The decision by a Michigan judge to dismiss a lawsuit over the exhumation of the remains of George Gipp did nothing to quiet the main parties on either side of the case.
The circuit court judge, Garfield W. Hood, granted summary judgment to the defendants Wednesday in a two-paragraph decision that said the Gipp cousins did not have the standing to bring their claims.
The cousins, Karl and Ronald Gipp, had claimed they were subjected to “extreme shock, fright, humiliation and mortification” through what they called the “illegal” exhumation of Gipp, a Notre Dame halfback, and, inadvertently, his sister, Bertha. George Gipp died in 1920.
The Gipps also said that Rick Freuh, a great-nephew of George Gipp’s, falsely claimed that he was the spokesman for the living Gipp relatives when he filed the exhumation request with the county medical examiner.
Michael Bynum, who is writing a biography of George Gipp and who was accused in the lawsuit of conspiring with Freuh, said in an e-mail message that he and Freuh, “and hopefully many of the defendants, will soon seek legal sanctions against Karl and Ron Gipp and their families” and the cousins’ lawyer, Torger Omdahl.
“It was their decision — Ron and Karl Gipp’s — to prostitute the Gipp family name in an attempt to collect money from all of us — and now they and their attorney will all pay the price for their sins,” Bynum said.
Gipp’s body was disinterred Oct. 4 with ESPN cameras rolling (for a proposed segment on its “E: 60” series) to prove whether he fathered a daughter with an 18-year-old high school student. DNA tests were negative.
Omdahl said he had 24 DVDs from ESPN that he described as “incriminating.” But he said: “I’m under a gag order not to reveal them. ESPN had eight cameras there and filmed each other filming the corpse.”
Omdahl said he would appeal the dismissal of the case.
Besides Freuh and Bynum, the Gipps sued ESPN, the medical examiner, the Western Upper Peninsula District Health Department, a funeral home and a cemetery.
Bynum said he would seek to have Omdahl disbarred.