ATLANTA — A famed Atlanta-based lawyer has announced he's seeking no less than $275 million from an international media company - claiming they defamed his teenage client on their massive platform.
The company is Atlanta's own CNN and the attorney taking them to court is L. Lin Wood who only recently announced a lawsuit against the Washington Post for another huge sum of money - and the same client.
Nick Sandmann, a teen on a field trip with his high school in Kentucky, became the unwitting focus of international attention when a confrontation between him and a Native American protester on the Washington Mall went viral and made its way to media outlets nationwide.
Numerous stories from outlets like CNN and the Washington Post claimed that Sandmann had confronted the protester, Nathan Phillips, and led his classmates in a chant of "Build the wall."
But as video from the very same incident later showed, Sandmann could have been the target rather than the aggressor.
In the newly released lawsuit, Sandmann's attorney lays out in detail allegations that the teen was the victim of CNN's scorn because he was wearing a souvenir hat emblazoned with Donald Trump's campaign slogan: "Make America Great Again."
The lawsuit claims that CNN, in "its push to attack the president and those who support him," ran a story without checking facts and defamed a child.
"Contrary to its 'facts first' public relations ploy, CNN ignored the facts and put its anti-Trump agenda first in waging a 7-day media campaign of false, vicious attacks against Nicholas," the lawsuit reads.
The suit goes on to claim at least four defamatory television broadcasts and nine defamatory online articles accused Sandmann and his classmates of "engaging in racist conduct by instigating a threatening confrontation with several African American men" before also confronting Phillips, the Native American protester.
However, the suit claims that the men in question were actually members of the Black Hebrew Israelites, an organization listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which began "verbally assaulting and taunting" the group with "threats of physical violence and vitriolic statements.
"CNN falsely asserted that Nicholas and his CovCath classmates were in a racis[t] 'mob mentality' and 'looked like they were going to lynch' the Black Hebrew Israelites who were merely 'preaching about the Bible nearby'," the lawsuit said.
"The CNN accusations are totally and unequivocally false and CNN would have known them to be untrue had it undertaken any reasonable efforts to verify their accuracy before publication of its false and defamatory accusations," it goes on to say.
Across 58 pages, the lawsuit details what Sandmann claims actually happened and each case of alleged defamation made by CNN across multiple media platforms.
In closing, the lawsuit calls for "substantial compensatory damages" of at least $75 million and punitive damages of at least $200 million to be paid out by CNN along with attorney fees.
Attorney Wood is no stranger to seeking hefty settlements. He represented JonBenet Ramsey's brother, Burke, in a $750 million defamation suit against CBS. The case was settled in January for an undisclosed amount. He also represented Richard Jewell - the one-time accused Atlanta Olympics bomber.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE:
- Native American elder in viral video offers to meet with students, community, church leaders
- MAGA hat-wearing student and Native American elder explain viral video
- Kentucky bill that would criminalize minor’s personal information being posted online heads to full Senate
- Kentucky teen at center of viral encounter sues over stories
- Covington teen from Lincoln Memorial protest sues Washington Post for $250 million