On Oct. 20, 2025, Jack Nicklaus was awarded $50 million in damages by a jury in Palm Beach County, Florida in a defamation lawsuit against his former business, Nicklaus Companies. Howard Milstein, the owner and Executive Chairman of Nicklaus Companies, and company executive Andrew O’Brien, who were also both named individually as defendants, were cleared of personal liability by the jury.
Jack Nicklaus filed the lawsuit in 2023, claiming the defendants had falsely spread false stories about him considering a $750 million deal to endorse the Saudi Arabian-backed LIV Golf League and suffering from dementia, which allegedly made him no longer mentally fit to manage his affairs. According to court documents, Nicklaus was in fact not interested in becoming the face of LIV due to his long-standing association with rival league PGA Tour. The jury argued that comments made by company officials created “ridicule, hatred, mistrust, distrust or contempt” of the golfer, who is now 85 years old.
Earlier this year, a New York judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by Nicklaus Companies against the former golfer. In that case, the company sought to prevent him from using his own name, image and likeness to promote his golf course design business. Nicklaus joined Nicklaus Companies in 2007 but quit in 2017 and planned to continue designing golf courses on his own.
