Eddie Johnson files lawsuit

[phxrising]

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns/articles/1014eddie1014.html

Suns analyst files lawsuit

Chicago Tribune
Oct. 14, 2006 12:00 AM
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Suns television analyst and former NBA player Eddie Johnson filed a lawsuit Thursday against the Chicago Tribune and other media outlets over inaccurate reports in August that linked him to a sex crime in Florida.

Johnson is a Chicago native and former University of Illinois star who played 17 years in the NBA, including three-plus seasons for the Suns. He was on vacation in Hawaii at the time and had nothing to do with the alleged assault on an 8-year-old girl in Ocala, Fla.

The suspect arrested in the case was a man also named Eddie Johnson, who also is a former NBA player.

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An Associated Press story on Aug. 8 correctly identified the suspect as the former Atlanta Hawks player who attended Auburn University.

But a Tribune story on Aug. 9 mistakenly identified the suspect as the Eddie Johnson who had starred at the University of Illinois.

The lawsuit alleges that the Tribune published the story with reckless disregard for whether it was true. "It is a most foul libel indeed to be falsely accused of being a child molester," the lawsuit said.
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[JerkFace]

good.....i hope he is awarded millions

 

[arthurracoon]

 

[msdundee]

good.....i hope he is awarded millions

If there's any justice, he will be. This mess resulted in a lot of pain, damage and suffering for EJ and his family, all caused by the Trib and other media sources with supposed credibility.

Then we have that woman who spilled hot coffee in her own lap at Mickey D's and is now independently wealthy because of her own stupidity.

 

[Joe Mama]

If there's any justice, he will be. This mess resulted in a lot of pain, damage and suffering for EJ and his family, all caused by the Trib and other media sources with supposed credibility.

Then we have that woman who spilled hot coffee in her own lap at Mickey D's and is now independently wealthy because of her own stupidity.

Actually that lady was far more deserving of the money she got (supposedly she settled for less than the $500,000 the judge awarded her) than Eddie Johnson IMO. She suffered third-degree burns to her crotch.

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0122-11.htm

Eddie Johnson is already a wealthy man. If he gets any money out of this he should give it to some charity for abused children.

Joe

 

[msdundee]

Actually that lady was far more deserving of the money she got (supposedly she settled for less than the $500,000 the judge awarded her) than Eddie Johnson IMO. She suffered third-degree burns to her crotch.

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0122-11.htm

Eddie Johnson is already a wealthy man. If he gets any money out of this he should give it to some charity for abused children.

Joe

I know the story, Joe. The coffee was too hot. Taking a big gulp, or spilling it on your hand or arm could have caused a less serious burn. But how many people would put a container of hot coffee between their legs -- on the car seat -- as she did, to add sugar? Not too many, I'd guess.

Maybe a better example is the case of the woman who sued a supermarket for injuring herself by tripping over a child running in the aisles. It was her child. She won, too.

I think EJ's lawsuit is more than appropriate, I think it's necessary. We all know he's not doing it for the money but I still hope he wins.

 

[JerkFace]

Eddie Johnson is already a wealthy man. If he gets any money out of this he should give it to some charity for abused children.

Joe

it is less about what eddie gets and more about what the tribune has to pay

 

[thegrahamcrackr]

it is less about what eddie gets and more about what the tribune has to pay

and more about setting a big precedent for irresponsible journalism

 

[Gaddabout]

The Tribune has already lost this case and will clearly try to settle. The defense against libel is whether it is true or not. That simple. It was clearly not. EJ does not have to show a loss. He does not have to prove malicious intent, merely that their mistake was defamatory to his known character.

This is about as clear cut case of libel as it gets, and I'm sure people at the Trib lost their jobs over it. There is no "oops" defense against libel.

 

[Evil Ash]

The Tribune has already lost this case and will clearly try to settle. The defense against libel is whether it is true or not. That simple. It was clearly not. EJ does not have to show a loss. He does not have to prove malicious intent, merely that their mistake was defamatory to his known character.

This is about as clear cut case of libel as it gets, and I'm sure people at the Trib lost their jobs over it. There is no "oops" defense against libel.

Actually there is. In cases of public personalities (ie celebrities), they must prove that newspapers used actual malice. With regular citizens only negligence needs to be proven.

If the Tribune wanted to challenge this, all they have to prove is that Eddie is a public personality and they didn't intentionally hurt his reputation. However this is unlikely because of the high costs of the lawyers as well as the fact that the majority of newspapers and networks have money stashed away for defamation cases.

This will likely never reach the courts

 

[JCSunsfan]

The publicity from the lawsuit itself has an impact on restoring his damaged reputation. It gets the word out that it wasn't him, and tends to gain a little public sympathy. Eddie's reputation is intrinsic to his own marketability--its his stock and trade, he has to do what he can to regain it--including suing the newpaper. Its not so much about the money.

 

[msdundee]

Whatever the standard criteria for libel cases, this situation was uglier than most media goof-ups. It's not like they said he was shoplifting at the 7-11, they said he was a child molester. The Tribune published it and that sub on Rome's show really blasted him as well, which was almost worse. I'm sure the "other media" mentioned includes him.

 

[Gaddabout]

It went out on the wires the way the Trib originally reported it, but the AP caught it and corrected it. The AP went way out of their way to make sure they were identifying the right person. They even clarified it in the lede of the story -- noting it was NOT Eddie Johnson, the current Suns announcer. That's unusual, and was probably the result of an AP lawyer contacted late at night, and charging triple time to take a phone call at that hour.

Like I said, they don't have to show malicious intent in this case. Damage was clearly done to both EJ's professional and personal reputation. In the newspaper biz, where I spent 12 years, a journalist who makes a mistake of that magnitude doesn't even bother to wait for a boss to pass judgment on them. They just pack up that night and get to work on their new career in public relations or marketing.

There are newspaper "oops" that do not cause damage to the person it misidentifies and isn't libel. For example, the Republic's weekend magazine once ran a collage of photos (about birthday parties I think) that included a random AP photo of a clown. The clown turned out to be an old wire photo of John Wayne Gacy. The person who made the mistake still got fired or demoted (I can't remember which), and a massive public apology ran on page 1.

 

[msdundee]

The "sub on the Rome show" was Skip Bayless. Wikipedia even includes this in his bio:

"Bayless has recently been criticized for his vitriolic denegration of University of Illinois star Edward (Eddie) Arnet Johnson on The Jim Rome Show, whom he mistook for Edward "Fast Eddie" Johnson who was arrested on child molestation charges. Although other news outlets including The Chicago Tribune also fell into this trap, Bayless's ignorance has been widely criticized."

I read the transcript of his rant. "Vitriolic" is an understatement.

 

[Evil Ash]

It went out on the wires the way the Trib originally reported it, but the AP caught it and corrected it. The AP went way out of their way to make sure they were identifying the right person. They even clarified it in the lede of the story -- noting it was NOT Eddie Johnson, the current Suns announcer. That's unusual, and was probably the result of an AP lawyer contacted late at night, and charging triple time to take a phone call at that hour.

Like I said, they don't have to show malicious intent in this case. Damage was clearly done to both EJ's professional and personal reputation. In the newspaper biz, where I spent 12 years, a journalist who makes a mistake of that magnitude doesn't even bother to wait for a boss to pass judgment on them. They just pack up that night and get to work on their new career in public relations or marketing.

There are newspaper "oops" that do not cause damage to the person it misidentifies and isn't libel. For example, the Republic's weekend magazine once ran a collage of photos (about birthday parties I think) that included a random AP photo of a clown. The clown turned out to be an old wire photo of John Wayne Gacy. The person who made the mistake still got fired or demoted (I can't remember which), and a massive public apology ran on page 1.

I'm not disagreeing that it was a massive screwup that the reporters and especially the editors involved should be punished. I'm just saying that legally speaking if they wanted to challenge it and proved that he was a public person (because for example he is in front of the camera often during the Suns season ... but honestly that's pushing the public person definition) that they could get out of it because they were negligent and didn't show actual malice.

However the Tribune and Bayless as well as his employer would prefer that this story just goes away and will settle out of court. I predicted that would happen even before he brought up a lawsuit

 

[Covert Rain]

There isn't a chance they could defend this for the simple reason there will always be people out there who will associate him as a CM. People who only casually listen to the news or follow stories will never follow the details of the charges or the outcome of a lawsuit. I guarantee for years to come there will be some people when tney hear is name say wasn't he arrested for CM. It's sad but true. For that reason there is permanent damage to his rep.

 

[Evil Ash]

There isn't a chance they could defend this for the simple reason there will always be people out there who will associate him as a CM. People who only casually listen to the news or follow stories will never follow the details of the charges or the outcome of a lawsuit. I guarantee for years to come there will be some people when tney hear is name say wasn't he arrested for CM. It's sad but true. For that reason there is permanent damage to his rep.

Doesn't matter if he is deemed to be considered a public person. When you are a public person you must prove that they intentionally hurt your reputation, it doesn't matter how much damage was done.

Its one of the main reasons why you don't see celebrities sue the tabloids. They know how much of an uphill battle it is

For a regular citizen however, all they need to prove was that it was false and it hurt their reputation. Negligence isn't a defense for a news medium when they commit libel/slander against a regular citizen

 

[msdundee]

This is from a book on U.S. Law re: libel

"For most of the history of the United States, constitutional protections of freedom of speech were not considered applicable to libel law. This changed with the landmark 1960s case of New York Times v. Sullivan, in which the Supreme Court of the United States modified the law of libel to be in accord with constitutional requirements. The court held that where a public figure was defamed, the plaintiff had to prove not just that an untruthful statement was made, but also that it was made with actual malice - that is, that it was made knowing it to be false OR with reckless disregard for the truth."

It's hard to see how they could argue the "reckless disregard for the truth."

 

[George O'Brien]

It was not that hard to check the facts in this case. If anything, the internet makes it a lot easier because you don't have to run to the library.

One of the reasons newspapers are considered more reliable than talk show host is that they have the time to check their facts. Talk show guys are NOT journalists, they are entertainers. But the Chicago Tribune does not have have the same excuse.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Johnson%2C_Jr.

Edward "Fast Eddie" Johnson, Jr. (born February 24, 1955 in Ocala, Florida) is a former professional basketball player. A 6'2" guard from Auburn University, Johnson played 10 seasons (1977–1987) in the NBA as a member of the Atlanta Hawks, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Seattle SuperSonics. He represented the Hawks in two NBA All-Star Games (1980 and 1981) and scored 10,163 points in his career. As a player, he was known for his great speed and slashing ability.

On August 9, 2006, the Associated Press reported that Johnson had been arrested for sexually assaulting an 8-year-old girl.[1]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Johnson_(basketball)

Edward (Eddie) Arnet Johnson (born May 1, 1959 in Chicago, Illinois) is a former professional basketball player who spent 17 seasons in the NBA. A sharpshooting 6'7" forward/guard, Johnson attended the University of Illinois before being selected by the Kansas City Kings in the 1981 NBA Draft. Johnson would play for the Kings, the Phoenix Suns, the Seattle SuperSonics, the Charlotte Hornets, the Indiana Pacers, the Houston Rockets, and Greek team Olympiacos (1994-1995) before retiring from basketball in 1999 with 19,202 career points. The highlight of his career occurred in 1989, when he received the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award as a member of the Suns.

After his playing career was over, Johnson turned to broadcasting, serving as a color commentator for the Arizona State University men's basketball team, the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury, and currently the Phoenix Suns. Johnson is also an accomplished motivational speaker, and he has recently released an instructional DVD called Eddie Johnson's Jumpshot and Offensive Skills. Johnson is also a regular article contributor to Hoopshype.com.

In 2006, Johnson was mistaken in multiple media reports for "Fast Eddie" Johnson when the latter was arrested on suspicion of sexual assault of a minor and burglary on August 8. Johnson called that day the "worst...of his life" and expressed concern that the case of mistaken identity might permanently sully his reputation. [1] Johnson expressed to Jay Mariotti of the Chicago Sun Times that he is considering legal action against the various news outlets that used pictures of him gained from the Internet or did not fact check his identity against that of Edward "Fast Eddie" Johnson Jr.

 

[msdundee]

Skip Bayless has been a sports writer for some time, now works for ESPN and his columns run twice a week. I guess he just does stints on Rome's show once in a while.

The really mind-boggling thing about it all is that the original arrest report, and as I recall it came out of Florida somewhere, did name the right Eddie Johnson but only identified him in a small 3-4 line paragraph at the very end of the report and without any photo ("our" EJ talked about that in an interview a couple of days later). When the newspaper picked it up they saw the name, pulled a photo of EJ, and put it out. That would seem to qualify as "reckless disregard for the truth."

 

[msdundee]

George, I just re-read your post and hope you don't think I ran to the library! We have a bookcase full of law books.

 

[George O'Brien]

George, I just re-read your post and hope you don't think I ran to the library! We have a bookcase full of law books.

Would they have helped you figure out which Eddie Johnson was accused?

I'm not sure Eddie has a legal case, but that does not excuse shoddy journalism. If newspapers want to differentiate themselves from personal blogs, they have to take their craft seriously. That means checking facts and triple checking inflamatory reports.