Posted on 08/02/2019 6:13:19 PM PDT by blam
The twisted tale of the students from Covington Catholic High School in Kentucky who encountered Native American activist Nathan Phillips back on January 19 took another turn on Thursday, when lawyers for the teenagers involved in the incident filed a defamation lawsuit in Kenton County Circuit Court against 12 of the “most egregious high-profile individuals.”
The filing came just a few days after a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit on behalf of student Nick Sandmann that could have resulted in the Kentucky teen being awarded $250 million for defamation of character by the Washington Post.
Robert Barnes and Kevin Murphy, the attorneys who launched the new lawsuit, stated: “A field trip to our nation’s capital for a group of minors from Covington, Kentucky, turned into a social media nightmare that changed their futures forever.”
Sandmann and other students had attended the March for Life rally in Washington, D.C., while many wore red “Make America Great Again” hats when the 65-year-old man approached them, banging a drum right in the student’s face.
“No individual plaintiff seeks damages from any defendant in excess of the cost of a four-year tuition at the University of Kentucky,” the document stated. “Plaintiffs file this complaint for neither fame nor fortune; they bring this suit to protect future families from experiencing the nightmare the defendants caused these kids to experience.”
The suit declared:
Several of our Senators, most-famous celebrities and widely read journalists collectively used their social media platforms, perceived higher credibility and public followings to lie and libel minors they never met based on an event they never witnessed.
The defendants circulated false statements about them to millions of people around the world. The video of the entire event, known to the defendants, exposed all of their factual claims against the kids as lies.
(snip)
(Excerpt) Read more at newsbusters.org ...
“Does anyone know if tossing it was based on merit or a technicality so it can be refiled?”
I don’t think it can be refiled; but it can be appealed.
(But imho since the WP is part of the deep state, no suit against it has a chance; the Post will always find friendly federal judges to toss it out. Remember what happened to the Duke lacrosse team’s lawsuits...)
First hurdle is going to be getting valid service of process on these individual Defendants. Then there’s a huge venue question about filing the suit in Kenton County, Kentucky since the behavior giving rise to the claims did not occur in Kentucky and none of the Defendants reside here.
The case is best handled in Federal Court based on diversity of citizenship but we’ve already seen that the US District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky is grossly prejudiced against these Plaintiffs. It’s unlikely the claims would receive more favorable treatment in the DC district. So filing in state court becomes the only viable option by default.
Even a lost lawsuit can be a consciousness raiser.
Seriously?
You base your political opinions on what Jamie Lee Curtis thinks?
For real?
The federal court case again the Washington Post was dismissed on the merits.
Of course there’s advantage to the lawyers. That’s why they spend hours and hours on these cases but it also benefits the clients. Right now, people are getting by with egregious behavior in demeaning people like this because they can and nothing happens to them.
A large lawsuit win would put a stop to rash and rude comments by celebrities (I’ve never heard of ) and the media.
I thought I saw where the case was appealed.
It would have to be so big that even big media wouldn’t be able to consider it a reasonable cost of business — and that’s difficult, as appellate courts have a way of whittling these things way down.
Refusing to bow down before the throne of big media can have a cost. But it will also have a benefit of getting the smiles of heaven.
Sure, but there's a near zero percent chance of winning a large lawsuit against these celebrities and the lawyers know this.
The teens probably don't
It was never going to be easy.
The federal court case against the Washington Post was dismissed by a probably-senile 83-year-old Democrat who doesn't know squat about the Internet and social media poison and social media lynch mobs.
So, "Dodderin" Bill Bertelsman should STFU and kick the bucket already.
[Decide the result; justify using twisted logic]
It was a Peanut Boy judge, 83-year-old "Dodderin" Bill Bertelsman, who probably has never actually been on the Internet, and so knows nothing about how social media works, who issued the "ruling"
And I'm serious about this old fool probably never having used the Internet*.
It's common for important people of his age to have "people" to deal with dirty little mundane things like the Interwebs, or computers.
And "Federal judge" is about as important as it gets.
CondorFlight wrote: I don’t think it can be refiled; but it can be appealed.
Thanks for that addition to the information on this.
WVNan wrote: I thought I saw where the case was appealed.
I'll have to go looking, then. :-)
*[I worked at a university 15 years ago where the head of the university IT department was on call 24/7 to the university president who was dabbling in a computer at home. The IT department head had 20 campuses reporting to him, with 100-125 staff total. But if he needed to tell the prez to "reboot" at midnight, it was all him.]
Still looking, but found this from The Federalist:
The Covington Catholic Teen Lost His First Court Battle, But Will Probably Win His Next
https://thefederalist.com/2019/07/29/covington-catholic-teen-lost-first-court-battle-will-probably-win-next/
...When Sandmann appeals, a three-judge panel of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals will consider his arguments. Given the procedural posture of this case—the motion to dismiss stage—Sandmann has solid grounds to argue for reversal.
That’s because at that stage, the court must read the facts in the light most favorable to Sandmann, and if a reasonable jury could interpret the Post’s statements as defamatory, the court must allow the case to continue. An analysis of Judge Bertelsman’s opinion indicates that he overstepped his bounds in several areas and resolved factual disputes that should have been left for a jury to decide.
If the Judge ["Dodderin" Bill] Is Right, All News Is Mere Opinion
Thanks for looking it up.
I get ten, but I don’t have a six pack or two...
Give me a few and I’ll be on the case...
No that is not what he said. He said fellow celeb Jamie Lee Curtis warned the other celebs off criticizing the students.
That’s correct. The point the first poster was making was that if Curtis could see what really happened, everyone attacking those kids could.
btt
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