Nearly 20 years later, the events that clouded Reggie Bush’s entry to the NFL still resonate.
Via Ryan Kartje of the Los Angeles Times, a judge recently upheld an arbitration award requiring Bush to pay Lloyd Lake $1.4 million for defamation.
It was Lake’s alleged provision of benefits to Bush’s family that sparked a controversy that resulted in USC football being sanctioned and in Bush losing his Heisman Trophy. (He has since gotten it back.)
The timing of the story’s emergence also may have contributed to the Texans’ decision to pass on Bush with the first overall pick in the 2006 draft. He was picked by the Saints at No. 2.
He also played for the Lions, Dolphins, 49ers, and Bills in an 11-year NFL career.
Lake originally sued Bush in 2007. The case was settled in 2010. The second lawsuit flowed from allegations that Bush violated a non-disparagement clause in the settlement agreement. The agreement also contained a clause requiring future disputes to go to arbitration.
According to Kartje, Bush appeared on the I Am Athlete podcast in 2022 and accused Lake of blackmail and exaggerated Lake’s criminal record, saying it was “as long as the Cheesecake Factory menu.” Bush, per Kartje, also falsely accused Lake of being a convicted rapist.
The arbitrator ruled in Lake’s favor, awarding him $500,000, along with $764,640 in attorneys’ fees and $116,780 in other costs.
Bush has appeal rights. Typically, however, it’s very difficult to get a court to throw out the results of a private arbitration agreement. That’s mainly because courts love arbitration agreements; they reduce the load of cases that otherwise would have to be resolved by the court system.
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