(AP) NEW YORK -- A Manhattan judge has dismissed a negligence lawsuit against two ringside physicians filed by the widow of boxer Beethavean Scottland, who died after a light-heavyweight bout aboard an aircraft carrier on the Hudson River.
State Supreme Court Justice Sherry Klein Heitler said Denise Scottland's allegations against the doctors described malpractice rather than negligence, and because the statute of limitations for malpractice had lapsed, she dismissed the suit.
Beethavean Scottland, a 26-year-old light-heavyweight from North Brentwood, Md., was knocked out by undefeated George Khalid Jones in the last 37 seconds of a nationally televised 10-round fight aboard the USS Intrepid, a floating air-sea museum, on June 26, 2001.
Though he was initially able to answer questions in the ring, Scottland fell unconscious a short time later. He underwent two operations at Bellevue Hospital Center and died July 2, 2001, without regaining consciousness.
Denise Scottland said in her lawsuit -- one of at least three she has filed -- that the doctors, Rufus Sadler and Gerard Varlotta, and other officials allowed her husband to be "unreasonably and violently pummeled" during the fight.
Lawyers for both physicians argued that their clients attended the fight in their professional medical capacities, and therefore Denise Scottland's allegations against them constituted malpractice claims.
Heitler agreed and dismissed the claims against the doctors as "time barred" -- filed after the expiration of the statute of limitations.
"The court finds," the judge wrote, "the physician defendants were retained as ringside physicians in their capacity as physicians, and they were charged with the duty to exercise reasonable medical care to provide an ongoing medical diagnosis of the boxing participants' physical condition throughout the match."
The lawsuit also names the boxing promoter and other individuals as defendants. Heitler allowed the lawsuit against them to proceed.
Varlotta's lawyer, John P. McNaboe, and Sadler's lawyer, Patrick G. Reidy, said they had no comment.
Denise Scottland's lawyer, Kim Mazzatto, did not return calls for comment.
She also has two lawsuits pending against the city since 2002. The city owns the Intrepid, which is moored at 44th Street and the Hudson River.
Scottland turned pro in 1995 and had a career record of 20-7-2. He was the fourth professional fighter since 1979 to die from injuries in the ring in New York.
Besides his wife, he is survived by three children.