CNN/Afghanistan defamation suit

CNN is set to ring in the New Year in a Panama City, Florida courtroom (on January 6) as they try to defend themselves from a $1 billion defamation lawsuit. But before they even got there the network got hit with a set back in the form of getting witness testimony partially axed by the judge. Judge William Scott Henry of Florida’s 14th Circuit Court ordered that CNN’s expert witness on alleged…

As NewsBusters previously reported back in September, Judge William Scott Henry ordered CNN to comply with financial discovery in the $1 billion defamation suit against them and turn over documents related to net worth and cash flow, among others. The order was further supported in October when he cleared the way for CNN’s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) to be subpoenaed for…

Following the $787 million defamation settlement between Fox News and Dominion Voting Systems in 2023, CNN did a lot of gloating and spiking the ball as they used it as a cudgel to attack the credibility of their cable news rival. But that celebration seems to have come back to bite them as U.S. Navy veteran and Plaintiff Zachary Young won a motion, on Thursday, to cite CNN’s coverage as…

On Friday, in the run up to the $1 billion defamation trial against CNN, Judge William Scott Henry of Florida’s 14^th Judicial Circuit Court handed Navy veteran and Plaintiff Zachary Young several legal victories in a pair of orders exclusively obtained by NewsBusters. Among them were affirmations that punitive damages would still be on the table for a jury to potentially award Young…

As part of the latest developments in the $1 billion defamation suit against them, CNN was attempting to keep anchor Jake Tapper from being compelled to answer deposition questions about his salary and comments he had made on-air regarding Fox News’s defamation settlement with Dominion Voting Systems. That’s according to court filings exclusively obtained by NewsBusters.

According to a court filing exclusively obtained by NewsBusters, CNN’s Jake Tapper refused to answer basic questions about his show’s finances, including his salary, during a sworn deposition on Wednesday. The legal team for Plaintiff and Navy veteran Zachary Young was now requesting Florida’s 14 Circuit Court to step in and force him to answer the questions.

In the midst of facing a $1 billion defamation suit, CNN gave the primary offending journalist, Alex Marquardt a promotion to chief national security correspondent and a cushy raise to go along with it. Rationally, one might question how someone could obtain a promotion after causing their company to become entrenched in serious and costly litigation, but it was a question and series of facts…

With the January 6, 2025 trial date rapidly approaching, CNN has apparently resorted to trying to get the court to bar an expert witness from testifying against them in the $1 billion defamation suit they’re facing. Among their various complaints directed against Major General James V. Young (retired), CNN essentially argued that he was too good of a witness and provided too many important…

In a pre-Halloween hearing in the $1 billion defamation suit against them, on Wednesday, CNN tried to bring their Sharia law defense back from the grave. Judge William Scott Henry of Florida’s 14th Circuit Court called it “a circular argument” that wanted pity for the Afghanis while implying they were criminals for escaping the Taliban. The network’s lawyer ultimately argued that “half-ass”…

In a major order filed Tuesday in the $1 billion defamation case against CNN, and exclusively obtained by NewsBusters, Judge William Scott Henry of Florida’s 14th Circuit Court threw out CNN’s desperate attempt to cite Taliban Sharia law in their defense. Judge Henry also ordered that Plaintiff and Navy veteran Zachary Young “did not act illegally or criminally.”

According to court documents exclusively obtained by NewsBusters, CNN has apparently requested the court to seal mentions and quotes from their journalistic standards, effectively barring them from being viewed by the public in the $1 billion defamation suit against the Cable News Network. Hiding their journalistic standards from the people who are supposed to trust them as a news source is…

The $1 billion defamation suit against CNN continued to chug along in the background as the presidential election and world events take center stage. But on Tuesday, Florida 14th Circuit judge William Scott Henry cleared the way for Plaintiff and U.S. Navy veteran Zachary Young to use legal force to compel CNN to turn over financial documents and to subpoena their parent company Warner Bros.…

The legal representation CNN has relied on to handle the $1 billion defamation suit against them for the last two years may have been benched on Monday. According to filings exclusively obtained by NewsBusters, CNN has retained the services of law firm Ballard Spahr LLP out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to represent them in the Panama City, Florida case.

Mediation talks between CNN and Navy veteran Zachary Young broke down last Tuesday as an undisclosed settlement offer was rejected in the $1 billion defamation lawsuit against the Cable News Network, according to a filing exclusively obtained by NewsBusters. Essentially guaranteeing the case will go to trial in January 2025.