Golf legend Jack Nicklaus wins $50M verdict in defamation lawsuit against former business partners

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MIAMI (AP) — Professional golf legend Jack Nicklaus has won a $50 million verdict in a defamation lawsuit filed in Florida against his former business partners.

A six-person jury in Palm Beach County found Monday that the Nicklaus Companies had damaged the 18-time major champion’s reputation and exposed him to ridicule, hatred, mistrust, distrust or contempt. Nicklaus Companies owner and executive chairman Howard Milstein and executive Andrew O'Brien were also named individually as defendants, but jurors did not find them personally liable.

Eugene Stearns, an attorney for Nicklaus, said Nicklaus has spent his life helping others and earning a reputation as not just a great athlete but a great human being.

“He deserved better than what he got, and we’re pleased that the jury addressed the particular circumstances that were so annoying,” Stearns said.

According to the lawsuit, Nicklaus, 85, claimed Milstein, O’Brien and others at the company spread false stories that Nicklaus considered a $750 million deal to join the Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf League and that he was suffering from dementia and no longer mentally fit to manage his affairs.

Defense attorneys said at trial that Nicklaus Companies executives never tried to defame Nicklaus and argued the case was basically a business dispute. They said no harm was done to Nicklaus' reputation, and there was no reason for a company that shared the golfer's name to attack him.

Attorneys for Nicklaus Companies didn't immediately respond to emails seeking comment Tuesday evening.

Earlier this year, a New York judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by Nicklaus Companies against Nicklaus that attempted to prevent the golfer from using his name, image and likeness to promote his golf course design business.

Nicklaus joined Nicklaus Companies in 2007 as part of a $145 million deal, but Nicklaus eventually quit and planned to continue designing golf courses on his own. While Nicklaus is once again free to design golf courses under his own name, Nicklaus Companies retains the rights to sell clothing and equipment with “Jack Nicklaus” logos.