Ex-MLB, NFL standout Bo Jackson gets $21M in blackmail, stalking case،
ATLANTA — Former professional baseball and football player Bo Jackson, a Heisman Trophy runner at Auburn, has won a $21 million verdict in his civil lawsuit against his niece and nephew for trying to extort him.
Last Friday's ruling included a permanent protective order prohibiting Thomas Lee Anderson and his sister, Erica M. Anderson Ross, from further disturbing or contacting Jackson and members of his immediate family. The Andersons must also stay at least 500 yards away from the Jacksons and remove any content about them from social media, news outlets reported.
The complaint, filed in April, alleged that Jackson's relatives attempted to extort him out of $20 million through harassment and intimidation.
“Unfortunately for those trying to extort $20 million from Jackson and his family, Bo continues to fight back hard,” Jackson’s attorneys, Robert Ingram and David Conley, said in a news release about the case Monday. .
Jackson, 61, claimed the harassment began in 2022 and included threatening social media posts and messages, public allegations that misrepresented him and the public disclosure of private information intended to cause him harm. severe emotional distress, WSB-TV reported. He said Thomas Anderson wrote on Facebook that he would post photos, texts and medical records of Jackson to “show America” that he wasn't playing around, according to the lawsuit.
The Andersons, with the help of an Atlanta attorney, demanded money in exchange for stopping their conduct, Jackson said. He said they threatened to show up at a restaurant near his home and disrupt a charity event he hosted in April in Auburn as a means of harassment and intimidation.
Jackson feared for his safety and that of his immediate family, the lawsuit states. She sought a stalking protection order against the Andersons as well as unspecified compensation for intentional infliction of emotional distress and invasion of privacy. Jackson also filed a civil conspiracy charge against the siblings.
The court found that these actions had no legitimate purpose and that even after receiving a cease and desist letter from Jackson's lawyers, the intimidation and harassment continued.
Cobb County Superior Court Judge Jason D. Marbutt said in his order that neither the Andersons nor their attorneys refuted Jackson's claims or participated in the case after a May 2023 hearing, when They agreed to a temporary protection order, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. The judge declared the Andersons in default, accepting all of Jackson's allegations as true, the newspaper said.
“Reasonable people would find the defendants’ behavior extreme and outrageous,” Marbutt wrote. “The court saw evidence that a lawyer representing the defendants had asserted that his clients' conduct would cease for the sum of $20 million.”
Jackson played eight seasons in the majors with the Royals, White Sox and Angels; he was the MVP of the 1989 All-Star Game. In addition to playing baseball, Jackson was a running back for the Raiders from 1987 to 1990, making one Pro Bowl.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
