Welp.
Earlier this year the Cleveland Browns accused a man named Eric Smith of pouring beer on a Titans player during a game. A vice president from the team called him and told him he was banned from the stadium. They had evidence, they said.
The problem?
Eric Smith was not at the game. In fact, he hadn’t been to a game in nearly a decade. So he was pretty shocked to hear the news. Especially since he had watched the first part of the game at home and then decamped to the Ariel International Center to DJ a wedding before the game was over.
The story went viral, partially because it was but just the latest example of the Browns being the Browns.
And that’s about where it should have ended.
All Smith wanted was a public apology from the Browns. Instead, they offered him tickets to a game — something he clearly hadn’t been interested in, given his lack of attendance over ten years of Browns’ games — and declined to publicly apologize.
“Our intent was to act swiftly and decisively. Unfortunately, we didn’t do enough homework,” a Browns spokesperson told him on the call, according to the lawsuit.
So, this week, Smith filed a lawsuit in Cuyahoga County alleging defamation and negligence, arguing that the Browns’ actions damaged his reputation and inflicted emotional stress. You can read the full lawsuit below.
This article appears in Oct 9-15, 2019.
Not a lawyer, but this should be interesting considering the Browns never announced his name publicly. They called him, he announced it on Twitter and then went on a press tour.
Good for him. They besmirched his reputation, ruined his business, and banned him for something he didn’t do. Just like what happens to poor shmucks on messageboards, only they don’t get to sue. They just have to suck it up nad move on.
I remember when I had a totally crazy boss (who later died of a brain tumor…I’m not kidding!) who chewed me out and wrote me up for breaking a machine at work. Just one problem…it happened on the overnight shift, and I had gone back to second shift the week before. I was at home and copping Zs when said incident happened.
Pissed? Damn betcha. Union steward shrugged and said forget about it, but it still went into my file anyway. Hey, if you’re gonna nail somebody to the cross, you’d better have the right victim before you roll out the hammer and the nails.
Just more Browns stupidity…they don’t even have their shit together OFF the field. Oh, hex…I know the whole idea of a cursed franchise is pretty silly…but sometimes, I ‘m really ready to believe otherwise.
Well, the Browns have to blame someone for their losses.