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Author Topic: Judge dismisses Covington student's defamation suit against Washington Post  (Read 934 times)

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Offline Right_in_Virginia

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Judge dismisses Covington student's defamation suit against Washington Post
« on: July 26, 2019, 10:32:36 pm »
Judge dismisses Covington student's defamation suit against Washington Post
Fox News, Jul 26, 2019

A federal judge in Kentucky Friday threw out a defamation lawsuit filed against The Washington Post by Covington Catholic High School student Nicholas Sandmann and his family over the paper's reporting of an incident between the young man and a Native American man this past January in Washington.

The lawsuit, which was filed in February, sought $250 million in damages and accused the Post of practicing "a modern-day form of McCarthyism" by targeting Sandmann and "using its vast financial resources to enter the bully pulpit by publishing a series of false and defamatory print and online articles ... to smear a young boy who was in its view an acceptable casualty in their war against the president."

Sandmann became the focus of outrage after a video of him standing face-to-face with a Native American man, Nathan Phillips, while wearing a red "Make America Great Again" hat surfaced and rapidly spread online. Sandmann was one of a group of Covington students attending the anti-abortion March for Life in Washington, D.C., while Phillips was attending the Indigenous Peoples' March on the same day.

In a 36-page ruling, U.S. District Judge William Bertelsman noted that the Post never mentioned Sandmann by name in its initial coverage of the incident, referring only to groups of "hat wearing teens." Bertelsman added that "the words used contain no reflection upon any particular individual" and thus could not be constituted as defamation. The judge also ruled that the newspaper used language that was "loose, figurative," and "rhetorical hyperbole" which is protected by the First Amendment.


More:  https://www.foxnews.com/us/judge-dismisses-appeal-from-kentucky-teen-over-encounter-with-native-american-at-lincoln-memorial-rally



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Offline Right_in_Virginia

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Re: Judge dismisses Covington student's defamation suit against Washington Post
« Reply #1 on: July 26, 2019, 10:33:33 pm »
I hope an appeal is possible. 
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Offline IsailedawayfromFR

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Re: Judge dismisses Covington student's defamation suit against Washington Post
« Reply #2 on: July 27, 2019, 12:50:06 am »
In reading the case, it appears that the Post definitely libeled the kid, but the judge says since eyewitness accounts were relied upon for the Post coverage,  the Post is absolved.

That is clearly wrong as an escape hatch for the Post.
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Offline Smokin Joe

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Re: Judge dismisses Covington student's defamation suit against Washington Post
« Reply #3 on: July 27, 2019, 08:49:01 am »
Quote from: IsailedawayfromFR on July 27, 2019, 12:50:06 am
In reading the case, it appears that the Post definitely libeled the kid, but the judge says since eyewitness accounts were relied upon for the Post coverage,  the Post is absolved.

That is clearly wrong as an escape hatch for the Post.
Which 'eyewitness' accounts? Were any of them unbiased? Disinterested? Did they ask any of the kids with him?

This ruling is a stain (yes, another one) on the judiciary.
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Offline cato potatoe

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Re: Judge dismisses Covington student's defamation suit against Washington Post
« Reply #4 on: July 27, 2019, 12:39:23 pm »
Yet another democrat appointee, ruling as a politician.
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Bill Cipher

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Re: Judge dismisses Covington student's defamation suit against Washington Post
« Reply #5 on: July 27, 2019, 12:42:11 pm »
Let’s see what the appeals court has to say.
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Offline edpc

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Re: Judge dismisses Covington student's defamation suit against Washington Post
« Reply #6 on: July 28, 2019, 03:33:44 pm »
HANNITY: But no, no - but the media has a narrative and the reason the media jumps and they don't look, like it would have taken them six seconds to find out the truth in the Nicholas Sandmann case.

WOODLAND: Oh I know.

HANNITY: Not even a phone call did these people make. That - they're going to lose. Lin Wood is going to destroy every one of these big media outlets, I guarantee it, it's a slam dunk, and they will all pay.

https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/attorney-for-nicholas-sandmann-says-the-washington-post-gave-online-bullies-a-megaphone-to-tarnish-his-client


Hannity - the George Tenet of lawsuits.
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Offline Cyber Liberty

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Re: Judge dismisses Covington student's defamation suit against Washington Post
« Reply #7 on: July 28, 2019, 04:52:08 pm »
Quote from: edpc on July 28, 2019, 03:33:44 pm
HANNITY: But no, no - but the media has a narrative and the reason the media jumps and they don't look, like it would have taken them six seconds to find out the truth in the Nicholas Sandmann case.

WOODLAND: Oh I know.

HANNITY: Not even a phone call did these people make. That - they're going to lose. Lin Wood is going to destroy every one of these big media outlets, I guarantee it, it's a slam dunk, and they will all pay.

https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/attorney-for-nicholas-sandmann-says-the-washington-post-gave-online-bullies-a-megaphone-to-tarnish-his-client


Hannity - the George Tenet of lawsuits.

Hannity is an ungifted moron, always has been.  Unwatchable.  I usually go to OANN after Tucker Carlson's show.
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Offline jmyrlefuller

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Re: Judge dismisses Covington student's defamation suit against Washington Post
« Reply #8 on: July 29, 2019, 01:26:39 am »
Quote from: cato potatoe on July 27, 2019, 12:39:23 pm
Yet another democrat appointee, ruling as a politician.
They should have known better. When filing a lawsuit like this, the choice of judge is crucial. They chose wrong.
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Offline IsailedawayfromFR

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Re: Judge dismisses Covington student's defamation suit against Washington Post
« Reply #9 on: July 29, 2019, 01:43:53 am »
Quote from: jmyrlefuller on July 29, 2019, 01:26:39 am
They should have known better. When filing a lawsuit like this, the choice of judge is crucial. They chose wrong.
They did.

Are you not aware that the media was castigating him as he had ruled in other cases against 1st Amendment protection?

https://www.law.com/dailyreportonline/2019/04/11/judge-in-cnn-washington-post-libel-case-is-no-stranger-to-free-speech-fights/
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Offline txradioguy

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Re: Judge dismisses Covington student's defamation suit against Washington Post
« Reply #10 on: July 29, 2019, 02:44:19 pm »
Quote from: jmyrlefuller on July 29, 2019, 01:26:39 am
They should have known better. When filing a lawsuit like this, the choice of judge is crucial. They chose wrong.

Actually I don't think they got to choose the judge.  He's an appointee from the Carter years...which means he's in Senior Status which is semi-retired but returns to the bench if the caseload for that court warrants it.

This fight isn't over yet...there will be an appeal.
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Offline Cyber Liberty

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Re: Judge dismisses Covington student's defamation suit against Washington Post
« Reply #11 on: July 29, 2019, 03:45:55 pm »
Quote from: txradioguy on July 29, 2019, 02:44:19 pm
Actually I don't think they got to choose the judge.  He's an appointee from the Carter years...which means he's in Senior Status which is semi-retired but returns to the bench if the caseload for that court warrants it.

This fight isn't over yet...there will be an appeal.

And there are two more lawsuits, concerning the actual televised reports that were deliberately slanted against Sandmann.  There won't be the weaseling that was required to toss this lawsuit at the District Court level.  They might be able to fob the blame off on witnesses for a newspaper article, but they'll have a tougher time of doing that when you have newsreaders like Anderson Cooper and Madcow mouthing the slander.
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Offline verga

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Re: Judge dismisses Covington student's defamation suit against Washington Post
« Reply #12 on: July 29, 2019, 08:28:45 pm »
BKMK
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Offline Polly Ticks

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Re: Judge dismisses Covington student's defamation suit against Washington Post
« Reply #13 on: July 29, 2019, 08:36:06 pm »
Quote
The Covington Catholic Teen Lost His First Court Battle, But Will Probably Win His Next

On Friday, a federal judge in Kentucky tossed Nicholas Sandmann’s defamation case against the Washington Post. Sandmann, the Covington Catholic student smeared by the Post and many other outlets earlier this year as a smirking, MAGA-hat-wearing racist who had blocked Native American elder Nathan Phillips’s path, promises an appeal.

On appeal, Sandmann is likely to win. I’ll lay out why, after a quick review of what happened.

https://thefederalist.com/2019/07/29/covington-catholic-teen-lost-first-court-battle-will-probably-win-next/
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