US golfer Phil Mickelson files a defamation lawsuit in the court
The four-time major winner, Phil Mickelson, made the news when he approached the court of law to file a lawsuit against a Canadian integrated telecommunications company and Internet Service Provider, Videotron, to find out the identity of a person who posted
salacious statements on the internet to defame his reputation and personality.
Mickelson, who recently came close to recording his second PGA Tour victory of the season at the Wells Fargo Championship, was attacked by people using pseudonyms as "Fogroller" and "Longtitude” in the month of November, 2011, saying that his wife had an
affair with someone else and consequently, and that he is a father of an illegitimate child.
According to Mickelson, he is not against the freedom of speech. In fact, he supports the concept that everyone should have a right to speak of their ideas and emotions. However, he cannot bear defamation by anyone based on illegitimate facts.
He was talking to the media after the first round of the Waste Management Phoenix Open at the Tournament Players Club (TPC) Scottsdale, Arizona. He said that he had requested the court to force Videotron to find the correct identity of the person who posted
the comments on Yahoo! Sports on Nov 11 and 12, 2011.
This way, he can "stop the dissemination of false and wrongful statements ... and obtain reparation for the prejudice already suffered."
“If we can stop one person, then it's one less person who can get away with this,” Mickelson’s attorney, Glenn Cohen, said.
“Maybe it will have a chilling effect. I don't know. If other people are victims of this and want to take up the mantra, that's fine. It was a very narrow decision Phil and I made to discover this person's identity and stop it,” he added.
Cohen also told that Videotron did not oppose their request and the result is expected to come really soon.
He confirmed that the lawsuit was first filed in San Diego County superior court on November 21, 2011. After he was authorized to take the information from Yahoo! Sports, he again filed a case in Montreal demanding the complete details of the person who
first used the name in 2008 and the person who posted the comments in 2011.
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