PANAMA CITY, Fla. – A jury found that CNN committed defamation against U.S. Navy veteran Zachary Young and is responsible for punitive damages on Friday after more than eight hours of deliberation.
The jury ruled Young is awarded $4 million in lost earnings, $1 in personal damages such as pain and suffering and said that punitive damages are warranted against CNN.
The jury will now proceed to phase two of the trial to determine punitive damages. Lawyers on each side will have a chance to present evidence to determine punitive damages.
CNN DEFAMATION TRIAL: CLOSING ARGUMENTS MADE AS JURY BEGINS TO DELIBERATE LAWSUIT AGAINST NETWORK
Young alleged that CNN smeared him by implying he illegally profited when helping people flee Afghanistan on the "black market" during the Biden administration's military withdrawal from the country in 2021. Young believes CNN "destroyed his reputation and business" by branding him an illegal profiteer" who exploited "desperate Afghans" during a November 11, 2021, report by Alex Marquardt that first aired on CNN’s "The Lead with Jake Tapper."
The decision comes after 3-plus years of litigation and a wild, sometimes chaotic, 8-day trial. 14th Judicial Circuit Court Judge William S. Henry, who presided over the trial in Bay County, Florida, previously ruled that Young "did not act illegally or criminally," despite what the network reported on air.
After the verdict sent shock waves through the courtroom, Judge Henry read instructions to the jury as they prepared to determine punitive damages.
"You should consider this additional evidence, along with the evidence presented, and you should decide any disputed factual issues by the greater weight of the evidence. The greater weight of the evidence means the more persuasive and convincing force and effect of the entire evidence in the case," Judge Henry said.
"In order to decide the amount of punitive damages, if any, to be assessed as punishment against the defendant," he continued. "This amount would be in addition to the compensatory damages you have previously awarded."
Judge Henry instructed jurors to consider "the nature, extent and degree of misconduct and the related circumstances" including, "whether the wrongful conduct was motivated solely by unreasonable financial gain," "whether the unreasonably dangerous nature of the conduct together with the high likelihood of injury resulting from the conduct was actually known by the defendant," "whether at the time… the defendant had a specific intent to harm the plaintiff," and if the conduct "did, in fact, harm plaintiff."
Judge Henry also said the "financial resources" of CNN should be taken into consideration.
"You may not award an amount that would financially destroy the defendant," Judge Henry said.
"You may, in your discretion, decline to award punitive damages. When determining the amount, if any, punitive damages to be awarded, you may impose punitive damages to punish the defendant only for the specific conduct you have concluded caused plaintiff hard," Judge Henry said. "You may not award punitive damages to punish defendant for anything other than the conduct that injured plaintiff."
CNN DEFAMATION TRIAL: EDITOR WHO SAID STORY WAS ‘FULL OF HOLES LIKE SWISS CHEESE’ GRILLED ON WITNESS STAND
Young’s lead counsel Vel Freedman urged jurors to punish CNN during a powerful closing statement on Thursday.
"It was a calculated attack by CNN on his character that has inflicted deep and lasting wounds," Freedman said.
CNN's Jake Tapper first teased the 2021 segment at the center of the suit by warning CNN viewers of "desperate Afghans still trying to escape the country being preyed on by folks demanding that they pay up big time to get out."
Later in the show, Tapper reminded viewers that the story about "desperate Afghans" being "preyed upon" was up next.
Tapper’s teasers ended up being a key part of the trial, as jurors asked to take another look at them during the deliberation process.
Once the much-hyped segment began, Tapper said Marquardt found "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."
Tapper tossed to Marquardt, who said "desperate Afghans are being exploited" and need to pay "exorbitant, often impossible amounts" to flee the country.
Marquardt then singled out Young, putting a picture of his face on the screen and saying his company was asking for $75,000 to transport a vehicle of passengers to Pakistan or $14,500 per person to end up in the United Arab Emirates.
"Prices well beyond the reach of most Afghans," Marquardt told viewers.
CNN then aired Marquardt allegedly attempting to call Young, who did not answer the phone.
"In a text message, he told CNN that Afghans trying to leave are expected to have sponsors pay for them," Marquardt said, adding that Young told the network evacuation costs are "highly volatile and based on environmental realities."
Marquardt then said Young "repeatedly declined to break down the cost or say if he’s making money," before playing a clip of an anonymous sympathetic man who couldn’t afford to have his family evacuated from Afghanistan.
CNN DEFAMATION TRIAL: PLAINTIFF ACCUSES NETWORK OF FAKING CRITICAL PHONE CALL FOR ‘THEATER’
Marquardt went back to Young, saying he received another text message.
"In another message, that person offering those evacuations, Zachary Young, he wrote, ‘Availability is extremely limited, and demand is high’… he goes on to say, ‘That’s how economics works, unfortunately,’" Marquardt told viewers.
Tapper responded, "Unfortunately, hmm," before thanking Marquardt for the report.
No other people or companies were named other than Young.
The phone call became a point of contention during the trial, as the plaintiff suggested Marquardt didn’t really place a call to Young and behind-the-scenes footage of the segment showed Marquardt joking it was "theater" to colleagues. But Marquardt testified that he called the number he believed to belong to Young and dismissed the "theater" joke as a reference to "Saturday Night Live."
The segment was shared on social media and also repackaged for CNN's website. The Marquardt report was re-aired Nov. 13 on Jim Acosta’s CNN show and multiple times on CNN International.
Every second of the segment was picked apart during the trial, with CNN’s legal team insisting Young was not a major element of the story and the plaintiff’s team suggesting the "black market" implication essentially ruined Young’s career as a defense contractor, where that language was specifically mentioned as grounds for termination in a contract he signed.
Young's legal team obtained damning CNN internal messages through discovery repeatedly showing staffers expressing overt hostility towards the Navy veteran. Among those presented to the jury included one calling him a "s--tbag" and an "a--hole," one saying he has a "punchable face."
Marquardt's own message telling a colleague "we're gonna nail this Zachary Young mf---er" was often cited throughout the trial.
At one point, CNN senior national security editor Thomas Lumley was grilled in court after internal messages showed he was highly skeptical of the "pretty flawed" report. Lumley was called as a witness after internal messages showed he felt the report was "full of holes like Swiss cheese."
Young, who became emotional on the witness stand when discussing the segment’s impact on his marriage, also testified that he rescued at least 22 women from Afghanistan, but that information was never reported by CNN.
CNN DEFAMATION TRIAL: REPORTER PRESSED ON HIS HEAVY PURSUIT OF NAVY VETERAN AS DEFENSE DOWNPLAYED INVOLVEMENT
CNN issued an on-air apology on March 25, 2022, when substitute anchor Pamela Brown was sitting in Tapper’s chair. However, several CNN staffers who took the witness stand said he didn’t feel the apology was necessary and Adam Levine testified that the apology was only issued for legal purposes.
Freedman also reminded jurors that many CNN staffers testified that the "black market" term was accurate, and others said the network’s on-air apology was not necessary.
"None of them are sorry. All of them said they would do it again," Freedman told jurors on Thursday.
The trial also included Judge Henry scolding CNN lead counsel David Axelrod, who is not the on-air pundit with the same name, several times and forcing him to apologize to Young on the spot for calling him a "liar" when evidence proved he didn’t lie about failing to earn work in his field on the heels of the CNN segment airing.
Axelrod had insisted a document showing Young still had a security clearance was proof he was able to find work after the CNN segment aired, but it ultimately came out that the security clearance was dropped in 2022.
This is a developing story, more to come…
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