Peyton Manning has himself one huge conundrum.
Manning is a proud, clean-cut icon, so having looming allegations about PED usage is not good for his legacy or the family business.
According to Peter King of TheMMQB.com — and angry Manning said “Yeah, I probably will” when asked if he’ll sue over the scathing accusations.
Manning can sue, but will face several obstacles, the biggest being the scrutiny his private and family life will come under. The future Hall of Famer has done a wonderful job of avoiding any major controversies on or off the field.
Pro Football Talk had more:
Of course, no lawsuit or any other strategy should be pursued based solely to diffuse anger. Filing a defamation case, which for a public figure involves a very high standard of proof, is one of the worst things to do in anger, because the pre-trial discovery process can lead to plenty of added frustration.
Much of the plaintiff’s private life becomes fair game, with defense lawyers entitled to explore plenty of seemingly irrelevant facts in order to determine the plaintiff’s reputation before the alleged falsehood harmed the plaintiff’s image. Also, any claim for damages based on emotional distress arising from the false allegations invites a wide range of personal questions regarding other sources of stress in the plaintiff’s life, and regarding how the alleged stress from the defamatory statement affected overall happiness and well-being.
Peyton Manning has to decide if the embarrassment of having his named linked to HGH for one weekend or two, is worth opening up the entire Manning family, including his wife, to scrutiny that otherwise wouldn’t be a problem.
