Get caught sleeping at a ballgame, collect $10,000,000?

[D_Odds]

Snoozing Man Claims ESPN Defamed Him

BRONX, N.Y. (CN) - A baseball fan who dozed off during a Yankee-Red Sox game sued the Yankees, ESPN and its announcers for defamation, claiming they broadcast photos of him asleep in his chair, calling him “fatty, unintelligent, [and] stupid.”
Andrew Robert Rector sued Major League Baseball Advanced Media, ESPN New York, the New York Yankees, and ESPN announcers Dan Shulman and John Kruk, in Bronx County Supreme Court. He demands $10 million in damages for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Except they didn’t.

I guess his lawyers realize that going after the Yankees, ESPN and MLB might get more of a $$ settlement than going after someone’s unrelated sports blog, even though the complaint focuses on what was said by the sports blog.

Ah, America, Land of the Lawyer and Home of the Lawsuit.

Please note I am NOT defending the blog post

[Simplicio]

@D_Odds

Ah, America, Land of the Lawyer and Home of the Lawsuit.

Eh, I doubt the case will go anywhere. The lawyer he found to represent him seems to have a tenuous grasp of the English language, which I can’t imagine bodes well for the suits chances of success.

[drewtwo99]

There will probably be a small token settlement for PR reasons, which is all this guy is looking for.

[Marley23]

@drewtwo99

There will probably be a small token settlement for PR reasons, which is all this guy is looking for.

I doubt it. Since there’s no record of anyone saying these things, it’d be kind of stupid for ESPN to pay up.

[Grumman]

In order for this to be defamation, doesn’t he have to prove that the claim that he is unintelligent and stupid is false? In a court case that he is bringing against the wrong defendants?

Oh, how I’d love it if this backfired in that manner.

[D_Odds]

@Marley23

I doubt it. Since there’s no record of anyone saying these things, it’d be kind of stupid for ESPN to pay up.

All his lawyer, language-challenged though he may be, has to do is set the settlement amount below the cost of litigation amount. Trolls use the legal system like this in a variety of ways. They don’t expect that their case will win, just that you’ll not want to fight it. Scummy, but perfectly legal, way to earn a living.

[hajario]

@D_Odds

All his lawyer, language-challenged though he may be, has to do is set the settlement amount below the cost of litigation amount. Trolls use the legal system like this in a variety of ways. They don’t expect that their case will win, just that you’ll not want to fight it. Scummy, but perfectly legal, way to earn a living.

Except that ESPN has lawyers in their employ already who will fight this. They don’t want to set a precedent that they can be taken like this and likely won’t settle.

[Marley23]

@D_Odds

All his lawyer, language-challenged though he may be, has to do is set the settlement amount below the cost of litigation amount. Trolls use the legal system like this in a variety of ways. They don’t expect that their case will win, just that you’ll not want to fight it. Scummy, but perfectly legal, way to earn a living.

@hajario

Except that ESPN has lawyers in their employ already who will fight this. They don’t want to set a precedent that they can be taken like this and likely won’t settle.

That’s how I see it. I’m not any kind of lawyer and we all know that a company will settle a nuisance lawsuit if it saves time and trouble. But I am also sure that there are some situations in which a company won’t settle that type of lawsuit because paying up would only invite more opportunistic lawsuits. This would appear to be one of those. The ESPN commentators made some jokes about this fan but they never called him fat or stupid. I don’t think Disney and ESPN will do anything to invite lawsuits from every fan who gets joked about on camera.

[hajario]

@Marley23

That’s how I see it. I’m not any kind of lawyer and we all know that a company will settle a nuisance lawsuit if it saves time and trouble. But I am also sure that there are some situations in which a company won’t settle that type of lawsuit because paying up would only invite more opportunistic lawsuits. This would appear to be one of those. The ESPN commentators made some jokes about this fan but they never called him fat or stupid. I don’t think Disney and ESPN will do anything to invite lawsuits from every fan who gets joked about on camera.

Exactly. It’s not like fans in the crowd at a sporting event being shown during a tv broadcast is some new fangled thing that the sleeping fat guy could never have anticipated. Blogs on the web mocking people whose pictures were taken in public are newer but not exactly cutting edge either. The best the guy can hope for is that his notoriety earns him a shot on The Biggest Loser.