A convicted Oregon pimp is suing Nike for $100 million, charging that the sportswear giant shared some responsibility for him seriously beating a prostitute and her john in June 2012.
According to the Oregonian, a three-page handwritten lawsuit filed Friday by Sirgiorgiro Clardy, 26, of Portland, claimed that Nike executives and chairman Phil Knight failed to warn customers that the shoes could be used as deadly weapons that could cause serious injury or death.
Clardy was sentenced to 100 years in prison in 2013 after he was found guilty of second-degree assault in the brutal beatings a year earlier when he repeatedly stomped the face of a john who was trying to leave a Portland hotel without paying Clardy's prostitute, noted The Oregonian. He was wearing a pair of Jordan sneakers at the time.
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The newspaper said he would go on to beat his 18-year-old alleged prostitute so badly that she was bleeding from her ears. The man Clardy beat would eventually need plastic surgery to repair his face.
Clardy charged, though, that a lack of warning on the shoes did not make him aware of the dangers of using the sneakers in that fashion.
"Under product liability there is a certain standard of care that is required to be up-held by potentially dangerous product ..." wrote Clardy in his complaint. "Do (sic) to the fact that these defendants named in this Tort claim failed to warn of risk or to provide an adequate warning or instruction it has caused personal injury in the likes of mental suffering."
Clardy filed his suit this week in Multnomah County Circuit Court but the Oregonian noted that Nike had not been served with the suit yet.
NBC News reported that Nike spokeswoman Mary Remuzzi declined to comment on the lawsuit. NBC News said the Clardy has a long history with local authorities, according to the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office.
The Oregonian said during his trial last year, the 6-foot-5 Clardy had to be removed from court for shouting expletives at the judge, prosecutors and the jury. According to the Oregonian, a psychologist told the jury at the trial that Clardy was an anti-social psychopath who was certain to commit violent crimes again.
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