Last Updated on January 7, 2020
CNN has agreed to settle a lawsuit with Covington Catholic High School student Nicholas Sandmann, who the outlet was accused of harassing and defaming because of his political views.
Sandmann was reportedly seeking some $275 million in damages from CNN for their coverage of a confrontation in January 2019 between left-wing activists and Covington high school students.
Sandmann is also seeking $250 million in damages from the Washington Post, and a total of $800 million from CNN, the Washington Post, and NBC Universal.
The Covington Catholic students were doxxed and harassed on social media, with many left-wing agitators calling for their identities to be released and violence to to be committed against them for smiling in the face of indigenous activist Nathan Philips.
Politically charged news coverage of the incident died down when multiple camera angles and unreleased videos were brought to light that showed Phillips had approached and confronted Sandmann, rather than vice versa.
Sandmann’s attorney, Lin Wood, has indicated that there will be an additional laswuit filed against Phillips.
Wood said the damages were sought due to “emotional distress Nicholas and his family suffered.” He also said the family had to move from their home temporarily and that Nicholas was not permitted to attend school directly after the trip to Washington.
A lawsuit is expected to be filed against Phillips, Wood said. He indicated that lawsuit would seek $5 million, but the judge said that Phillips does not have as much money as the other defendants.
They also plan to sue Gannett, owners of The Enquirer, according to Wood.
Wood also said there’s a maximum of 15 defendants.
Attorneys say the money they’re seeking is not designed to compensate Nick, but to “deter the defendants” from doing the same thing (that they’re accused of) in the future.
The most infamous angle of the Covington-Phillips confrontation can be seen below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1Va1WnlHTY
