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Friday, March 29, 2024 | Back issues
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‘Caddyshack’ Invoked in Giuliani’s Son’s Golf Case

(CN) - A federal magistrate judge in North Carolina invoked "Caddyshack" in recommending dismissal of a lawsuit filed by Rudolph Giuliani's son over his ousting from Duke University's golf team last year. The magistrate judge said Giuliani's complaint "brings to mind" the movie's gopher-obsessed groundskeeper when he ineptly analyzed a long-range shot: "He's on the final hole. He's about 455 yards away, he's gonna hit about a 2 iron, I think."

Andrew Giuliani, son of the former New York mayor, claimed that the university's new head golf coach, Orrin Vincent III, violated his due-process rights by kicking him off the team in 2008.

"Plaintiff tees up his case by alleging that his dismissal from the Duke golf team was a 'secret expulsion ... without notice, without an opportunity to defend himself, and without cause in violation of University-issued policies enacted to protect students from such arbitrary acts,'" U.S. Magistrate Judge Wallace W. Dixon explained.

Giuliani also accused the university of breaking its promise to grant him "lifetime access" to Duke's golf facilities.

"[Giuliani] contends that all elements for a breach of contract were properly alleged. His analysis, however, slices far from the fairways," Dixon wrote.

Dixon similarly rejected Giuliani's claim that university policymakers "turned a blind eye and did nothing to prevent" Vincent from blocking Giuliani from using the training facilities as an alumnus.

"Plaintiff attempts to take a mulligan (or do-over, in golf parlance) with this argument; however, this shot also lands in the drink," Dixon wrote.

Dixon concluded by disposing of Giuliani's claim for declaratory judgment "with a hole-in-one sentence: no valid contract means no declaratory judgment."

Giuliani graduated from Duke this spring. He turned pro last January.

The district court will review Dixon's recommendation.

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