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At least the news is talking about him
I had no idea who the hell Fuzzy Zoeller was until today. Apparently, he’s a professional golfer who won the Master’s back in 1979. But apparenently someone knew who Zoeller was before today, because last year it seems that there were some defamatory statements posted about him on Wikipedia. Originally put up in August, they were removed and then repeatedly added back, with the most recent addition coming last December. Zoeller claims that these defamatory statements could hurt his endorsements, so he’s suing.
Now his attorney rightly counseled that he shouldn’t bother suing Wikipedia, because federal law is pretty clear that websites are protected from lawsuits based on the content of user comments. But, bizarrely, his lawyer didn’t have Zoeller sue the person who posted the comments. Instead, the lawsuit has been filed against Josef Silny & Associates, a Miami education consulting firm. The December reposting has been tracked to a computer at Silny’s office, so the lawyers decided to sue the firm. However, Josef Silny is flabbergasted by the suit, saying “I think it’s the most bizarre thing that’s ever happened in my life” (he’s led a pretty uneventful life, no?). In any event, I’m not exactly sure why he’s suing the company itself - even if he doesn’t know the identity of the commenter, Zoeller could sue them as a John Doe.
And Zoeller’s attorney clearly understands the idea of using a John Doe because, get this - the lawsuit was originally filed anonymously, listing the plaintiff as a John Doe, instead of under Zoeller’s name. Why? Because they were worried that the lawsuit could impact Zoeller’s privacy and lead to further insult. But the Maimi Herald figured things out pretty quickly, so that idea kind of went out the window. This attorney’s doing a bang-up job.
And in case you were curious (and it’s ok to admit you were), the alleged defamatory statements went thusly:
Later Zoeller went public with his alcoholism and prescription drug addiction, explaining that at the time he made those statements, he was “in the process of polishing off a fifth of Jack (Daniels) after popping a handful of vicodin pills”. He further detailed the violent nature of his disease, recalling how he’d viciously beat his wife Dianne and their four children while under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol. He also admitted feigning a ruptured spinal disc in 1985 so as to be prescribed a multitude of prescription medication.
(Oh, and the Fozzy picture has nothing to do with Zoeller, but I figured a picture of Fozzy was much more entertaining than a picture of Fuzzy.)
