East County native Reggie Bush wins just over $21K in attorneys’ fees, costs

FOX Sports analyst Reggie Bush talks with colleagues during a pre-game show. (Photo by Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire) Having previously confirmed an arbitrator’s award of nearly $1.4 million to a businessman who sued Reggie Bush for defamation after having settled a previous suit against the former Heisman Trophy winner and USC running back, the same judge Monday ordered the businessman’s parents to pay just over $21,000 in attorneys’ fees to Bush. Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Eric Harmon signed the order that will award the East County native $20,850 in attorneys’ fees and $355 in related costs. Plaintiff Lloyd Lake, along with his parents, Roy and Barbara Gunner, who are both in their 80s, sued Bush for defamation in Van Nuys Superior Court in February 2023. Bush filed a motion to compel arbitration, abiding by what he said were the terms of the accord in the settlement of a previous suit requiring that an arbitrator and not a jury decide any future claims. In June 2024, Judge Valerie Salkin ruled in Bush’s favor, finding that Lake’s second suit claims were “plainly covered by the settlement’s broad arbitration provision.” But the judge also ruled that Lake’s parents’ part of the case should go before a jury. However, Bush filed an anti-SLAPP motion on April 16 and Barbara Gunner dropped out as a plaintiff a week later, in effect granting Bush’s anti-SLAPP motion and declaring him the “prevailing party” and entitled to attorneys’ fees. The defamation suit was the second of two suits between Bush and Lake. Bush, now 40, resolved the first suit in 2010 with Lake, who claimed he provided Bush with cash and other benefits while Bush played for the Trojans in 2004 and 2005. Lake’s initial case alleged breach-of-contract. The defamation suit alleged that Bush defamed Lake and the Gunners with remarks he made on YouTube in September 2023 and on Twitter three months later. In the YouTube interview, Bush allegedly said, among other things, that Lake was trying to blackmail him and that Lake had a police record as long as a Cheesecake Factory menu. Both statements are untrue, according to the plaintiffs’ attorneys’ court papers. On Twitter, Bush allegedly referred to Lake as a “convicted felon who was in prison for rape,” an allegation the plaintiffs’ attorneys state in their court papers was “false and without any substance.” Lake and the Gunners suffered severe emotional distress and financial harm, the current suit states. But in his ruling, the judge said Barbara Gunner did not show she was likely to prevail on many of her causes of action, including libel and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Harmon noted that the courts frown on “11th hour” droppings of cases by plaintiffs in order to avoid financial liability because it would undermine the goal of the anti-SLAPP statute, which is intended to prevent people from using courts, and potential threats of a lawsuit, to intimidate those who are exercising their First Amendment rights. In addition to winning the 2005 Heisman Trophy, Bush also won the 2005 Doak Walker and Walter Camp awards. He was born in Spring Valley and played for Helix High School in La Mesa.  City News Service contributed to this article.