Documents from Polk Co. show Manning's side of 'mooning' story

LAKELAND (FOX 13) - A week after winning the Super Bowl, Peyton Manning's golden image was brought into question by newly-released details from a lawsuit filed 13 years ago in Polk County.

The lawsuit was filed by a Lakeland woman who worked as an athletic trainer at the University of Tennessee when Manning played there.

Peyton Manning's affidavit, filed in October 2003, in which he explains his side of the story.

The case revolves around allegations brought by Dr. Jamie Naughright.

She lives in Lakeland and has since 1998, after leaving the University of Tennessee to take a job at Florida Southern.

She claims, in 1996 she was examining Peyton Manning's foot when he dropped his shorts and forced his private parts onto her face. She immediately filed a complaint with the university.

Manning said he never forced himself on her. He said he did pull the back of his shorts down to moon another player.

The other player later signed an affidavit, saying Manning was not trying to moon him and telling Manning to come clean and apologize to Dr. Naughright.

Naughright later left Tennessee as part of a financial settlement.

Fast forward to 2001, Naughright worked at Florida Southern College in Lakeland as an assistant professor.

Manning and his father, Archie published a book, and in it, described Naughright as having a "vulgar mouth." The book also recounted what was referred to as "the mooning incident."

Peyton Manning wrote i n the book:

"I did it thinking the trainer wasn't there where she would see, even when she did, it seemed like something she would have laughed at. But as luck would have it, this particular trainer had been accumulating a list of complaints against the university... Resulting in a lawsuit."

Someone mailed excerpts from the book to Naughright's supervisor at Florida Southern, a Christian liberal arts college. She says shortly thereafter, she was fired -- in spite of having a spotless employment record and exemplary reviews.

In 2002, she filed a defamation suit against Manning. They settled in 2003 for an undisclosed sum.

The case was largely forgotten until last weekend when the New York Daily News ran an article based on *one document from the case file. A document in which Naughright's attorneys laid out their side of the story.

It's unclear why the Daily News chose to run the article when it did, considering the age of the case and the fact that it was covered in the media -- though not widely -- in 2003.

As it relates to the training room incident, Manning was never charged with a crime, nor did Naughright seek to file charges.