CNN Begs Judge to Force Military Veteran to Travel Back to United States for Settlement Talks in Billion-Dollar Jake Tapper Court Battle
The lawsuit may cost the network $1billion.
July 31 2024, Published 2:32 p.m. ET
CNN has asked a judge to compel a decorated U.S. military veteran to travel back to the United States from Central Europe to attend in-person mediation as part of a dramatic attempt to end a billion-dollar defamation battle, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
The besieged news network questioned the credibility of Zachary Young’s debilitating degenerative back disease and injuries in a desperate filing to a Florida court on July 25.
Young and his company are suing CNN over a report on The Lead With Jake Tapper, during which he was accused of being involved in black market operations to exploit individuals trapped in Afghanistan during America’s troop withdrawal.
The vet is suing CNN for alleged defamation over a November 2021 report.
He had previously told the Bay County court he sustained damage during his military service that makes it hard for him to do the 15-hour flight from Austria to Northwest Florida.
But a lawyer for the cable giant argued Young should not be permitted to “simply phone it in from Europe” because it was not CNN who “chose the forum for this lawsuit”.
Lawyer Deanna Shullman complained: “Plaintiffs Zachary Young and Nemex Enterprises Inc. made the deliberate decision to bring this matter in Bay County, Florida.”
The judge also said their citation of Sharia law was 'a bridge too far.'
“They cannot now try to claim that they are not available to travel to the required mediation in the very jurisdiction where they chose to file suit.”
CNN told the judge neither the cost of travel nor a “24-year old injury” were “good cause” to justify “letting him (Young) sit at home in Austria” for the settlement talks.
But the court motion represents a dramatic turning point in the case, as the supposed worldwide leader in news conceded it would participate in “good faith” mediation in a bid to resolve the ugly spat.
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Young filed the lawsuit against CNN last month.
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CNN has had its back to the wall in the damaging lawsuit after an appeals judge ruled the network could be liable for punitive damages because it acted with malice.
As we reported, the correspondent who presented the controversial story, Alex Marquardt, admitted under oath he had “no evidence” to link Young to the black-market trade of Afghan refugees. The network also copped a series of black eyes when it revealed staffers had used profanity laced language in emails and text messages prior to the 2021 broadcast.
In addition to labelling Young as a “s---bag” and “a-hole”, producers admitted the story was considered “a mess”, “incomplete” and was “full of holes like Swiss cheese”.
It aired nevertheless.
Based on the jarring evidence to emerge as part of the discovery process, it’s little wonder CNN wants to get its nemesis into a room in an effort to to thrash out a possible resolution.
Marquardt admitted in a deposition that he had "no evidence" tying Young to illegal activity.
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Shullman, the attorney for CNN, added: “While Plaintiffs complain that in-person attendance is not the ‘optimal ambiance for settlement talks,’ the rules of this Court have already decided that in-person attendance is the optimal ambiance for settlement talks by making that the default rule.”
“Moreover, it’s hard to imagine how an ambiance in which Young sits at his computer thousands of miles and several time zones away is more optimal for settlement talks than in person, engaged, and in the same location."
“Rather, by asserting that discussing settlement in person is not optimal, the Motion signals that Plaintiffs do not wish to create an optimal ambiance for mediation because they do not intend to engage in good faith discussions and would rather simply check the box by literally phoning it in."
In a further swipe at Young, CNN reminded the judge this was the second time Young had refused to travel to Florida as part of the case because of “travel and injury obstacles”.
However, a lawyer for Young has promised there would be “zero chance this case gets stopped before trial” and that Young’s goal was to “take CNN to task”.
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