Sporting legend Vincent Edward “Bo” Jackson is abandoning a $21 million judgment he won in his civil extortion case against his niece and nephew, whom he accused of relentless harassment and intimidation.
Jackson, a former Heisman Trophy winner who played in both the National Football League and Major League Baseball, has agreed to settle his legal fight against siblings Thomas Lee Anderson and Erica M. Anderson, also known as Erica Anderson Ross.
The 62-year-old filed a motion Tuesday together with his niece and nephew, asking Cobb County Superior Court Judge Jason Marbutt to wipe the $21.1 million judgment awarded to Jackson in February 2024.
“The parties have conducted two mediations and have reached a private agreement resolving this dispute,” Jackson, Anderson and Ross said in the court filing.
In place of Jackson’s earlier award, he gets no money from Anderson and Ross, who promise to stay away from Jackson and his wife and children. Anderson and Ross also receive no payment.
Jackson’s Marietta-based attorneys, Robert Ingram and David Conley, declined to comment on the settlement.
Sarah Brewerton-Palmer, an Atlanta attorney representing Anderson and Ross, also declined to comment.
Jackson won his court case against Anderson and Ross by default after they failed to properly respond to his lawsuit, filed in April 2023, or attend a final hearing in January 2024.
In his lawsuit, Jackson alleged that Anderson and Ross, who lived in Cobb County and Texas, respectively, tried to extort $20 million from him. Jackson claimed the harassment started in 2022 and included threatening social media posts and messages, public allegations casting him in a false light, and public disclosure of private information intended to cause him severe emotional distress.
Jackson’s lawyers said in a February 2024 press release about his court win that “Bo still hits back hard.”
In March 2024, Anderson and Ross hired new lawyers and sought to either overturn the default judgment or have the case proceed to trial.
In a public court filing, the siblings said Jackson’s case was “paper thin” and followed “years of Jackson smearing Thomas’s reputation by falsely telling others that Thomas abuses drugs and assaulted his wife.” The siblings said their previous lawyer, Asya Morgan, had lied to them and that the court didn’t give them proper notice of the January 2024 hearing.
Morgan, a Smyrna lawyer, did not immediately respond Wednesday to email and phone messages.
“Jackson seeks to use his power, fame, and financial resources to intimidate and ultimately silence his niece and nephew,” Anderson and Ross told the court in March 2024. “The Andersons should not be made destitute because their lawyer lied to them.”
Jackson pushed back the following month, asking the court to reject his niece and nephew’s attempts to avoid paying the $21 million judgment. He said Anderson and Ross may have “viable recourse” against their former counsel, but that the court’s ruling should hold.
Ross and Anderson’s bid to overturn the judgment was “an effort by defendants to blame everyone but themselves,” Jackson told the court.
The judge hadn’t made a decision about Ross and Anderson’s request when they mediated the case and reached a settlement.
Under the earlier ruling in Jackson’s favor, Ross and Anderson were permanently barred from bothering or contacting Jackson and his immediate family members.
Through the settlement, Ross and Anderson agree not to harass, intimidate or threaten Jackson and his wife and children. They agree to stay at least 500 yards from Jackson and his wife and children, with certain exceptions for sporting and family-related events and matters related to the court case.
At such events, the siblings agree not to have direct conversations or contact with Jackson and his wife and children. Each side agrees to pay their own litigation costs.
The settlement also provides a ruling in Jackson’s favor on most of his claims against his niece and nephew, including intentional infliction of emotional distress and invasion of privacy. The agreement ends Ross and Anderson’s attempt to overturn the $21 million judgment or seek a trial.
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