Jim Estes, the former USATF Board member sued USATF last year, alleging defamation by USATF, Max Siegel, and Renee Washington and negligence by USATF via Renee Washington. This was all in relation to USATF disqualifying Chattanooga's bid for the 2024 Olympic Marathon Trials because Jim Estes had served as an advisor to the bid.
The court threw out 2 of the defamation claims (the ones by Max and Renee as individuals) and the negligence claim but ruled the claim for defamation vs USATF could proceed.
The judged focused on the portion of the letter where USATF said it was disqualifying the bid and said, "In the end, while the circumstances were neither created by
USATF nor condoned by USATF, the reputational damage to USATF and
ultimately our athletes will be costly if we don’t disqualify the CLOC bid. USATF
considers it the outcome necessary to begin to move forward."
Full ruling below. Would love to hear what some legal minds think of this