mention of Holloway being an uncle to one of the kids. If so, I can see how kids might not know they were trespassing. They probably thought they were invited to a party that was being thrown with someone’s permission. </p>
<p>As I said, I think there’s a LOT wrong with this situation; I just don’t know if creating this list and making it public was the right way to go. I think he should have involved law enforcement from the start and let them figure it out. I wonder if he maybe didn’t involve law enforcement because he didn’t want to be responsible for one kid (his niece or nephew) being jailed.</p>
<p>So what if he posted names … if the suit is defamation, it’s a loser. I assumed they were asserting some sort of privacy right. Defamation is generally a lousy case to bring. What is the injury? What are the damages? So you sue, run up a bill, don’t get money and the other guy doesn’t pay your costs. And truth is a defense, so each family will end up exposing information about whether their kid was involved, which could lead to criminal charges.</p>
<p>Teri, Why are you assuming he didn’t involve law enforcement? The party was broken up by the cops. But the cops didn’t arrest anyone. I doubt that’s because Holloway told them not to.</p>
<p>Even assuming that they thought they were “invited,” the kids certainly knew the underage drinking they engaged in was illegal and that the homeowner wouldn’t want them breaking the windows, punching out the walls, and writing graffiti all over the place.</p>
<p>What gets me is that when the owner offered an “amnesty” to any of the kids and parents who trashed the house if they showed up and helped clean up, only ONE parent showed up.</p>
<p>Also, where did you get the info saying that he was getting help from kids to compile a list? The stories I’ve seen say the list is based on the photos and on the kids who tweeted they were there. <a href=“NFL & Football News - New York Daily News”>NFL & Football News - New York Daily News;
<p>I would have had no mercy on my kids if they had done something like that. Sue the victim? I think not. We have had several instances in my community of monster kids doing bad or illegal things and then being excused by the parents.</p>
<p>When did the concept of shame go out of fashion? If, God Forbid, any of the Ellebuds did this, we would have gone over (with the offending Ellebud) and apologize. Junior Ellebud would have had just a few choices: pay for all the damage themselves and/or turn the other kids in to the police… </p>
<p>There is no excuse for this…none. They are disgusting: parents and children.</p>
<p>…now do you want to know how I really feel? :)</p>
<p>To hell with the kids and their parents- they have no shame or accountability. If one if those kids were mine, I’d shame them by putting a sign over their heads indicating what they did and having them stand at a busy intersection for everyone to see.</p>
<p>jonri - he hasn’t pressed charges, so the kids wouldn’t end up in an ‘impersonal’ judicial system. I haven’t read in any of the news outlets that the cops broke up the party, only that there’s an investigation going on. Again, I think these kids should have to face more severe consequences than having to help clean up. But again, we’re all presuming that every kid’s name that was on the ‘list’ was guilty, a list that was compiled most likely by ones that do have evidence against them. We don’t know that perhaps some kids showed up, didn’t like what they saw, and left, but their name ended up on a list. If indeed the cops did show up, how do we not know one of these kids who might have come and gone didn’t report it? Perhaps I’m being naive in not believing that 100% of kids in attendance all knowingly participated in illegal activities.</p>
<p>If they weren’t knowingly participating in illegal activities, they were surely participating or not stopping inappropriate ones. The damage to the house is so horrible, that there really isn’t an ignorance defense for anyone who was present.</p>
<p>I guess I’m also somewhat cynical about the news reporting. All I’ve been able to find is ‘some parents’ are outraged and considering a lawsuit. How many is ‘some’ parents? It could be just one family that called the media and threatened Holloway with a lawsuit. But it makes for a better read in the media if we say some parents. I really wish we knew more details.</p>
<p>What do you mean he hasn’t pressed charges!!! The police are “investigating.” As I read it, no decision has been made yet as to whether charges will be pressed. Holloway did say he would NOT press charges against kids who owned up to their actions and came with their parents to clean up the mess. ONE parent showed up.[Statue</a> stolen from Stephentown ‘party home’ has been returned - NEWS10 ABC: Albany, New York News, Weather, Sports](<a href=“http://www.news10.com/story/23453662/statue-stolen-from-stephentown-party-home-has-been-returned]Statue”>http://www.news10.com/story/23453662/statue-stolen-from-stephentown-party-home-has-been-returned)</p>
<p>Most of the names are coming from TWEETS BY THE KIDS who are BRAGGING about what they did or from photos of the kids they or other kids posted on line. Hey, maybe they weren’t there but said they were to be “cool.” But if your kid BRAGS about trashing someone’s house in writing on-line, you’ve got no defamation claim against someone who says he participated.</p>
<p>One good thing has come of this. Holloway had an eagle statue at his house which was a memorial to a deceased grand child. It was stolen. Someone contacted his housekeeper and arranged its return. My hunch…which I admit is just that…is some parent recognized the statue his/her kid “found” from the photos of it on line.</p>
<p>BTW, from what I see, Holloway has NOT posted the list. He has just posted all the tweets and photos which the kids who participated posted.</p>
<p>I actually think he’s being incredibly reasonable and proactive about this. Check out the site for yourself at wwwDOThelpmesave300DOTcom</p>
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<p>Completely agree. And those kids who bragged about it online should be held accountable - there’s obviously ample evidence. Again, we haven’t seen the list of kids’ names. And even if we did, it would mean nothing to us. How do we not know that kids’ names were given who weren’t at the party? This list was not compiled (from what I’ve read) just from evidence on Twitter; I’m pretty sure I read he then asked the kids who he had evidence against, who else was there. That’s what I object to. For each kid where there isn’t evidence (images/tweets, etc.), I think it’s up to the cops and prosecutors to determine their participation, not Holloway. </p>
<p>What I don’t know is if he decides not to press charges, can they be charged anyway since this took place on private property?</p>
<p>Yes, I’ve been to the 300 site, several times, and read many of the comments.</p>
<p>My head is starting to spin from all the different articles I’ve read that are sometimes contradicting each other. </p>
<p>This, from CBS news: “It’s not hard to identify who they were. We’ve got 170 tweets. We have 200 to 220 names already confirmed today. I’m going to go online right now - I guarantee I’ll have 10 more names of people who are sharing who was there, what they did. And that data is all going to the sheriffs,” Holloway said.</p>
<p>Who is providing these names? It doesn’t say. The good thing is that this is the first I’ve read that he is actually sharing this information with the sheriffs, that he is not trying to take the whole thing in his own hands.</p>