The Al Jazeera report linking many athletes, most notably Peyton Manning, will apparently be on its way to the courtroom. Another athlete named in the reports, Ryan Zimmerman of the Washington Nationals, has filed a lawsuit.
BREAKING: Baseball player Ryan Zimmerman sues Al Jazeera America over alleged defamation: court filing
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 5, 2016
Any success that Zimmerman has in this lawsuit will not only directly help him, but it will indirectly help every other athlete named, as a successful lawsuit would surely hurt the credibility of the entire report.
With that said, winning a lawsuit will not be easy for Zimmerman, or anyone, even if they’re claims are correct.
“It can be dangerous to sue because a defendant can probe into actual allegations,” Los Angeles-based lawyer Arthur Whang told USA TODAY Sports. “That’s because truth is a defense. Al Jazeera could use the litigation to probe the accusations which plaintiffs may not want.”
With that said, Ryan Zimmerman is a highly paid athlete and has the resources to have the best legal council that money can buy, so he’s likely heard all of that is is still willing to go through with the case.
Lawsuits can be extremely messy once they get into court, even for the sides that end up victorious. Therefore it would be completely illogical, though not entirely unprecedented, for Zimmerman to take such drastic action without having a pretty good sense that he’d come out on top.