A new $250 million lawsuit has been filed against several other prominent golf media figures and organizations, just a month after Patrick Reed’s lawyers filed a $750m defamation suit.
Reed’s attorney Larry Klayman released that the suit now includes Shane Ryan, Hatchette Book Group and Fox Sports as well as Doug Ferguson, Associated Press golf writer, and the organization for which he works. Golfweek confirmed that the suit was filed with the Middle District Court of Florida, Jacksonville Division.
Ryan is the author of two books, “Slaying Tiger: A Year Inside The Ropes on The New PGA Tour,”, and The Cup they Couldn’t Lose. America, The Ryder Cup and The Long Road to Whisling Straits. Click the links to buy either book.
Ryan was quoted in the release as saying:
Shane Ryan was one of the first and most hateful of the defendants to falsely injure or tortiously interfere in Mr. Reed’s life, his family and colleagues. He wrote a book called “Slaying the Tiger” and now his new book “The Cup They Can’t Lose: America and The Ryder Cup and The Long Road To Whistling Straits” which republishes the alleged false attacks.
Shane Ryan is alleged in the Complaint to be obsessed with hurting Mr. Reed, his family, and colleagues. Given his incestuous relationship to those on the PGA Tour and his previous book, the latest is part of the flood of defamatory statements published by the Defendants. They were also regurgitated with actual malice not only by Brandel Chamblee and Damon Hack, Shane Bacon, Shane Bacon, and Eamon Lynch. NBC’s Golf Channel is, according to Jay Monahan, the PGA Tour’s’s’s’s partner. Chamblee and the other Defendants are in a similar suit called Reed v. Chamblee. This was also filed in Jacksonville federal court, Florida. See Reed vs. Chamblee, et. al, Civil Action No. – 3:22-cv-01059 (M.D. Fl. ).
In the original suit, damages were sought in excess of $750 millions. Plaintiffs in civil cases must prove that a defendant is liable and not guilty. Klayman, a Florida-based lawyer who has lost a lot of defamation suits , including one in which Arizona politician Sheriff Joe Arpaio sued several national media outlets claiming they defamed him. This lawsuit was filed by Klayman.
My client, his family, and colleagues were made the whipping boys of dishonest and cheap journalists in golf media, such as Shane Ryan who eat at the troughs of the PGA Tour which has historically mistreated Mr. Reed. My client’s decision to move to LIV Golf was primarily due this mistreatment. Insufficient security at PGA Tour events was lacking, which was where hostile fans vilified, threatened, and even killed Mr. Reed, his wife and caddie. Klayman stated in the release.
“Mr. Reed is defending himself, his family and colleagues. He is fighting back in court to not only redeem his reputation for honesty, superior golf achievements, and success, but also to protect his loved one from Shane Ryan and Doug Ferguson, who are making a miserable living spreading false information and lies about him. These journalists, publishers, and networks make a poor name for the good ones by publishing and broadcasting false information to millions of people for their own financial gain. They do this to create viewers, viewers, clicks and readers. It is all for the sole purpose of using Mr. Reed cruelly and callously as a means to make money.
“Let it also be known that anyone following Shane Ryan or the other defendants in the two lawsuits to make a quick profit and harm Mr. Reed, Reed’s family and colleagues will be held responsible under the letter and spirit of the law.”
In the original suit that named Brandel Chamblee, Golf Channel and PGA Tour executives, claimed the group conspired to defame Mr. Reed, misreport information with falsity,/or reckless disregard of the truth, and deliberately misleads the public. They also actively targeted Mr. Reed at 23 to ruin his reputation, create hatred, and a hostile environment for him to work.
