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CNN’s parent company must turn over docs in defamation case

homesafetytechpros — Sat, 16 Nov 2024 00:01:13 +0000

Inset: Zachary Young. Main: A court exhibit highlights the chyron from the Nov. 11, 2021, CNN segment at issue (court documents).

CNN‘s parent company Warner Bros. Discovery must conduct a financial deep dive and then hand relevant information over to a Navy veteran who is suing the network in a high-profile, and potentially high-dollar, defamation case, a judge in Delaware ruled on Friday.

In the event the requested documents do not exist, however, the company must issue a “sworn declaration” to that effect, Delaware Superior Court Judge Lynne M. Parker ruled, Fox News reports.

The ruling may come as something of a double-edged victory for Zachary Young, who is suing CNN over a 2021 segment that aired on “The Lead with Jake Tapper.” In the lawsuit, Young claims the cable news channel falsely painted him as an “illegal profiteer” exploiting “desperate Afghans” with “exorbitant” extraction fees amid the fallout of President Joe Biden’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Young and his attorneys have been trying to get their hands on certain financial documents they claim are relevant to the case for some time but complain that CNN has not been forthcoming with such discovery.

The underlying lawsuit was filed in Bay County, Florida, where 14th Judicial Circuit Court Judge William Henry is overseeing the case.

Young, a U.S. citizen who lives in Austria and is the president of Florida-based corporation Nemex Enterprises, is suing for CNN defamation per se, defamation by implication, group libel and trade libel, claiming that his efforts to save lives in Afghanistan as a security consultant were distorted by “lies published for sensationalism.”

The segment at issue, which aired on Nov. 11, 2021, and featured correspondent Alex Marquardt’s reporting on Tapper’s show, displayed a photo of Young over chyrons that read: “AFGHANS TRYING TO FLEE TALIBAN FACE BLACK MARKETS, EXORBITANT FEES, NO GUARANTEE OF SAFETY OR SUCCESS” and “AFGHANS AND ACTIVISTS REPORT DEMANDS OF $10K-$14K FOR ATTEMPTS TO GET FAMILY MEMBERS OUT OF COUNTRY.”

CNN has since tried and failed to prevent Young from amending his lawsuit to request likely costly punitive damages, failed to keep Tapper from being deposed, failed to prevent the release of embarrassing internal messages, and, relevant now, failed to keep the trial court from signing off on an “expansive” financial spelunking trip.

But the multinational mass media conglomerate, for their part, says the documents Young wants simply do not exist.

“If it doesn’t exist, we can’t be compelled to produce anything,” Jennifer Ying, representing Warner Bros. Discovery, told the judge in Delaware, according to a courtroom report by Fox News.

“We have told them twice now that such information does not exist,” Ying reportedly continued. “They have refused to accept that. We cannot create information that simply does not exist.”

Henry previously issued an order directing CNN to turn over the requested documents — but threw up his hands at the suggestion of directing the network to issue a sworn declaration attesting to the would-be non-existence of the financial statements in question.

The Florida court’s broad ruling, while helpful to the plaintiff, ultimately created a state of limbo in a fast-approaching trial.

Tired of waiting, the plaintiff’s team recently moved up the corporate organization chart — filing a request with the Delaware court because that is where Warner Bros. Discovery is incorporated.

“It’s simply inconceivable that Warner Bros. Discovery is incapable of providing cashflow and balance sheet information for its wholly owned subsidiary,” attorney Joe Delich told Parker. “Warner Bros. Discovery has produced some documents but has not produced any information about cashflow, or any kind of balance sheet information. We know that Warner Bros. Discovery has the ability to do this.”

On Friday, the parent company’s attorney shot back that the latest ask from Young was “premature” because the original subpoena return date had yet to lapse. Ying also complained that the subpoena lacked any mention of cash flow statements and balance sheets.

Parker aimed to cut through the confusion — unintentional or otherwise; essentially instructing both parties to get it together.

She told Young to issue a new, more specific subpoena that explicitly demands both cash flow statements and balance sheets.

“Well, CNN does not have to provide a sworn declaration, but Warner Bros. does,” the Delaware judge said. “You’re going to subpoena Warner Brothers requesting these two specific things, and they’re either going to produce documents or they’re going to give you a sworn declaration that it does not exist.”

The court instructed Young’s team to act fast.

“Issue the subpoena right away,” Parker continued. “They have 20 days from the date of issuance to respond.”

In the underlying lawsuit, Young says he “never advertised to, or took a single penny from, any Afghan, much less ‘exploited’ ‘desperate Afghans,”” that he “certainly never sold any services on a ‘black market,’” and that “[e]verything he did was legal.” But the CNN report “rendered” him “permanently unemployable in the career he has trained his whole life for” and, in turn, cost him millions of dollars.

The complaint includes an on-air correction and apology where CNN says they did not “mean to suggest” Young “participated in the black market,” despite the chyron under his photo on the segment.

The court docket in Florida currently shows two pre-trial hearings scheduled for Nov. 25 and 26. Trial is slated to begin Jan. 6.

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Judge accuses high-profile law firms of possible effort to ‘gum up the works’

homesafetytechpros — Tue, 22 Oct 2024 20:33:47 +0000

Trials & Litigation

Judge accuses high-profile law firms of possible effort to ‘gum up the works’

By Debra Cassens Weiss

October 22, 2024, 12:49 pm CDT

A federal judge in Boston complained during a status conference Friday that lawyers from three high-profile law firms had filed so many motions and documents that they were failing to keep litigation just, speedy and inexpensive, as required by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. (Image from Shutterstock)

U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani of the District of Massachusetts scolded 11 lawyers involved in litigation over the sale of a Mexican funeral company.

Law360 has the story, summarized by Above the Law.

On the one side are lawyers from Boies Schiller Flexner, who represent Servicios Funerarios GG, a Mexican company alleging that it was misled about the financial condition of a funeral business that it bought.

On the other side are lawyers with Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan and with Ropes & Gray. They represent the Advent International Corp., a U.S. private equity investment company with control of the entities that owned the funeral business before its sale.

After Servicios Funerarios filed the fraud lawsuit, the Advent International Corp. filed counterclaims claiming that it was being extorted.

Talwani said the document-heavy litigation appeared to be “an effort to try to gum up the works.” Law360 published her comments.

“I don’t understand how 11 lawyers can jointly make what we are doing here difficult,” Talwani said. “It is not serving you well—your clients paying your bills—and I do want you to pass this message to your client: In order to try to keep your bills down, it would be helpful to try and figure out whether there are some things that don’t have to be fought about.”

“That might serve your clients,” Talwani said. “It might not serve your pocketbooks, and you can tell your clients that was my comment.”

Talwani spoke after the two sides were unable to agree on a litigation timeline. However, the issues extend beyond the Massachusetts case.

“The litigation has proved complicated,” Law360 reports, “as arrest warrants were filed against Advent personnel in the U.S. and Mexico.”

In addition, a related suit in Delaware chancery court sought to enforce terms of the sale agreement.

Carlos Sires of Boies Schiller Flexner told Law360 that its client “shares the court’s frustration and requested the conference because it wanted to address the delays caused by [the Advent International Corp.’s] objections to the depositions of some of its key employees involved in the [funeral home] transaction.”

Lawyers with Quinn Emanuel and Ropes & Gray did not immediately provide a comment to the ABA Journal in response to its emailed request.

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Biden recalls time he bluffed knowledge of torts case and why he changed his mind about civil-trial work

homesafetytechpros — Sat, 16 Mar 2024 23:44:49 +0000

Careers

Biden recalls time he bluffed knowledge of torts case and why he changed his mind about civil-trial work

By Debra Cassens Weiss

March 14, 2024, 2:34 pm CDT

President Joe Biden waves before boarding Air Force One at the El Paso International Airport in El Paso, Texas, on Jan. 8, 2023, to travel to Mexico City. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/The Associated Press)

President Joe Biden digressed when answering questions last fall about documents stored at his vice presidential residence to remember his tough torts class at the Syracuse University College of Law and the first job that he got after graduation.

Biden was responding in October to questions by then-special counsel Robert K. Hur, who later concluded that Biden shouldn’t be charged with mishandling classified information because jurors would perceive him as a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”

Reuters has the story on Biden’s law school recollection, based on this transcript. Above the Law noted the story.

Biden said he didn’t take law school very seriously. is torts professor, who was “really difficult,” called on Biden to discuss a case that he had never read.

Biden said he nonetheless stood up and spoke for 10 minutes.

“The whole class stood up, started clapping,” Biden said.

The torts professor noted that not a single thing that Biden said was relevant to the case. But he was apparently impressed by Biden’s performance.

“You’ll be a hell of a trial lawyer,” Biden recalled the professor saying.

After law school, Biden took a job with the best-known trial law firm in Delaware handling mostly civil-defense cases. Biden recalled a case involving a “poor kid” who was 23 years old when his jeans caught fire at his worksite. The man had been wearing the wrong pants, and when his jeans caught fire he lost part of his penis and testicles.

Delaware law barred a tort recovery if there was contributory negligence by the plaintiff. Biden was asked to write a motion to dismiss.

He did so, “and son of a b- – – -, it prevailed,” Biden said. “And I looked over at that kid and his wife home with two little kids, and I thought, ‘Son of a b- – – -, I’m in the wrong business. I’m not made for this.’”

He quit the job and became a public defender.

“Trump-appointed US attorney is investigating classified documents found by Biden’s lawyers at office he used”

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Lawyers seek over $288K per hour in attorney fees, payable in Tesla stock, for suit toppling Elon Musk’s compensation

homesafetytechpros — Sat, 09 Mar 2024 02:23:27 +0000

Law Firms

Lawyers seek over $288K per hour in attorney fees, payable in Tesla stock, for suit toppling Elon Musk’s compensation

By Debra Cassens Weiss

March 4, 2024, 1:28 pm CST

The three law firms that successfully sued to overturn SpaceX owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s $55.8 billion Tesla compensation package are seeking attorney fees payable in company stock worth more than $5.6 billion. (Photo by Hannibal Hanschke via the Associated Press)

The lawyers are seeking about 11% of Tesla shares worth more than $51 billion that were freed up as a result of the litigation, according to the brief supporting the fee application. They are also seeking more than $1 million for litigation expenses.

Law360, Reuters, Fortune and the New York Post have coverage of the fee request.

The fee request amounts to more than $288,000 per hour, according to the 127th footnote in the brief.

“These implied hourly rates and lodestar multiples are admittedly unprecedented,” the brief says. “But that is a function of the gargantuan size of the tort underlying this action, and plaintiff’s counsel’s
achievement of an unprecedented, total victory in challenging that tort.”

The three firms seeking the fees are Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann; Friedman Oster & Tejtel; and Andrews & Springer.

The record for a fee award in a shareholder case was $688 million in 2008, which was awarded to lawyers who sued over the collapse of the Enron Corp., according to the news coverage.

Judge Kathaleen McCormick of Delaware’s chancery court had ruled Jan. 30 that Musk’s $56 billion pay package was unfair to shareholders, Reuters previously reported.

The name plaintiff in the case is stockholder Richard Tornetta, who was at one time the drummer in the band Dawn of Correction, according to the New York Post.

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