NFL legend Bo Jackson wins $21,000,000 in extortion case against his family
Pro Football Hall of Fame running back Bo Jackson filed a complaint against his nephew Thomas Lee Anderson and niece Erica M. Anderson last April. He accused them of “relentless harassment and intimidation.” Earlier this month, a Cobb County, Alabama, judge ruled in favor of Jackson and granted him a permanent protective order against them.
The judge also awarded the NFL legend $21 million in the same ruling. Jackson was given over $1 million in compensatory damages to counterbalance attorneys’ fees, with an additional $20 million as punitive damages.
Per the lawsuit filed by Jackson, his niece and nephew tried to extort $20 million from him in exchange for not openly revealing information that would put him “in a false light” and cause “severe emotional distress.” Cobb County judge Jason D. Marbutt explained why he ruled in favor of Jackson in the case:
“Defendants have acted with malice, wantonness, oppression, with a conscious effort of indifference to circumstances and with the specific intent to cause Plaintiff harm."
Marbutt ruled in Jackson's favor in a default judgment after the Andersons did not appear at a Jan. 31 court appearance to contest a temporary protective order the judge had given in May 2023. Since they failed to disprove Jackson’s claims in open court, Marbutt ruled in the former NFL running back's favor.
Bo Jackson was the No. 1 overall pick in the 1986 NFL Draft for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers but never played a down for the franchise. A year later, the Heisman Trophy winner went to the Los Angeles Raiders in the seventh round.
He finished second in the Offensive Rookie of the Year voting in the 1987 season with 690 total yards from scrimmage and six total touchdowns. His career ended following the 1990 season after a severe hip injury.
Not the first time Bo Jackson has won a court case involving his reputation
He took legal action against the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin newspaper in 1991 for defamation. This was after the sports editor quoted a dietary specialist saying that the hip injury Jackson suffered in a 1991 playoff game was due to anabolic steroid usage. The paper later withdrew its story and issued a public apology to Bo Jackson.