Eddie Pepperell labeled LIV Golf’s Patrick Reed potentially “the most deranged individual on the planet” after news broke the American filed another defamation lawsuit against members of the media, taking his claims to $1bn.
In case the news passed you by, Reed’s attorney Larry Klayman announced earlier in the week that the 32-year-old American had filed another lawsuit, this time wanting $250m in damages.
This was on top of his $750m lawsuit against Golf Channel and Brandel Chamblee.
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That lawsuit alleges LIV critic Chamblee and the cable network conspired with the PGA Tour and commissioner Jay Monahan to defame Reed “since he was 23 years old”.
Reed’s latest action is brought against the golf writer Shane Ryan, Fox Sports, the New York Post, Hachette Book Group and the Associated Press, as well as author Shane Ryan and AP journalist Doug Ferguson
Court documents in particular accuse Ryan of being “pathologically obsessed” with the 2018 Masters champion.
Ryan has recently published a book – through Hachette – entitled “The Cup They Couldn’t Lose: America, The Ryder Cup, and The Long Road to Whistling Straits.”
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Reed claims the work falsely attacked his reputation.
Ryan can’t respond in too much detail because of the legal implications, however he did post on social media:
“Obviously it’s not something I can comment on much now, but I am going to say the same thing I said seven years ago when this was threatened: I stand by my reporting 100 per cent.”
DP World Tour pro Pepperell, also reacted to the news.
This is how he feels:
He might be the most deranged individual on the planet.
Definitely on LIV.
— Eddie Pepperell (@PepperellEddie) November 2, 2022
Reed filed his $750m lawsuit in August. In September, he refiled it to include Golf Channel analysts Damon Hack, Shane Bacon and Eamon Lynch.
Reed also brought suit against Golfweekwhere Lynch is a columnist, and their parent company Gannett.
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The suit was moved from Texas to the US District Court for the Middle District of Florida in Jacksonville.
There was a wild and unsubstantiated rumor floating about that one of the reasons the suit was moved was because the judge assigned in Texas was a massive golf fan and a stickler for rules.
We’ll have to see what develops with these lawsuits. One legal expert previously claimed Reed’s $750m suit was destined to fail.
Reed will tee it up in the LIV Golf League in 2023 with the 4 Aces, captained by Dustin Johnson.
In 2022, Reed earned $12,210,714 in prize money with LIV. He signed for LIV Golf in July after the curtain-raising event at Centurion.
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Speaking at the LIV Golf team championship at Trump National Doral, Reed said of his decision:
“After seeing London and watching a little bit of it on TV, I knew it was going to be a good decision, the right thing to do. I just needed DJ to push me over the edge a little bit, and it was an amazing decision, probably the best decision we made.”
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