[News Update] Ric Flair Files Lawsuit Against Car Dealership - Details

From the Charlotte Observer:

COLUMBIA -- World champion professional wrestler Ric "Nature Boy" Flair would like to put a courtroom body slam on a Columbia car dealership.

In a federal lawsuit filed last week in Columbia, the 58-year-old Charlotte personality, whose real name is Richard Fliehr, contends that Stivers Automotive of Columbia Inc. through its Freedom Suzuki dealership used his name, likeness and slogans in radio, TV and print ads this year without his permission.

The 6-foot-1, 230-pound-plus wrestling legend is asking for actual and punitive damages of more than $75,000 - the threshold for filing federal lawsuits when one of the parties lives out of state.

The suit was filed Thursday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Columbia; Flair was spotted later that evening on the sidelines during the football game between USC and Kentucky at Williams-Brice Stadium.

"By using his name in an unauthorized fashion and not paying for it, it lessens the value of his persona that he has cultivated both in the ring and out of the ring over 34 years," said his lawyer-agent, Eric Bland of Columbia, when contacted Thursday.

"Ric Flair is beloved in South Carolina by people of all ages due to the work he has done in and outside of the ring," according to the suit.

Efforts to reach Flair were unsuccessful.

The suit accuses the car dealership of the unauthorized use of Flair's trademark slogans, "Woooooo!" and "To be the man, you gotta beat the man!"

Flair in his lawsuit included transcripts of two locally run radio ads in August that he contends show his name and slogans were improperly used. A character calling himself "Captain Freedom" says in the ad, "Whoeee ... To be the man you got to beat the man! Rick (sic) Flair was right all you other car dealers out there."

The character also encourages listeners to "Come check out me and the WWE [World Wrestling Entertainment]" at the Colonial Center on Aug. 21, according to the transcripts. The suit said those ads ran when Flair was scheduled to wrestle at a WWE event at the center.

Bland told McClatchy Newspapers that Stivers Automotive representatives earlier had contacted the WWE for permission to use Flair's name in their ads, but that it was never granted.

Contacted Friday, Columbia attorney W. Duvall Spruill of the Turner Padget law firm, which represents Stivers Automotive, said he could not comment on the suit until he had the chance to review it.