Why would they sue someone who's recanted? Winning that would prove nothing. It has nothing to do with pharmacists or prescriptions.
Some people really are innocent, you know.
Why did they sue Liam Collins, the guy used by the network in the set up? They sued him even though there is zero chance of success, he might even have a case that they are harassing him via this lawsuit. They need to prove malice against Zimmerman in order to make their case that Collins defamed Zimmerman, but Collins wasn't the one who brought up Ryan's name, and Collins had no control in whether the network aired the report following Sly's reversal. It appears to be a totally malicious lawsuit on the part of Zimmerman and his attorneys (not that #11 doesn't have a damn good reason to be pissed at the guy).
Of the two it might make more sense to sue Sly, considering that he was the one who used Zimmerman's name, but Sly is denying everything, the last thing they want to do is encourage him to flip and cooperate with MLB.
One possible miscalculation on Zimmerman's part is that he is challenging the media as a whole, not just Al Jeezera, in the unlikely case if he were to win there would be a precedent set that targets of investigative journalism have significant recourse. No chance 60 Minutes or any news organization wants to see that happen. Already the New York Times has started digging around, probably they're not the only ones.
