A Florida jury has found top-ranked golfer Tiger Woods liable "for deceptive and unfair trade practices" and ordered him to pay upwards of $1 million in restitution in a suit filed filed by a golf memorabilia retailer.
The Miami Dade County jury rendered its verdict on Monday after listening to more than 45 minutes of testimony from Woods himself in response to litigation filed by Bruce Matthews and his Gotta Have It Golf company.
According to the Miami Herald, Matthews initially sued Woods for $1.75 million, claiming his ETW company reneged on a 2001 contract to provide a certain number of autographs and photographs.
"This has been a long time coming," Eric Isicoff, one of Matthews' attorneys told The Herald. "The behavior of ETW Corporation has been reprehensible and we are very pleased with the jury's verdict."
The Herald reports ETW is not expected to appeal the verdict and Gotta Have It Golf is also seeking an additional $1 million in attorney fees. That suit remains pending before the court.
Gotta Have It Golf previously sued ETW in 1997, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Woods all collectively sued Matthews in hopes of preventing the sale of their images and signatures.
According to The Herald, Gotta Have It Golf countersued and the judge's decision set an antitrust law precedent that a "sports and celebrity representation firm acting as professional golfers' agent could not conspire with its principal where agent's interests are aligned with those of the principal."
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