CNN is reaching into its deep pockets to prepare for a looming $1billion defamation trial it doggedly tried to avoid.
Court documents exclusively obtained by revealed the network hired two new defense lawyers – one of whom previously fought for Amber Heard and against Sarah Palin – for the uphill legal battle against Navy veteran Zachary Young.
Attorneys David Axelrod and Joseph Bailey join the team tasked with proving CNN was justified in its reporting about Young during a 2021 episode of The Lead With Jake Tapper.
Young’s lawsuit argued the report, which covered America’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, falsely portrayed him as a profiteer of war crimes by suggesting he charged “exorbitant fees” on the “black market” when he worked to help desperate Afghans flee the country.
The network’s legal team made a series of unsuccessful attempts at having the suit tossed before failing to reach a settlement deal with Young — leaving the defense with no choice but to prepare for the looming civil trial, set to begin in January.
This week, CNN’s lead counsel Deanna Shullman moved for the new additions to the defense from Ballard Spahr LLP, a Pennsylvania-based firm known for litigating other headline-grabbing defamation cases.
Heard hired Axelrod to join her legal team in 2022 as she appealed the $10million verdict in her defamation battle with ex-husband Johnny Depp.
The embattled pair ultimately reached a settlement deal in which Heard agreed to pay Depp $1million of the original judgment, effectively closing the case.
Axelrod also “successfully defended The New York Times in a defamation suit brought by Sarah Palin” in 2017, as noted on Ballard Spahr’s website.
The former Alaska governor lost the case in 2022, but appealed the decision and recently won her bid for a new trial, Reuters reported.
Bailey, according to Ballard Spahr, “practices complex commercial litigation, with experience in cases involving breach of contract, trade secret misappropriation, consumer protection, antitrust, securities, employment law, and insurance law”.
He has “conducted numerous internal investigations regarding allegations of employee misconduct,” per the firm’s site.
Axelrod and Bailey also join their colleague from Ballard Spahr, Charles Tobin, on CNN’s case in Bay County, Florida.
Tobin represented CNN when it appealed a ruling allowing Young to subpoena the network’s parent company, Warner Bros., to turn over sensitive financial records relevant to the case. They lost the appeal, paving the way for Young to seek punitive damages.
After that loss came a series of additional blows for the network, which was ordered to hand over its journalistic conduct and social media guidelines as well as financial documents.
Furthermore, their efforts to keep Jake Tapper from being deposed fell short when a judge ordered him to sit for testimony in the case. Gardner reported the anchor would “likely have to disclose his salary and contract negotiations.”
Young’s lead counsel, Vel Freedman, told after unsuccessful settlement talks with CNN earlier this month: “Mr. Young is looking forward to trial this January and looks forward to presenting his case to a jury of his peers.”
The plaintiff’s lawyers have predicted they could win up to a billion dollars if the court agrees “CNN published defamatory statements that harmed Mr. Young, ruined his reputation, and destroyed his business.”
CNN has continued to stand by its controversial report and claimed it did not intend to cause any harm.
The civil jury trial is scheduled to begin on January 6, 2025.
