Hmmm...so all the hype..and the case is tossed..looks like Richie Rich is going to have to flip some burgers or something for his living. As an aside..how stupid do the WaPo, CNN and NBC look..settling a case that they would have won?
A federal judge has dismissed a massive libel lawsuit filed by former Kentucky high school student Nicholas Sandmann against Gannett, the parent company of USA TODAY, and other media organizations, saying they reported opinion protected by the First Amendment.
Sandmann had sued Gannett and five of its publications ā USA TODAY, the Cincinnati Enquirer, the Detroit Free Press, the Louisville Courier Journal and the Tennessean āseeking $195 million. He argued he was defamed by their reports on his confrontation with Native American rights activist Nathan Phillips at the Lincoln Memorial in January 2019.
A video of Sandmann, then 16 and a student at Covington Catholic in Northern Kentucky, standing nose to nose with Phillips went viral and unleashed a firestorm of internet criticism that the studentās conduct was racially motivated, which Sandmann denied. Phillips was attending an āIndigenous Peopleās Marchā while Sandmann was walking in a āMarch for Lifeā event.
In all, Sandmann filed lawsuits against eight media organizations, including the New York Times, ABC News, CBS News and Rolling Stone magazine, seeking a combined $1.25 billion for their coverage of the event.
But U.S. Senior Judge William Bertelsman dismissed Sandmann's lawsuit against Gannett, the New York Times, ABC and CBS, holding Tuesday that Phillipsā statement that Sandmann āblocked him and wouldnāt allow him to retreatā ā as reported by the media ā was his opinion for which they could not be sued.
āThe media defendants were covering a matter of great public interest, and they reported Phillipsās first-person view of what he experienced,ā Bertelsman wrote, throwing out the suits.
The Washington Post, NBC and CNN had previously settled with Sandmann.
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A federal judge has dismissed a massive libel lawsuit filed by former Kentucky high school student Nicholas Sandmann against Gannett, the parent company of USA TODAY, and other media organizations, saying they reported opinion protected by the First Amendment.
Sandmann had sued Gannett and five of its publications ā USA TODAY, the Cincinnati Enquirer, the Detroit Free Press, the Louisville Courier Journal and the Tennessean āseeking $195 million. He argued he was defamed by their reports on his confrontation with Native American rights activist Nathan Phillips at the Lincoln Memorial in January 2019.
A video of Sandmann, then 16 and a student at Covington Catholic in Northern Kentucky, standing nose to nose with Phillips went viral and unleashed a firestorm of internet criticism that the studentās conduct was racially motivated, which Sandmann denied. Phillips was attending an āIndigenous Peopleās Marchā while Sandmann was walking in a āMarch for Lifeā event.
In all, Sandmann filed lawsuits against eight media organizations, including the New York Times, ABC News, CBS News and Rolling Stone magazine, seeking a combined $1.25 billion for their coverage of the event.
But U.S. Senior Judge William Bertelsman dismissed Sandmann's lawsuit against Gannett, the New York Times, ABC and CBS, holding Tuesday that Phillipsā statement that Sandmann āblocked him and wouldnāt allow him to retreatā ā as reported by the media ā was his opinion for which they could not be sued.
āThe media defendants were covering a matter of great public interest, and they reported Phillipsās first-person view of what he experienced,ā Bertelsman wrote, throwing out the suits.
The Washington Post, NBC and CNN had previously settled with Sandmann.