You would have heard of some truly bizarre lawsuits over the years, but the one filed against Michael Jordan and Nike founder and then-CEO Phil Knight might be the most ludicrous of all. In 2006, Allen Heckard of Portland, Oregon, sued Jordan and Knight for $832 million, over distress caused by being mistaken for the former NBA star.
In 2006, Allen Heckard sued Michael Jordan and Phil Knight for $832 million, claiming he was mistaken for Jordan and suffered emotional distress. pic.twitter.com/me0PpqcP7Y
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Heckard wanted $416 million from both Jordan and Knight, $52 million for actual damages, and $364 million for punitive. Now, you might wonder why someone would have such a big issue with being mistaken for the Chicago Bulls star. Well, here is an excerpt from the lawsuit that he had filed in Oregon’s Circuit Court for the County of Washington.
“I… bring this suit… on the ground of defamation by subjecting heckard to harassment of disconfort of unplesant feelings, and permanent injury by denying heckard the right to live a normal life. Heckard base his legal claim on the fact that Michael Jordan high profile life style with the contributed of Phil H. Knight help has infected an injury upon his life style that, according to every reasonable probability, will continue throughout the remainder of his life.”
If you had a hard time reading that, then well you certainly weren’t alone. Heckard filed the suit on his own, without the help of any lawyer, which explains why it is so poorly written.
Heckard asserted that whatever public functions he attends, he gets harassed by people because he looks like Jordan. It had troubled him greatly and he claimed he was denied the right to “peace of mind” for over 15 years.
Heckard blamed Knight for Jordan’s ridiculous popularity, as he had given him a lucrative endorsement deal, television commercials, and shoes. It made him a larger-than-life figure, which caused a great deal of distress to Heckard as they looked similar.
You might wonder now just how similar they were back then. Well, both Jordan and Heckard are African Americans with shaven heads and they both wore a single earring. The former NBA star, however, was about six inches taller and 30 pounds heavier while also being eight years younger.
Despite those differences, Heckard claimed he constantly was getting mistaken for Jordan and wanted him and Knight to pay up. Less than a month after he filed the suit, though, it was announced he would be dropping the case.
It was not disclosed why he was doing so, but a Nike spokesman said Heckard “finally realized he would end up paying our court costs if the lawsuit went to trial.” Well, the realization that he might have to end up paying would have been enough for Heckard to drop it.
He was reportedly a shuttle bus driver at the time and would not have been in a position to cover those costs. Ironically, Heckard ensured that his name would always be associated with Jordan by filing this suit, which is exactly what he didn’t want.
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