PANAMA CITY, Fla. – A jury found CNN guilty of defamation against U.S. Navy veteran Zachary Young and liable for punitive damages Friday after more than eight hours of deliberations.
The jury awarded Young $4 million in lost earnings, $1 in personal damages such as pain and suffering and said punitive damages were warranted against CNN.
The jury will now proceed to the second phase of the trial to determine punitive damages. Attorneys for both sides will have the opportunity to present evidence to determine punitive damages.
CNN’S DEFAMATION TRIAL: CLOSING ARGUMENTS AS JURY BEGINS TO CONSIDER CLAIM AGAINST NETWORK
US Navy veteran Zachary Young claimed CNN defamed him by suggesting he made illegal money helping people flee Afghanistan on the “black market” during the Biden administration’s 2021 military withdrawal from the country. (Jessica Costescu)
Young claimed that CNN smeared him by suggesting that he made illegal money helping people flee Afghanistan on the “black market” during Biden administration military withdrawal from the country in 2021 Young believes CNN “destroyed his reputation and business” by labeling him an illegal profiteer” who exploited “desperate Afghans” during a Nov. 11, 2021, segment that first aired on CNN’s “The Lead with Jake Tapper.”
The decision comes after more than three years of litigation and a wild, sometimes chaotic, eight-day trial. 14th Circuit 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 shockwaves through the courtroom, Judge Henry read instructions to the jury as they prepared to determine punitive damages.
“You should consider this additional evidence, together with the evidence presented, and you should decide any disputed factual issues based on the greater weight of the evidence. The greater weight of the evidence means the more persuasive and persuasive force and effect of the overall evidence on the case,” Judge Henry said.
“In order to decide the amount of punitive damages, if any, which will be determined as a punishment against the accused,” he continued. “This amount would be in addition to the damages you previously awarded.”
Tapper first teased the 2021 segment at the center of the lawsuit, warning CNN viewers of “desperate Afghans still trying to escape a country being pillaged by people who are asking them to pay well to get out.”
Later in the show, Tapper reminded viewers that the next story is about “desperate Afghans” who are “prey.”
Tapper’s teasers ended up becoming a key part of the trial as jurors asked to take another look at them during the deliberation process.
After the much-hyped segment began, Tapper said Marquardt revealed that “Afghans trying to get out of the country face a black market full of promises, demands for exorbitant fees and no guarantee of safety or success.”
Tapper pitched to Marquardt, who said “desperate Afghans are exploited” and have to pay “exorbitant, often impossible amounts” to escape the country.
Marquardt then singled Young out, putting a picture of his face on the screen and saying his company was asking $75,000 to transport a vehicle with passengers to Pakistan or $14,500 per person to end up in the United Arab Emirates.
“Prices are way beyond the reach of most Afghans,” Marquardt told viewers.
CNN correspondent Alex Marquardt is shown allegedly trying to call Zachary Young in the segment at the center of the lawsuit.
CNN then broadcast Marquardt allegedly trying to call Young, who did not answer the phone.
“He told CNN in a text message that Afghans trying to leave are expected to have sponsors pay for them,” Marquardt said, adding that Young said the cost of evacuating the network was “very variable and based on the realities of the environment.”
Marquardt then said Young “repeatedly refused to describe the costs or say if he was making money,” before playing a clip of an anonymous sympathetic man who couldn’t afford to evacuate his family from Afghanistan.
Marquardt got back to Young, saying he had received another text message.
“In another message, this person who was offering these evacuations, Zachary Young, wrote, ‘Availability is extremely limited and demand is high’ … he goes on to say, ‘That’s how the economy works, unfortunately,'” Marquardt told viewers.
Tapper replied, “Unfortunately, hmm,” before thanking Marquardt for the report.
No other person or company was named besides Young.
The phone call became a point of contention during the trial, as prosecutors suggested Marquardt didn’t actually call Young, and tape of a behind-the-scenes segment showed Marquardt joking that it was “theatre” for colleagues. But Marquardt testified that he called a number he believed belonged to Young and dismissed the “theatrical” joke as a reference to “Saturday Night Live.”
CNN DEFAMATION TRIAL: PROSECUTOR ACCUSES NETWORK OF FAKEING CRITICAL ‘THEATRE’ PHONE CALL
The segment centered on the trial first aired on “The Lead with Jake Tapper.” (CNN/Screenshot)
CNN anchor Jake Tapper and correspondent Alex Marquardt during a segment at the center of the defamation lawsuit. (CNN/Screenshot)
The segment was shared on social media and also repackaged for CNN’s website. Marquardt’s report was rebroadcast November 13 on Jim Acosta’s CNN show and multiple times on CNN International.
Every second of the segment was picked up during the trial, with CNN’s legal team insisting that Young was not a central element of the story and the prosecution team suggesting that the “black market” implication essentially destroyed Young’s career as a defense contractor, where he language was specifically stated as grounds for termination in the contract he signed.
Young’s legal team obtained CNN’s damning internal memos through disclosures that repeatedly show staff expressing open hostility toward the Navy veteran. Among those presented to the jury was one who called him a “s–t-bag” and an “a–hole” one who said he had a “punchable face.”
Marquardt’s own message telling a colleague “we’re going to catch this Zachary Young mf—er” was quoted frequently throughout the trial.
At one point, CNN’s senior national security editor Thomas Lumley was convicted in court after internal messages showed he was highly skeptical of the “rather flawed” report. Lumley was called as a witness after internal messages showed he thought the report was “as full of holes as 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 released by CNN.
CNN issued an on-air apology on March 25, 2022, when replacement anchor Pamela Brown sat in Tapper’s chair. However, several CNN staffers who testified said they did not think an apology was necessary, and Adam Levine testified that the apology was issued only for legal purposes.
The trial included Judge Henry repeatedly berating CNN’s lead attorney, David Axelrod, who is not the eponymous on-air expert, and forcing him to apologize on the spot to Young for calling him a “liar” when evidence proved that he didn’t lie about not being able to land a job in his field after the CNN segment aired.
Axelrod insisted that the document showing Young still had a security clearance was proof that he was able to find work after the segment aired on CNN, but it was ultimately revealed that the security clearance was dropped in 2022.
This is a story in development, more to come…
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