Lenny Dykstra’s Bad Reputation Ends Ron Darling Defamation Case (Corrected)

Former New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Lenny Dykstra’s own reputation led a New York judge to toss out his lawsuit alleging former pitcher and teammate Ron Darling and his publishers defamed him in a book.

Dykstra has garnered such a negative public reputation that Darling’s narrating of another unfavorable incident couldn’t damage his reputation any further, Judge Robert D. Kalish of the New York Supreme Court, New York County, said in agreeing with Darling’s attorneys that Dykstra was a “classic libel-proof plaintiff.”

The libel-proof plaintiff doctrine bars relief in defamation actions if a plaintiff has a reputation that ...