I’m the first to admit we live in an era of overzealous litigators, scratching for the next lawsuit like a dog with a bone, burying them with retainer fees and motions to exhaust a person into a pit of despair and bankruptcy. However, the legal system is an important avenue of justice for many and we are all seeing this in real time with the announcement that Nicholas Sandmann (the high school student from the now-infamous Covington Catholic High School, who was at the center of an unwanted viral video controversy) is suing the Washington Post. In an incredible, put-your-money-where-your-mouth-is move, Sandmann and attorneys are seeking a whopping $250 million in damages and get kudos from me for straight-up chutzpah.
Still, between the first photo of Sandmann on that January day and the latter video, multiple outlets including the Washington Post vilified the young man as a bigot and taunting teen, a white nationalist, and more. One Washington Post opinion headline said, “Time to take on the Covington ‘smirk,’” while another read, “The Covington students and the calculated art of making people uncomfortable.”
Sandmann’s lawsuit claims that the Post “wrongfully targeted and bullied Nicholas because he was the white, Catholic student wearing a red ‘Make America Great Again’ souvenir cap on a school field trip.” The complaint accuses the Post of engaging in a “modern-day form of McCarthyism by competing with CNN and NBC, among others, to claim leadership of a mainstream and social media mob of bullies which attacked, vilified, and threatened Nicholas Sandmann, an innocent secondary school child.” A Washington Post spokeswoman told CNN Business that the paper is “reviewing a copy of the lawsuit and we plan to mount a vigorous defense.”
Libel law is simple, but defamation suits are somewhat difficult to win. Sandmann’s attorneys will need to prove the defamation and that somehow the damages, in such a large amount, are owed due to the damage to his reputation. While the former might be easier, the latter will be more difficult to prove. Large portions of the complaint include politically charged language (that the Washington Post is actively publishing stories opposed to Trump) and, personally, I think they would have had a stronger case without those lofty, conspiratorial claims.
Mainstream news publications have been printing news reports and knee-jerk reactions without the full story or appropriate citations on hot topics for some time now, particularly anything that might be anti-Trump. Weaponizing its tagline “Democracy dies in darkness,” the Washington Post attacks one side of the population, vilifying conservatives or anyone who even appears to be, with little to no accountability. I’m glad Sandmann’s family had the gumption to force the Washington Post to own to their bad reporting with a lawsuit. It will be telling to see if the Post (or Sandmann) settles.
Nicole Russell (@russell_nm) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. She is a journalist who previously worked in Republican politics in Minnesota.
