As noted yesterday the legal team for Nick Sandmann has sent a letter informing some 50 high profile individuals and media companies/operations of the need to preserve “information” relevant to the pursuit of potential litigation against them. We’ve got the full list.
It includes a US Senator, Member of Congress, Clergy, and National News and Entertainment outlets. Websites, Newspapers, along with a few liberal loud-mouths. All of whom could be subject to libel laws in the state of Kentucky.
A fact that could prove problematic for those on the list. Nick Sandmann is not a public figure, and the Bluegrass state has a much lower bar when the falsehood is directed at a minor.
While there’s generally a high bar for libel lawsuits in the United States, attorney Robert Barnes, who’s representing some of the students from Covington, previously told Fox News there’s a “unique exception” in this case.
“When there is a defamation and libel of private citizens, particularly minors, then the legal standard goes way down,” Barnes said.
“So you no longer have to prove actual malice or malevolent intent. All you have to prove is that a false statement was made — or in Kentucky, the law is even broader, ‘an unflattering impression is given and a person’s impression in a false light’ — and otherwise … that it just be negligent to do so.”
As CT observes, that could prove to be an expensive lesson for media outlets that rushed to get a story out based wholly on their bias.
And that is entirely the point.
I got a Letter
A Letter does not guarantee a suit but establishes the legal framework for the protection of evidence and time to lawyer up. I expect some quiet settlements, but a few high-profile court cases would make for great television.
These tactics are at the core of the Mobs not Jobs crowd and their terror campaign to intimidate and silence any speech or association to which they object. The more visible that Leftist-Jihad the better informed the populace of what lay in store for them should they dare to venture outside the ideological prison of the Democrat Party Plantation.
The Washington Post
The New York Times
Cable News Network, Inc. (CNN)
The Guardian
National Public Radio
TMZ
Atlantic Media Inc.
Capitol Hill Publishing Corp.
Diocese of Covington
Diocese of Lexington
Archdiocese of Louisville
Diocese of Baltimore
Ana Cabrera
Sara Sidner
Erin Burnett
S.E. Cupp
Elliot C. McLaughlin
Amanda Watts
Emanuella Grinberg
Michelle Boorstein
Cleve R. Wootson Jr.
Antonio Olivo
Joe Heim
Michael E. Miller
Eli Rosenberg
Isaac Stanley-Becker
Kristine Phillips
Sarah Mervosh
Emily S. Rueb
Maggie Haberman
David Brooks
Shannon Doyne
Kurt Eichenwald
Andrea Mitchell
Savannah Guthrie
Joy Reid
Chuck Todd
Noah Berlatsky
Elisha Fieldstadt
Eun Kyung Kim
HBO
Bill Maher
Warner Media
Conde Nast
GQ
Heavy.com
The Hill
The Atlantic
Bustle.com
Ilhan Omar
Elizabeth Warren
Kathy Griffin
Alyssa Milano
Jim Carrey
