MAGA cap wearer sues for $US250M

[sprintcyclist]

An American teenager who was falsely accused of harassing a Native American activist while wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat has launched a $US250 million defamation case against The Washington Post.

The complaint was filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky on Tuesday by prominent defamation lawyer L. Lin Wood on behalf of Covington Catholic high school student Nick Sandmann. It is expected to be the first of many.

“In order to fully compensate Nicholas for his damages and to punish, deter, and teach the Post a lesson it will never forget, this action seeks money damages in excess of $US250 million ($AU350 million) — the amount Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest person, paid in cash for the Post when his company, Nash Holdings, purchased the newspaper in 2013,” the complaint reads.

Kristine Coratti Kelly, vice president of communications at The Washington Post, said in an emailed statement, “We are reviewing a copy of the lawsuit and we plan to mount a vigorous defence.”

Sandmann, a 16-year-old from Kentucky, was on a school trip to Washington to attend a pro-life rally last month when he was confronted by Nathan Phillips in an incident that made headlines around the world.

A short video clip of the teen smiling as the 64-year-old bangs a drum in his face went viral online, with Phillips claiming in multiple media interviews that he “felt threatened” as the teens surrounded and racially harassed him.

Longer video of the incident released soon after debunked Phillips’ claims — including that the teens chanted “build that wall” at him — showing it was Phillips who approached the group of students as they waited for their bus.


The students had begun a school chant to drown out verbal abuse from nearby members of the Black Hebrew Israelites hate group, who called them “dirty ass crackers”, “incest babies” and “future school shooters”.

The complaint alleges the Post “rushed to lead the mainstream media to assassinate Nicholas’ character and bully him”. It says the paper “wrongfully targeted” the teen because he was a “white, Catholic student wearing a red ‘Make America Great Again’ souvenir cap”.

“In targeting and bullying Nicholas by falsely accusing him of instigating the January 18 incident, the Post conveyed that Nicholas engaged in acts of racism by ‘swarming’ Phillips, ‘blocking’ his exit away from the students, and otherwise engaging in racist misconduct,” it says.

It accuses the paper of using its “vast financial resources to enter the bully pulpit by publishing a series of false and defamatory print and online articles which effectively provided a worldwide megaphone to Phillips and other anti-Trump individuals and entities to smear a young boy”.

“The Post wanted to lead the charge against this child because he was a pawn in its political war against its political adversary,” it says, describing Sandmann as in the Post’s view “an acceptable casualty in their war against the President”.

The Post also later retracted a claim, widely reported in other media, that Phillips was a Vietnam veteran. Phillips served in the Marine Corps Reserve from 1972 to 1976 but was never deployed and left “after disciplinary issues”.

The complaint says Sandmann suffered “rampant cyber-assault and cyber-bullying” in the aftermath, from the Post as well as “the mob of other bullies made up of other members of the mainstream media, individuals tweeting on Twitter, church officials, celebrities and politicians”.

“The Post must be dealt with the same way every bully is dealt with and that is hold the bully fully accountable for its wrongdoing in a manner which effectively deters the bully from again bullying other children,” it says.

The complaint, which relates to four online articles and two print articles, alleges a number of false and defamatory claims were published “negligently and with actual knowledge of falsity or a reckless disregard for the truth”.

As a result, it says, Sandmann suffered “permanent harm to his reputation”, will continue to suffer “severe emotional distress” and is “forced to live his life in a constant state of concern over his safety and the safety of his family”.

The complaint outlines a number of Phillips’ “inconsistent and false claims” in media interviews. Sandmann’s lawyers have separately indicated they intend to sue Phillips for his “lies and false accusations” that are “well documented”.

Earlier this month, Sandmann’s lawyers sent out more than 50 “preservation letters” to media outlets, journalists, pundits, politicians, celebrities and Catholic dioceses seeking to prevent the destruction of evidence in advance of potential legal claims.

The list included everyone from New York Times journalist Maggie Haberman and HBO host Bill Maher to celebrities Kathy Griffin, Alyssa Milano and Jim Carrey. Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar and 2020 presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren also received letters.

Wood, based in Atlanta, Georgia, is best known for acting on behalf of the late Richard Jewell, who was falsely accused in a “trial by media” of being behind the 1996 Atlanta Olympics bombing.

https://www.news.com.au/finance/busines ... ews-story/

Good

[cods]

it never stops does it..

the ASYLUM has gone stark raving mad...

why would you believe anything that came out of AMERIKA again..

everything is tainted...they are like snakes writhing around in a bottomless pit..trying to best each other..

I have lost all respect for that country.....to turn something as simple as that into a race war is despicable..

[sprintcyclist]

I love America

[Black Orchid]

He's just casting a wide net and so he should. He had death threats aimed at him from the fake news and accusations wrongly slung at him by the progressive leftie loons.

Much like the Jussie Smollett incident. These fake and lying accusations against innocent people under the guise of fake racism need airing and the people making these claims need to be brought to their knees.

These 'liberal' wimps who want to find racism so much that they fake it need to be brought to justice and publicly humiliated and shamed by any means.

[cods]

its played out on the world stage..

once upon a time every country looked up to AMERIKA...like or loath them they had the POWER..

now they look like a madhouse on steroids.....

[Black Orchid]

They still have the power

[cods]

They still have the power

I dont think so bo.. they may have the bombs..

Russia must be laughing itself sick...

sorry bo they are imploding...I am not blaming Trump if anything the MEDIA has huge sway over there..and I mean HUGE,,

and they are not what is elected to govern.....at the end of the day its opinion pieces.....if its bad they want you to know... if its good lets not bother to print it..
Trumps enemy is his own people.....how bad is that?..

[Black Orchid]

I don't agree. We only see what our media wants us to see.

You could say we are also imploding and most definitely the UK is where 11 of them, from both sides, resigned today and unfortunately we follow the UK more than anyone.

I had quite a few friends in London and each and every one of them have moved out saying it is unrecognisable and dangerous and we are following their lead of flooding our country with undesirables who will eventually take over when we move out of our own major cities.

[cods]

I don't agree. We only see what our media wants us to see.

You could say we are also imploding and most definitely the UK is where 11 of them, from both sides, resigned today and unfortunately we follow the UK more than anyone.

I had quite a few friends in London and each and every one of them have moved out saying it is unrecognisable and dangerous and we are following their lead of flooding our country with undesirables who will eventually take over when we move out of our own major cities.

I hadnt heard about the UK..isnt it the LEFTIES that resigned????.....hey the LEFTIES NOT AGREEING....wow...

where we are is at the crossroads......we either work for the country or its all about WHOS IN POWER....they are not working for the people

its time everyone woke up to that....we have the likes of pathetic LTARD who jumps for joy every time shortarse opens his mouth...

never mind none of its good and he will see nothing for his efforts except higher taxes and fewer job s....but too thick to see that.....shorten plays to the crowd the POLLS govern which way he will govern hes led by the nose by the stooopid!! Phelps being one of them.....and he seea a brownie point to make the govt look bad... thats how much he cares about this country....

to me we are not far off being like the rest of them.... eating each other alive for the sake of winning....

if there is a divine messiah lets hope he takes pity on us and doesnt let them take us down that path...

[The Mechanic]

Sean Hannity: Lin I’ve got to imagine if you add up all of media outlets in this day and age, and include Hollywood actors and actresses, the fame behind and the power of the pulpit that they have, hundreds, thousands of potential lawsuits here?

Lin Wood: Certainly hundreds. The good news is we have two-and-a-half years to identify and file lawsuits against the wrongdoers. Because he’s a minor. Nick will turn 18 in July of 2020. We’ve got two-and-a-half years we got a lot of work to do.