I'm Done. The Mezra death brought home how cycincal and damaging this website it to real people

What we have here class is a troll. An angry and apparently politically driven troll.

Troll hungry. Don’t feed troll.

One thing, if there is anything there. He may have made himself a public figure by claiming those illegitimate results on youtube.

So, he not only cheated, he announced the lie publicly, as a Dr and as a coach of minors.

...and not to forget some more facts:

Amby Burfoot (respected runner and journalist) contacted FM on 18th April and he lied to Amby.

He (Amby) got a call from a medical colleague who supported FM on 19th April

Amby then got a voicemail on 20th April from someone identifying himself as Diaz, telling Amby to 'cease and desist' and that FM had instructed attorneys.

Nearly three months ago, FM had the chance to bury this before LRC, MI or anyone investigated, but they continued to live the lie.

BTW, Burfoot believed that MI was 'fair and balanced', and supported MI's investigation

Wrongful Death wrote:[/]

-1.

A wrongful death lawsuit will be coming at MI and LRC. Lawyer-up boys.

Wrongful death includes bullying, and bullying includes cyberbullying.

Anyone who files such a suit will face an immediate anti-SLAPP motion to strike and will end up paying the defendant’s legal fees. Take it from a First Amendment lawyer who litigates anti-SLAPP statutes, including in California.

Nothing on LR meets the statutory definition of cyber bullying in the first place. If the statute did reach those posts, it would be blatantly unconstitutional.

Derek Murphy's Lawyer wrote

LA Times reporters didn't make memes or hilarious videos trying to shame this guy.

They also didn't call his employers, write fake reviews, call the medical board, etc. which definitely did go on in that original thread and nothing was done to mitigate it. Now, of course, I am Derek Murphy's lawyer, but I would hate to try to defend the case against LRC.

No way that memes and YouTube videos are cause for damages. Meza was a public figure based on his consent to publication about his running “accomplishments” through Kaiser videos and school website articles.

I have no idea what the law says about behavior like encouraging others to call employers or post false reviews on line.

His family could only win in court if they could prove he legitimately ran the races and that MI doctored the photos and made up the split times. The reaction to what he did was out of proportion, but that wasn't anyone's fault. His cheating, and the elaborate way he went about it, was a story that was going to get traction.

The best scenario would have been that getting busted at CIM would have gotten him banned from other marathons or at least required to run with an observer.

the only blame is when Frank did not come clean in May and before he spoke to the high schoolers. The blame is Franks and Franks alone.

Running Programmer wrote:

On the original thread and people that suggested the AMA and Loyola High School be contacted, along with those posting online reviews and ... What not:

Over the line in my opinion. It may be legally defensible, but it's personally amoral. I again think these types of posts (especially the people encouraging others to go leave negative reviews for his business) should be moderated.

In summary, RIP Dr. Meza (and Ed Whitlock).

Warning this post will probably be deleted by LR.

The school should be questioned as to additional motives for Frank to commit suicide, maybe Atzlan running too. And it shouldn't bother anybody innocent. In this day and age they should welcome it.

This is the second suicide of a coach from Loyola in a little over a year. It practically seems self-evident that coaches at Loyola knew about Franks exploits, maybe for a long time, and didn't do anything about and maybe even tried to push people off the case. Maybe they didn't on all accounts, but it appears so , to such and extreme that it deserves a visit from LA police in my opinion.

Suicide may not be a crime, but is the result of it often enough that it merits thought.

Watchdog Journalists should be pushing for that if they aren't.

Follow Up Again wrote:

Meza was a public figure based on his consent to publication about his running “accomplishments” through Kaiser videos and school website articles.

I'm only Derek Murphy's lawyer, but even I know that appearing in interview for some company does not make one a public figure in the eyes of the law.

Derek Murphy's Lawyer wrote:

Follow Up Again wrote:

Meza was a public figure based on his consent to publication about his running “accomplishments” through Kaiser videos and school website articles.

I'm only Derek Murphy's lawyer, but even I know that appearing in interview for some company does not make one a public figure in the eyes of the law.

My guess is that you don't know squat about law. Specific to being picked on about marathon cheating he had previously gone public. I don't know either , that's why I posted it. However, I do know law on any issue has almost infinite nuances.

...if your longtime, respected assistant cross country coach retires because of health reasons, what kind of send off do you give him? A glowing tribute thanking him for his years of service and wishing him the best, or a thorough scrubbing of anything mentioning him from your website and a "no comment" on the cheating allegations? There has to be a story there but I doubt it will ever see the light of day.

Derek Murphy's Lawyer wrote:

Follow Up Again wrote:

Meza was a public figure based on his consent to publication about his running “accomplishments” through Kaiser videos and school website articles.

I'm only Derek Murphy's lawyer, but even I know that appearing in interview for some company does not make one a public figure in the eyes of the law.

A person can become an "involuntary public figure" as the result of publicity, even though that person did not want or invite the public attention. For example, people accused of high profile crimes may be unable to pursue actions for defamation even after their innocence is established. ...

A person can also become a "limited public figure" by engaging in actions which generate publicity within a narrow area of interest. For example, [jokes about] ... Terry Rakolta [an activist who spearheaded a boycott of the show Married ... with Children] were fair comments ... within the confines of her public conduct [and] protected by Ms. Rakolta's status as a "limited public figure".

A few years ago at the StL marathon, a course cutter “won” the women’s division. She definitely intended to cut the course, but jumped in too soon and accidentally finished first. Let’s just say this person seemed troubled. The RD did an immediate review of her splits, issued a quick DQ,, and then put all the focus on the true winner (who was very gracious about the whole thing). Everyone moved on, and by weeks end I bet no one could remember the DQ’d runner’s name. It was the correct and compassionate way to handle things, as I don’t think this person could have handled the public scrutiny they would have been surely subjected to had the RD delayed or not issued a DQ.

Knowing that cheaters may be struggling with mental health issues, I hope RD’s handle future cheating instances the way StL did. Perhaps RD’s resist issuing DQ’s as to not embarrass a person who they suspect has mental health issues. However, promptly dealing with runners who cheat can help avoid public spectacles and might encourage the person to confront their problems. Being compassionate does not require you to go along with someone’s delusion.

No Shortcuts wrote:

Being compassionate does not require you to go along with someone’s delusion.

Going along with the delusion would be far from compassionate. It would be enabling.

Everydog wrote:

Derek Murphy's Lawyer wrote:

I'm only Derek Murphy's lawyer, but even I know that appearing in interview for some company does not make one a public figure in the eyes of the law.

My guess is that you don't know squat about law. Specific to being picked on about marathon cheating he had previously gone public. I don't know either , that's why I posted it. However, I do know law on any issue has almost infinite nuances.

Jane Seo suffered a similar humiliation and she didn't set a record or go public about her race. In spite of her ridiculous split times the race director decided not to disqualify her. MI zoomed in on her watch, wrote an article about her cheating and the story took off.

She didn't commit suicide, but it had to be devastating for her.

SDSU Aztec wrote:

Jane Seo suffered a similar humiliation and she didn't set a record or go public about her race. In spite of her ridiculous split times the race director decided not to disqualify her. MI zoomed in on her watch, wrote an article about her cheating and the story took off.

She didn't commit suicide, but it had to be devastating for her.

Lehigh Vallley VIA Marathon refused to DQ Mike Rossi even though the evidence was pretty incontrovertible that he cheated. He would have been better off with a quick DQ and he would have been forgotten, now his name is synonymous with cheating. Plus his life seemed to spiral out of control following that debacle...

LA Marathon was contacted by CIM in 2015 and informed that Frank Meza had been DQ'd just several months earlier for cheating there. LA was also contacted by others questioning Frank's 2015 result, which had erratic splits and a 10k split within 40 seconds of the AG record for an open 10k between the 20k and 30k timing mats. They had more than enough information to DQ Frank in 2015, instead they said he would have to run with an observer in 2016, so Frank skipped 2016. He returned and cheated in 2017, 2018, and 2019. Had LA actually cared about the integrity of their results, it's possible none of this would have happened.

This is a good idea for longer races especially. Maybe also have mandatory 2 timing chips to help make sure they get picked up and also have to be in all the pictures for the race. It would be really easy to install a couple of cameras that get wide angles of who is passing at more points on the course. Technology is now cheaper and better. A lot of the evidence against FM was camera focused as he thought he outsmarted the timing mats. With more of them it would be obvious he wasn't on the course the entire time.

Rossi triggered the whole mess by posting a moranic and pompous response to a form letter received from his kids' school.

Who's the Clown Now? wrote:

I did look. Who's the clown now, Fuzzy Photo?

I am obviously a horrible person with a dead soul, but thank you for posting those pictures. I'm not interested in continuing to dig for evidence, but I think that's the last we'll hear about the unreliability of grainy pictures of a bicycle.