why a federal judge tossed Nick Sandmann's $250M defamation lawsuit against the Washington Post

The Blaze ^ | 07-27-19 | CHRIS ENLOE

[McQ444]

A federal judge in Kentucky tossed Covington Catholic High School student Nick Sandmann's massive defamation lawsuit against the Washington Post on Friday. What did the judge say? U.S. District Judge William Bertelsman said the Post was within its First Amendment rights to publish the subjective opinion of Native American Nathan Phillips, whose account of what happened on the Lincoln Monument fueled outrage against Sandmann and his classmates. "The Court accepts Sandmann's statement that, when he was standing motionless in the confrontation with Philip's his intent was to calm the situation and not to impede or block anyone," Bertelsman said in a 36-page opinion.

[CaptainK]

A Carter appointee.

[fieldmarshaldj]

An 83-year old Carter appointee.

[sport]

He did not dismiss it with prejudice. So it can be amended with the parts the judge objected to corrected and refiled.

[OttawaFreeper]

I recall some liberal judge in Florida tossed George Zimmerman’s lawsuit against NBC over their edited 911 call that was aired on “Dateline”. Would like to see someday that these people get their comeuppance big time.

[sport]

The networks have deep pockets. They are full of cash and bought judges.

[GOPJ]

A Carter appointee.

Thanks for sharing the REAL reason for this abomination...

[Biggirl]

Another reason, possible legal threats from one Mr.Besos,owner of the WP.

[Shadow44]

What a joke this country has become that everything literally depends on courts and whether or not you get lucky that the judge was appointed by the right presidential administration.

[nathanbedford]

We simply do not have enough here to make an intelligent judgment about this ruling.

The court says the newspaper has a First Amendment right to pass along opinions which characterize, perhaps inaccurately, facts.

We do not know what the state of knowledge of the Washington Post was when they published the article. Did the Post know the actual state of the facts from other videos that might have been in their possession? What facts might be imputed to the Washington Post from other sources?

At this stage of the proceedings, it is probable that discovery was not far advanced and therefore there might well have been actual knowledge somewhere in the Washington Post system that would have lead a reasonable person to believe that the account was fictitious. We don't know.

Did the Washington Post simply publish in this article Phelp's version without any independent checking? If so, the court seems to grant it absolute immunity. That alone, it seems to me, should be grounds for appeal. Does not The Post have an affirmative duty if it seeks to profit by publishing to make at least independent inquiry? This court says not. Perhaps this law might be changed?

[blackdog]

Covington Catholic High School students just got a free college degree on our justice system, torts, mass media, and American Government.

[Bob434]

it was dismissed because wapo printed an opinion- the judge ruled that wapo could not be held liable because the indian was allowed to have an opinion about what happened, even if it was wrong-

That basically is the bottom line- so what this means is the msm can hire lackeys to lie about conservatives, wapo can print the lies, and the conservative’s lives can be destroyed and noone can be held liable apparently- Some racket!

[lgjhn23]

As long as the PIAPS and/or the Kenyan Usurper, along with their vile ilk are free to roam and forage the countryside there is NO equal justice under the law.

[SkyDancer]

So it’s okay to print misinformation as 1st. Amend rights according to this judge.

[Army Air Corps]

That cuts both ways.

[KobraKai]

You just described how the Russia hoax worked.

[Bob434]

it should, but we never see stories of conservatives doing this crap to liberals

[Regulator]

“Native American”

Always capitalized.

I’m native American. No hyphen, no ethnic descriptors. None of my ancestors tried to murder white Christian settlers to intimidate them from settling empty land. But he’s the Always Capitalized Native American?

[lgjhn23]

Clean it up based on this judge’s opinion and appeal/re-file it.
Too much at stake not to.

[antidemoncrat]

Bezos -> U.S. District Judge William Bertelsman $$$$$$