Caddie With Tourette’s Sues Hudson National Golf Club for Discrimination

A golf caddie with severe Tourette Syndrome claims the top brass at one of the nation’s toniest country clubs continuously humiliated him about his condition, ramping up the harassment—a rotting goose carcass was allegedly once left on the victim’s doorstep—until finally firing him over bogus claims he somehow played a role in the untimely death of a co-worker.

David Anderson, 44, was candid with the higher-ups at the Hudson National Golf Club in Croton-on-Hudson, New York about his battle with Tourette’s, as well as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), according to a blistering lawsuit obtained by The Daily Beast. Regardless, Anderson’s symptoms, which included “exaggerated eye blinking, exaggerated eye rolling, jerking of the head and limbs, touching objects or other people, simple and complex tics, blinking in an unusual way, mouth movements, stepping in a certain pattern, throat clearing, and clearing of the nose,” were impossible to hide despite the medication he took to help control them, the suit contends.

But when the club’s golf director saw the prescription bottle on Anderson’s desk, he says he was tarred as a degenerate dope fiend, summarily placed on the club’s “‘do not serve’ alcohol list,” and later made to feel like a criminal when a Hudson National employee fell ill while staying over at Anderson’s home, then died at a nearby hospital.

“Statements that an individual died at [Anderson’s] house are false,” contends the lawsuit, which was filed Aug. 18 in Westchester County Supreme Court. “Statements that [Anderson] had a party at his house on the night of the death are false. Statements that [Anderson] is a drug addict are false. Statements suggesting that [Anderson] is an alcoholic are false. Statements that [Anderson] tampered with the decedent’s phone are false. Statements suggesting that [Anderson] caused a death are false.”

Anderson’s attorney, Clifford Tucker, told The Daily Beast on Monday that his client worked as the club’s caddie manager in June 2021, and was good at his job. He said Anderson qualifies as disabled due to his Tourette’s and OCD, and that Hudson National used it as a basis to discriminate against him.

“He certainly no longer works at the club, and he has been doing everything he can to keep his family supported,” Tucker said, adding that the experience has been “very hard for him physically and emotionally.”

Only a small percentage of people with Tourette’s swear uncontrollably, a common misperception fueled by movies and TV, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Singer Billie Eilish was diagnosed with the neurological disorder when she was 11, and actor Seth Rogen says his “mild case” manifests as a twitch. Scottish singer-songwriter Lewis Capaldi, whose diagnosis came in September 2022, announced in June that he would be taking a break from touring so he could focus on “learning to adjust to the impact of my…