The Left rejoiced last year when a Delaware judge announced that Fox News and its parent company, Fox Corporation, had reached a whopping $787.5 million settlement in their defamation lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems. The network had been accused of spreading misinformation about fraud in the 2020 presidential election .
According to the New York Times, the massive settlement equated to “roughly two-thirds of Fox Corporation’s [2022] net annual income.”
At the time, CNN host Jake Tapper found the settlement to be both well-deserved and highly amusing. He told viewers, “Fox is trying to put a positive face on what can only be interpreted as one of the ugliest and most embarrassing moments in the history of journalism.”
As he read a portion of Fox’s public statement, he paused and said, “I’m sorry, this is going to be difficult to say with a straight face.”
Totally-not-a-liberal-activist Jake Tapper can't contain his glee while reading Fox News' statement concerning their settlement with Dominion live on CNN. pic.twitter.com/TNLREZ5pSV
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom)
April 18, 2023 Time has moved on, and now CNN is facing a $1 billion defamation lawsuit of its own. And ironically, Tapper finds himself at the center of the story.
The plaintiff, Zachary Young, a U.S. Navy veteran and the owner of security consulting firm Nemex Enterprises, is suing the network over a segment from the Nov. 11, 2021, edition of Tapper’s eponymous program. Young alleges that CNN "destroyed his reputation and business by branding him an illegal profiteer who exploited desperate Afghans" during the Biden administration's tumultuous exit from the country.
Ahead of the civil trial in the case, which is scheduled to begin on Jan. 6, 2025, Bay County, Florida, Circuit Court Judge William Henry ruled last week that Young may issue a subpoena “for CNN to hand over a plethora of sensitive financial information that the cable network presented to its parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery.”
The court is trying to assess CNN’s net worth so that Young and his legal team can decide on the precise amount they will seek in punitive damages.
NewsBusters’s Nicholas Fondacaro, who attended the hearing, explained , "Essentially, this will act as a way to double check to see if CNN was being honest with the financial documents they were turning over as part of discovery; comparing what they turned over to Young’s legal team vs what they told corporate." He noted that “Judge Henry signaled that punitive damages sought against CNN could go beyond the simple net worth of the network.”
Puck's Eriq Gardner, who also attended the hearing, wrote , “Young’s attorneys will soon be receiving documents to assess CNN’s net worth, so they can argue before a jury just how big a penalty Young should receive. … The judge has also ordered a deposition for Jake Tapper.”
It’s worth taking a look back at the segment that spurred Young to take legal action.
In the segment, Tapper said , “As CNN's Alex Marquardt has discovered, Afghans trying to get out of the country face a black market full of promises, demands of exorbitant fees, and no guarantee of safety or success.”
Young’s image appeared on the screen as Marquardt began speaking: “According to Afghans and activists we've spoken with, desperate Afghans are being exploited … told they can get them or their families out if they pay exorbitant, often impossible amounts.”
Marquardt continued, “One LinkedIn user posted messages with Young, where Young said it would be $75,000 for a car to Pakistan. He told another, it would be $14,500 per person to get to the United Arab Emirates or Albania for another $4,000 — prices well beyond the reach of most Afghans.”
He added, “In another message, that person offering those evacuations, Zachary Young, wrote, ‘Availability is extremely limited and demand is high.’ [Young] goes on to say, ‘That's how economics works, unfortunately.’”
According to court documents, “Over the next few days, Marquardt's reporting was republished on another CNN program, disseminated on Facebook and Twitter, and repackaged into a digital article on CNN's website.”
NewsBusters reported that CNN has deleted the segment from its archive page . But it can still be viewed on the NewsBusters site.
In June, judges with the 1st District Court of Appeal for the State of Florida ruled, "Young sufficiently proffered evidence of actual malice, express malice, and a level of conduct outrageous enough to open the door for him to seek punitive damages. Whether Young can ultimately prevail is not the issue before us.”
The judges wrote, "Young proffered CNN messages and emails that showed internal concern about the completeness and veracity of the reporting — the story is ‘a mess,’ ‘incomplete,’ not ‘fleshed out for digital,’ ‘the story is 80% emotion, 20% obscured fact,’ and ‘full of holes like Swiss cheese,’" but the network aired it anyway.
In private communications, CNN’s malice appeared deliberate. "Marquardt referred to him as 'f---ing Young' and quipped, ‘It’s your funeral, bucko,'" court documents show.
Regarding the network’s appeal, the judges wrote, “CNN argues it did not intend to harm; its language was either opinion or ambiguous; and the internal communications were journalistic bravado that reflected a sincere belief in the reporting.”
It will be interesting to see how that defense plays out with a Bay County jury. Bay County is located in the Florida panhandle, very close to the Alabama state line.
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Of course, it’s also possible that CNN will settle with Young before the trial begins, just as Fox did last year.
And Tapper would do well to remember that stones are best thrown from a house not made entirely of glass.
Elizabeth Stauffer is a contributor to the Washington Examiner and the Western Journal . Follow her on X or LinkedIn .
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