CNN Seeks Defamation Settlement in Meeting with Court

On Thursday (July 25), CNN appeared desperate in a legal filing connected to the $1 billion defamation suit against them, when they petitioned Florida’s 14th Judicial Circuit to force Plaintiff and Navy veteran Zachary Young to appear in person for a mediation conference. The topic of the meeting they want to have? “Settlement talks.”

Young’s legal team filed a motion asking the court to allow him to attend the mediation conference remotely, but CNN countered with a filing expressing their opposition to that request.

“CNN did not choose the forum for this lawsuit,” CNN’s lawyer Deanna Shullman huffed to the court. “Plaintiffs Zachary Young (“Young”) and Nemex Enterprises Inc. (“Nemex”) made the deliberate decision to bring this matter in Bay County, Florida. They cannot now try to claim that they are not available to travel to the required mediation in the very jurisdiction where they chose to file suit.”

Adding: “CNN will appear in person in good faith at the mediation, and Young and Nemex should not be permitted to simply phone it in from Europe.”

CNN’s lawyer actually complained that Young was citing an injury he sustained from his military service as a reason international travel back to the United States was a “hassle” for him:

Good cause is typically found when there is an affirmative showing of annoyance, embarrassment, oppression, or undue burden or expense. Cavey v. Wells, 313 So. 3d 188, 195 (Fla. 2d DCA 2021) (reasoning that vague and conclusory grounds, without any supporting evidence such as affidavits, is not a sufficient showing of good cause to grant a motion for protective order) Indeed, “inconvenience alone does not constitute good cause.” Id. Plaintiffs argue the cost of travel and a 24-year old injury justifies letting him sit at home in Austria. Neither provides good cause, particularly where, as here, Plaintiff forum shopped and chose to sue here.

It does appear that CNN could win in its opposition to Young’s motion to attend remotely, since they previously had a similar ruling go in their favor last year: “Young claimed that the same travel and injury obstacles prevented him from attending his deposition. This Court disagreed and held that Young had to travel to the state in which he chose to sue.”

The filing also made it abundantly clear that CNN was trying get Young in a room so they could try to get a settlement worked out and have the defamation case go away (bold added to highlight):

While Plaintiffs complain that in person attendance is not the “optimal ambiance for settlement talks,” the rules of this Court have already decided that in person attendance is the optimal ambiance for settlement talks by making that the default rule. Moreover, it’s hard to imagine how an ambiance in which Young sits at his computer thousands of miles and several time zones away is more optimal for settlement talks than in person, engaged, and in the same location. Rather, by asserting that discussing settlement in person is not optimal, the Motion signals that Plaintiffs do not wish to create an optimal ambiance for mediation because they do not intend to engage in good faith discussions and would rather simply check the box by literally phoning it in.

Holding out for the chance that they could negotiate a settlement could also explain why, as NewsBusters previously reported, CNN was refusing to turn over documentation related to financial discovery for possible punitive damages.

“Despite an appellate court’s affirmation of Plaintiff’s right to plead punitive damages, CNN continues to stonewall discovery efforts into its ability to pay punitive damages award based on its pending motion for rehearing,” Young’s motion to compel CNN to comply read. They also noted that “CNN’s intransigence threatens to derail the trial schedule,” which was currently slated to begin January 6, 2025.

The same filing could give clues as to why CNN would be so scared as to risk incurring a rebuke from the court for not turning over documents as they seek a settlement. According to Young’s filing, they retained the services of Robert W. Johnson as an expert witness. The same Mr. Johnson whose economic testimony helped to secure the $3 billion verdict against Phillip Morris, the tobacco company.

“Plaintiffs’ discovery requests seek information about CNN’s ability to pay a punitive damages award, information that is essential to Mr. Johnson’s report. Even if the Court permits financial discovery to proceed immediately, Plaintiffs expect CNN to continue resisting these discovery efforts, necessitating further motion practice and court intervention,” the filing warned.

CNN may be looking for a settlement, but as NewBusters previously reported, Young didn’t seem to want to entertain any. In comments to NewsBusters back in June, Vel Freedman, lead counsel for Young’s team said the idea of a settlement was “so far off the table.” He also said there was “zero chance this case gets stopped before trial” and that the goal was to “take CNN to task.”

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