Judge dismisses Patrick Reed’s $1B defamation lawsuits against Golf Channel, Brandel Chamblee and others
A federal judge in Florida dismissed both of Patrick Reed’s defamation lawsuits Wednesday, ending the LIV Golf member’s litigation against the Golf Channel, The Associated Press and other reporters, according to Front Office Sports’ A.J. Perez.
Reed filed a pair of lawsuits last year seeking a combined at least $1 billion in damages after he claimed Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee, the Golf Channel and others were conspiring with the PGA Tour to “engage in a pattern and practice of defaming” him since he was 23 years old. In total, Reed filed his case against 18 journalists and news organizations.
Judge Timothy J. Corrigan dismissed both lawsuits Wednesday with prejudice, meaning they can’t be refiled later.
“Because Reed is a public figure, he must sufficiently allege facts showing actual malice by the defendants to maintain his claims,” Corrigan wrote in his order, via Front Office Sports. “To satisfy this standard, Reed must allege facts sufficient to give rise to a reasonable inference that the false statement was made ‘with knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not.’
“Reed’s amended complaints in both lawsuits fall short of alleging sufficient facts showing that any Defendant had actual malice. This deficiency is fatal to each defamation claim.”
Reed initially filed his lawsuit in Texas last year, but then he refiled them in Florida and added more defendants. Reed, who has since left the PGA Tour for LIV Golf, said that Chamblee, the Golf Channel and other media outlets had a goal to “destroy his reputation, create hate and a hostile work environment for him,” and that they had “the intention to discredit his name and accomplishments.” Reed also claims he lost “multi-million dollar sponsorship deals” when he was “terminated” from the Tour. He resigned from the Tour, however, when he left for LIV Golf.
Reed — who actually listed out a number of personal attacks he’s said he has heard while golfing on Tour — also claimed that the reporters and news outlets were “falsely and maliciously branding him as a cheater, liar, a thief, a murderer and someone who accepts blood money from terrorists.” Reed has been accused of or linked to rule violations or near-rule violations dating back to his time playing collegiately at Georgia.
Corrigan, however, said the claims Reed had made fell well short of qualifying for “actual malice" — even if some of the “negative media coverage he receives” sometimes “seems over the top.”
Reed won nine times on the PGA Tour before he left for LIV Golf, and he won the Masters in 2018. He is in his second season with LIV Golf, and competes on the Four Aces team with Dustin Johnson, Pat Perez and Peter Uihlein. Reed finished in 21st at LIV Golf’s latest tournament in Chicago.
