Attorneys for Covington Catholic High School student Nicholas Sandmann announced that they were filing lawsuits against five additional media outlets.
Sandmann was accused of harassment after he was photographed sporting a “Make America Great Again” hat while standing in front of a Native American man, Nathan Phillips, with a smirk on his face in Washington, D.C., last year. It was later revealed that the student did nothing inappropriate during the exchange, despite several major newsrooms reporting otherwise.
His attorneys notified the court on Feb. 23 that they intended to file lawsuits against the New York Times, Gannett, ABC, CBS, and Rolling Stone. All of the lawsuits will be formally filed by March 9.
“All of the future defendants listed above have published or republished statements made by Nathan Phillips and others that Nicholas blocked or otherwise restricted Phillips’ free movement and would not allow Phillips to retreat at the National Mall on January 18, 2019. Nicholas reserves his right to file complaints in this is Court or any other court against any other potential defendant not listed above, subject to the applicable statute of limitations,” Sandmann’s attorneys argued in the letter to the court.
Sandmann has two outstanding lawsuits against the Washington Post and NBC Universal. He already settled one other lawsuit with CNN for an undisclosed sum. The original request from CNN was a $275 million settlement, but it is not clear what the final agreement was.
The teenager was in Washington, D.C., to participate in the March for Life when the photograph of him and Phillips was taken. He was accused of cornering Phillips while he played a tribal drum, but footage of the full encounter revealed that Sandmann had not blocked or harassed Phillips in any way.
