This is so weird—seems way too murky to prevail: https://www.inforum.com/news/4041197-Oxbow-Country-Club-some-members-defamed-former-West-Fargo-man-jury-awards-over-2-million-in-damages
And how can a jury divvy up fault like this? 35% fault to one guy, 20% to another, 7% to another, 3% to an “unnamed group”? 
Whatever the case, they all sound emblematic of everything that is wrong with this country. :smack:
Weird that the jury assigned 7% of the fault to the complainant.
But he apparently doesn’t have to pay himself anything.
Right?
Eh, 7% responsible because he himself said ‘liquid cocaine’. If he’d said it was like Red Bull or something, the entire thing would have been less likely to occur.
That being said, if the other people started spreading the story that he was using cocaine, throwing around the words ‘illegal stuff’ and refusing to be around him, then YES, they were defaming him.
It’s called contributory negligence. The court concluded that his own conduct contributed to the situation, and therefore from the global calculation of damages, 7% is deducted because of his own conduct.
What was this guy thinking? He’s a Realtor. Your reputation matters a lot in business. A country club is full of potential clients that may want a house.
Any Comments about drugs is pretty lame. He should have known that.
I can see the judge’s point that the country club members shouldn’t have spread rumors. But, I can understand why they didn’t want to associate with this guy.
Right, and what about the thing the club employee said about his behavior?
ETA: One thing that surprises me a bit is that cocaine is so scandalous at a drunken tournament with a bunch of rich dudes.