Jill Zarin faces lawsuit over pickleball paddle testing machine venture

Jill Zarin is back in the headlines, but this time the fight is not about reality TV. A Palm Beach County lawsuit is testing how much trust investors can place in pickleball-tech startups that promise to validate equipment for a sport now played by 24.3 million Americans.

Noah Springer filed the civil complaint in Palm Beach County Circuit Court on April 15, seeking damages, an injunction and a jury trial. He says he put $500,000 into Pickle Pro Labs, LLC in December 2022 for a 25% stake, and that he was promised a $5,000 monthly salary while helping develop the Go No Go, or Go-No-Go, paddle testing machine. Springer also says he was later cut out of profits and decision-making.

The case names Zarin, her boyfriend Gary Brody and GNG Enterprises. It centers on a company that was formerly known as Pickle Innovation Studios before being rebranded in 2024 as Pickle Pro Labs. The complaint turns a familiar pickleball question into a business dispute: who controls the technology, who benefits from it and who gets pushed aside when a niche product starts drawing attention.

That matters far beyond Palm Beach County because paddle validation has become part of the sport’s equipment economy. The GNG Machine was named in August 2025 as the exclusive on-site paddle deflection testing device for professional and amateur pickleball by DUPR and the UPA-A, giving the venture a built-in credibility problem if ownership or governance is challenged in court. DUPR says it now has 12,000-plus clubs worldwide, spans 183 countries and has logged more than 10 million matches, which shows how quickly a product tied to ratings and equipment testing can ripple through the game.

The lawsuit lands at a time when pickleball’s growth is still accelerating. USA Pickleball says the sport remains the fastest-growing in the country, and its 2025 reporting put participation at a record 24.3 million. That scale has opened the door for more paddle brands, testing claims and investor money, but it has also raised the stakes when a company’s internal deals start to unravel.

Zarin, known from The Real Housewives of New York City and a cast member from 2008 to 2011, has not publicly addressed the dispute in the court coverage. For a sport built on club play, amateur competition and fast-moving equipment trends, the case is a reminder that the next big pickleball business may be just as fragile as the first wave of hype.