CNN Ducks for Cover in Billion-Dollar Defamation Battle and Begs Judge Not to Force Them to Disclose ‘Guidelines for Journalistic Conduct’
CNN claimed that Young charged exorbitant prices to smuggle people out of the country amid the return of Taliban rule.
Aug. 9 2024, Updated 11:15 a.m. ET
The feud has turned even nastier.
CNN has accused a U.S. military veteran and his legal pit bulls – who are suing the news giant over a 2021 report that claimed he was an illegal war profiteer – of lying and making “specious” claims to a Florida court.
In a request to the judge overseeing the case, Deanna K. Shullman, the network’s lead counsel in the ugly billion-dollar defamation showdown, huffed and puffed her way through a five-page motion during which she argued the so-called “most trusted name in news” should not have to release its code of conduct.
CNN’s lead attorney, Deanna Shullman, from the firm Shullman Fugate PLLC, argues the network should not have to turn over its code of conduct.
Shullman said plaintiffs Zachary Young — a U.S. Navy veteran — and his private security contractor firm, Nemex Enterprises Inc., had claimed to the court they’d “just learned” of guidelines “through no fault of their own”.
But in declaring that as a bold-faced lie, a clearly agitated Shullman even used an exclamation mark in what is typically a mundane legal document to hammer home her point!
Young, who saved more than 20 women after the United States’ botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, had asked CNN to turn over its “social media guidelines” and “guidelines for journalistic conduct” as part of the defamation battle.
A segment on CNN’s ‘The Lead with Jake Tapper’ accused a security consulting company of exploiting Afghans.
He previously accused the network of destroying “troves” of evidence in the case centered around a Nov. 2021 episode of The Lead With Jake Tapper which was shared on social media and also repackaged for CNN’s website.
Young is suing the network because he claims it smeared him with allegations he illegally profited when helping people flee Afghanistan, using the terms “black market,” “exploit” and “exorbitant” to paint him as a bad actor who preyed upon desperate people.
But in the latest twist in the case that has captivated the right-wing media, CNN scoffed at the request for internal documents that govern its journalism and ethics, claiming Young’s demand was now time-barred as the deadline for discovery had ended eight months ago.
Young's defamation case is scheduled to go to before a civil jury in January.
CNN said: “Plaintiffs conducted extensive discovery throughout this case, serving 15 sets of written discovery and taking 17 depositions.
“While they had a duty to conduct discovery within the court-ordered parameters, they are now, inappropriately, seeking to circumvent long-standing discovery rules and serve out-of-time discovery under the guise that CNN is somehow to blame for Plaintiffs’ errors and oversights.
“But if Plaintiffs made an error, it was solely due to their own conduct.”
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Continuing, the network claims: “Months before the close of discovery, Plaintiffs listed CNN guidelines in multiple topics upon which they asked a CNN corporate representative to testify.
“They deposed multiple witnesses about CNN’s standards and practices department and internal policies with at least one witness explaining that the department was responsible for ensuring compliance with CNN’s guidelines.
“Plaintiffs failed to couple their corporate representative topics list with document requests related thereto and failed to follow up during depositions when CNN’s standards and guidelines were mentioned.”
CNN is being accused of defamation.
Shullman even called out Young’s attorneys from the firm Freedman Normand Friedland, who she said had taken 17 depositions from various CNN personnel and served 15 separate sets of discovery.
She quipped: “Plaintiffs failed to request documents about the guidelines about which they specifically asked CNN to designate a corporate representative to discuss. Whether by choice or oversight, Plaintiffs undoubtedly knew such guidelines might exist – they asked CNN to sit for a deposition about them!”
CNN has denied any wrongdoing in the explosive case – even though star anchor Tapper explained to his audience how CNN correspondent Alex Marquardt had discovered “Afghans trying to get out of the country face a black market full of promises, demands of exorbitant fees, and no guarantee of safety or success.”
Marquardt reported “desperate Afghans are being exploited” and need to pay “exorbitant, often impossible amounts” to flee the country.
He singled out Young and his company, using a picture of his face on screen, as an example.
The case has taken a series of dramatic twists in recent weeks with CNN suggesting the case should be tossed because Young violated Taliban law during the rescues, while a retired major general blamed the network’s report for likely causing innocent people to killed or beaten.
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