Stepmother sues Jeremy Mayfield for defamation
The stepmother of Jeremy Mayfield has sued the NASCAR driver/owner for defamation. // Mark Sluder, NASCAR Scene
Lisa Mayfield, stepmother of Jeremy Mayfield, has filed a defamation lawsuit against the suspended NASCAR driver/owner for comments he made after she testified in an affidavit that she had seen Jeremy use methamphetamines.
Jeremy Mayfield is challenging his NASCAR suspension – issued May 9 for what NASCAR says is a positive test for methamphetamines – in U.S. District Court. Mayfield claims that the test was a false positive from the prescription drug Adderall and the over-the-counter allergy medicine Claritin-D.
NASCAR filed an affidavit earlier this month that included Lisa Mayfield’s testimony that she had seen Jeremy use methamphetamines. The affidavit was part of NASCAR’s argument that Mayfield should remain suspended.
Lisa Mayfield’s lawsuit, which was filed Wednesday in North Carolina Superior Court in Statesville, N.C., states that after the affidavit was filed, Jeremy Mayfield was quoted on television and other media outlets accusing his stepmother of being involved in the death of his father, Terry, who died Sept. 5, 2007. Jeremy Mayfield also was quoted as saying that NASCAR had paid Lisa for her affidavit.
Jeremy Mayfield’s statements “were false and defamatory … and [Lisa Mayfield] has undergone great mental suffering and emotional distress as a result,” states Lisa Mayfield’s lawsuit.
Lisa Mayfield does not specify the amount of damages she seeks from Jeremy, just that they are in excess of $10,000 – the minimum amount to be filed in North Carolina Superior Court.
Not included in the lawsuit is the background of the death of Jeremy’s father.
A Rowan County (N.C.) police investigation said he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest at his home and there were no signs of any criminal activity or foul play. Terry Mayfield’s death certificate also indicates a suicide.
The medical examiner’s narrative of the circumstances surrounding the death noted that Lisa Mayfield had said Terry Mayfield had been eating and drinking heavily for the past three days and had been very depressed about not talking with Jeremy and that the suicide was only a matter of time.
A toxicology report from the state medical examiner’s office indicates a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.19 percent for Terry Mayfield. His body was cremated.
Jeremy is the administrator of his father’s estate, and citing the financial burden, allowed the home Terry shared with Lisa to go into foreclosure last year. The home was built in 2003, with Lisa and Terry taking out the loan. It is on 3.8 acres of land deeded from Jeremy to his father in 2002.
Lisa and Terry Mayfield were married on the same day and in the same church as Jeremy and his current, wife, Shana, in 2003.
