Civil Lawsuit Against Cardinals' Carlos Martinez Dismissed by Federal Judge

St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Carlos Martinez was cleared Friday from a civil lawsuit filed against him in January 2018 alleging he assaulted a man outside of a strip club five years ago. 

Christine Byers of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Friday evening that a federal judge threw the case out and called the incident "a plain old bar fight."

Andrew D'Angelo sued Martinez, specifically alleging assault, battery, in-concert liability and civil conspiracy. Byers relayed the ruling of U.S. District Judge J. Phil Gilbert of the Southern District of Illinois: 

"There is simply zero evidence that any of these people agreed, conspired, or planned a common design amongst themselves to carry out an attack on anyone. Instead this was a plain old bar fight and other courts agree that conspiracy claims stemming from brawls like this one should not pass the summary judge stage."

As a result, Martinez was granted a motion for summary judgement.

A cellphone video captured the scrum, and Judge Gilbert posited that "no reasonable jury could believe that Martinez ever hit D'Angelo."

Cardinals outfielder Marcell Ozuna, who at the time was a member of the Miami Marlins, and late Cardinals pitcher Oscar Taveras were involved along with Martinez.

Martinez was interviewed by Sauget police detectives on July 9, 2014—just four days after the altercation—even though a civil lawsuit wasn't filed until 2018.

The 27-year-old has spent his entire MLB career in St. Louis, beginning in 2013.