Zachary Young’s high stock defamation lawsuit against the Associated Press continues to Inch in Bay County, Florida, as the American Navy veteran seeks to clear his name.
Young successfully sued CNN for defamation earlier this year after saying that the network issued it, implying that he illegally benefited from helping people leave Afghanistan in the “black market” during the catastrophic military attraction of Biden administration.
When covering the trial in January, the Associated Press media reporter David Bauder wrote that “Young business helped smuggle people from Afghanistan”.
Young legal team has said the Associated Press article “went even further than the lies of CNN”, and the veteran is demanding nearly $ 500 million in a defamation lawsuit against AP.
On Monday, Young Legal Team responded to the AP motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
The AP had insisted that Young’s complaint is “without merit” and unjustly challenges the rights of free speech, but the Navy veteran’s legal team believes the motion failed to address “essential issues”.
“It does not object that the term” human smuggling “means criminal behavior, nor does it offer any valuable explanation for its use of this term, although a court previously ruled that Mr. Young has not committed any crime. The AP style book defines ‘smuggling’ as illegal,” Young lawyer Daniel Lustig.
“Dozens of AP articles reflect that use. Just days before this appearance, AP published a story of a man sentenced to 25 years in prison for ‘smuggling people’, strengthening that understanding,” Lustig continued.
“Even after receiving the notice, the AP refused to withdraw or review the statement, nor to use a more accurate term such as’ evacuation ‘or’ rescue.” “
Young’s lawyer believes that the most “visible” part of the AP’s motion to dismiss work is that he never denied that “smuggling” refers to a criminal act.
“On the contrary, it argues that the statement, in context, was not defamatory. This is not a protection, it is a release. According to Florida’s law, if a statement is capable of a slanderous meaning, it is a question for jury, not to solve a move to refute.
Young legal team has also filed a motion to change the complaint to include punitive damages.
The 242 -page registration suggested this case “illustrates the scenario in which punitive damage is guaranteed to punish and prevent such behavior with indifferent consciousness from a media organization.”
On Tuesday, each party appeared for the first hearing before the Judicial Court of the 14th District Court, William S. Henry, who also chaired the CNN trial.
The Issues Management Conference, conducted on Zoom, was largely procedural and offered a chance for each party to explain why the relevant movements should be heard.
Judge Henry planned the next hearing for July 3. He is expected to rule both for the AP’s motion to rest and the changed Young complaint.
AP has referred to the lawsuit as “non -serious” in statements past the press.
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