Mediation talks between CNN and Navy veteran Zachary Young broke down last Tuesday as an undisclosed settlement offer was rejected in the $1 billion defamation lawsuit against the Cable News Network, according to a filing exclusively obtained by NewsBusters. Essentially guaranteeing the case will go to trial in January 2025.
“The Mediator files his report to the Court and advises that a mediation conference was held on September 11, 2024, at which the parties and attorneys of record appeared in person. The Court is further advised that the parties were unable to reach any agreement and an impasse was declared,” the mediation report read.
While the amount offered to make the lawsuit go away was not disclosed, it would have needed to be fairly substantial to negate the allure of a possible $1 billion (possibly more) between compensatory, emotional, and punitive damages.
But this result was already known months ago to those who read NewsBusters.
When asked about the possibility of a settlement back in June, Young’s lead counsel Vel Freedman of Freedman Normand Friedland LLP told NewsBusters it was “so far off the table.” He also said there was “zero chance this case gets stopped before trial” and that the goal was to “take CNN to task.”
As NewsBusters previously reported, CNN had asked the court to force Young to fly to Florida from his home in Austria so they could beg for a settlement.
The filing at the time made it abundantly clear that CNN was trying to get Young in a room so they could try to get a settlement worked out and have the defamation case go away (bold added to highlight):
While Plaintiffs complain that in person attendance is not the “optimal ambiance for settlement talks,” the rules of this Court have already decided that in person attendance is the optimal ambiance for settlement talks by making that the default rule. Moreover, it’s hard to imagine how an ambiance in which Young sits at his computer thousands of miles and several time zones away is more optimal for settlement talks than in person, engaged, and in the same location. Rather, by asserting that discussing settlement in person is not optimal, the Motion signals that Plaintiffs do not wish to create an optimal ambiance for mediation because they do not intend to engage in good faith discussions and would rather simply check the box by literally phoning it in.
The order for Young’s in-person appearance at mediation was issued back in August. As NewsBusters previously reported, this was the likely outcome since CNN successfully argued for it once before.
Forcing Young to fly back to the U.S. likely didn’t help them in their appeal. According to filings, Young suffers from pain in his legs when he sits for a long time.
