Navy veterans $500M defamation lawsuit against Associated Press advances with first hearing

Zachary Young’s high-stakes defamation lawsuit against the Associated Press continues to inch along in Bay County, Florida, as the U.S.Navy veteran seeks to clear his name. Young successfully sued CNN for defamation earlier this year after saying the network smeared him by implying he illegally profited from helping people flee Afghanistan on the “black market” during the Biden administration’s disastrous 2021 military withdrawal. When covering the trial in January, Associated Press media reporter David Bauder wrote that “Young’s business helped smuggle people out of Afghanistan.”Young’s legal team has said that the Associated Press article “went even further than CNN’s falsehoods,” and the veteran is seeking nearly $500 million in a defamation suit against the AP. On Monday, Young’s legal team responded to the AP’s motion to dismiss the suit.

The AP had insisted Young’s complaint is “without merit” and unjustly challenges the outlet’s free speech rights, but the Navy veteran’s legal team believes the motion failed to address “core issues.”“It does not dispute that the term ‘human smuggling’ implies criminal conduct, nor does it offer any valid explanation for its use of that term, even though a court previously ruled that Mr.Young committed no crime.

AP’s own Stylebook defines ‘smuggling’ as illegal,” Young’s attorney, Daniel Lustig, wrote. “Dozens of AP articles reflect that usage.Just days before this filing, AP published a story about a man sentenced to 25 years in prison for ‘smuggling people,’ reinforcing that understanding,” Lustig continued.“Even after receiving notice, AP refused to retract or revise the statement, not even to use a more accurate term such as ‘evacuate’ or ‘rescue.’”Young’s attorney believes the most “notable” part of the AP’s motion to dismiss is that it never denied that “smuggling” refers to a criminal act.“Instead, it argues that th...