An attempt to sue multiple US media outlets and golf journalists in a $750 million (A$1.2bn) defamation lawsuit has backfired spectacularly on controversial LIV star Patrick Reed, who has been ordered to pay legal costs to the defendants.
Reed pursued the mind-boggling damages from Gannett and Golfweek, along with journalists Doug Ferguson of the Associated Press, Eamonn Lynch, Damon Hack, and Golf Channel commentators Brandel Chamblee and Damon Hack.
Central to Reed’s case was the claim that the Golf Channel and PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan tried to defame the 33-year-old Texan “since he was 23 years old”, and that the alleged attacks intensified over his decision to join LIV Golf.
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Reed’s legal team claimed that he lost out on “multiple multimillion-dollar sponsorship deals as a result of the continuous harm”.
Their allegations also included “misreporting information with falsity and/or reckless disregard of the truth, that is with actual and constitutional malice, purposely omitting pertinent key material facts to mislead the public, and actively targeting (Reed) to destroy his reputation, create hate, and a hostile work environment for him.”
The lawsuit was twice dismissed, most recently in September.
In a fresh legal blow, however, Reed has now reportedly been told he must pay lawyer fees and other costs to those he was suing.
A Jacksonville federal judge ruled on Friday that Reed had brought forward meritless lawsuits in order to stifle free speech, according to multiple US media outlets.
Judge Timothy Corrigan said: “Reed does not meet the required pleading of actual malice to hold the press liable for defamation.
“While Reed may be frustrated at the negative media coverage he receives [some of which seems over the top], under Florida law and the First Amendment, Reed fails to bring actionable defamation claims and his cases therefore must be dismissed.”
Reed’s lawyer, Larry Klayman, issued a strongly-worded statement in response to the ruling, saying that it would be appealed and that “justice will be done”.
“The dishonest and unethical fake news golf media, in the hip pocket of and dependent on the PGA Tour, must be held to account for their callous and malicious attempts to destroy Mr. Reed, as a means to try to destroy LIV Golf, for clicks and profits,” the statement read, according to reports.
“Stay tuned. This fight is far from over.”
It is unclear how much Reed has been ordered to pay the defendants.
Nonetheless, reaction to the announcement has been unkind to Reed, who was involved in multiple cheating storms on the PGA Tour before he jumped ship to the Saudi-backed LIV Golf league.
“Patrick Reed lost his lawsuit, badly. You just hate to see it,” posted the Fore Play podcast in reporting the news.
Fore Play podcast host Dan Rapaport added: “Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.”
One of the defendants, Chamblee, also didn’t miss the opportunity to take a swipe at Reed in victory.
“To be fair he has been bought, and now works for a man who doesn’t allow free speech… so I can see how Reed would fall into this trap,” Chamblee posted on X.
Reed is also known as a serial blocker of X users who criticise him on the social media platform.
Furthermore, last year, circumstantial evidence provided a link between his wife, Justine, and the controversial pro-Reed X account @useGolfFACTS.