Defamation?
No matter how confused any of us may be about the elements of defamation, I’m pretty sure we’re not as confused as this guy (courtesy of the Stella Awards, named in honor of the original McDonalds coffee plaintiff). Mr. Heckard is suing Michael Jordan (and Phil Knight, on an even more convoluted theory) for defamation on the grounds that people are constantly mistaking him for Jordan. He filed his suit pro se because, apparently, he couldn’t get a lawyer to take his case. He’s requesting compensatory damages of $52 million and punitive damages of $364 million (no indication on how he arrived at those figures) from each defendant. I wonder if he’d settle for an autographed pair of sneakers.
