If US Navy veteran Zachary Young’s delinquent lawsuit against Associated Press goes to trial, Bay County, Florida “smuggling” could become a new “black market.”
Young successfully sued CNN for honor loss earlier this year, claiming that CNN smeared him by helping people flee Afghanistan during the Biden administration’s military withdrawal in 2021, by helping people escape from Afghanistan.
When covering the trial in January, AP media reporter David Bauder wrote that “Young’s business helped smuggle people from Afghanistan.” Young is currently seeking punitive damages in a defamation lawsuit against the Associated Press for “an article that goes further than CNN’s falsehood,” and on Saturday updated the complaint to include 40 Associated Press articles that use the term “smuggling” to describe criminal conduct.
The navy veteran who proved that CNN had slandered him, suing the Associated Press, says he was misprinted as a “smuggler”
Young filed a honour and loss lawsuit against the Associated Press. (Jessica Kosketh)
Young’s lawyer, Daniel Rustig of Pike & Rustig, filed examples of the AP using the terms “smuggling,” “smuggling,” and “smuggling,” when referring to illegal activities related to false trafficking.
The lawsuit alleges that “AP accused Young of engaging in smuggling criminals,” claims that in dozens of previous articles, the AP uses the term “smuggling” to “explicitly describe criminal conduct, such as human trafficking, drug operations and cross-border crimes.”
The submitted AP headlines include: “The UK leaders have to wake up to the world of the Interpol Conference to intimidate people from smugglers and “Panama arrests 15 people for smuggling Chinese immigrants through Darien Gap,” and “A Florida man from the Center for Fatal Human Smuggling Cases, accusing the Center of Minnesota’s crimes on charges of the crime of indictment in Minnesota. Trailer, “And more.
Young is seeking the same venue for the same lawsuit against CNN: Bay County, Florida and the same AP. The court previously found that Young had done nothing illegal.
The Associated Press, which the report supported since Young’s lawsuit was filed, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the example provided by Lustig.
US News & World Report withdraws an AP article about veteran Zachary Young, but the AP is by the story
Plaintiff Zachary Young claimed that CNN smeared him by implying that he would illegally benefit when helping people escape Afghanistan during the Biden administration’s military withdrawal in 2021. He is currently suing the Associated Press. (CNN/Screenshot)
Lustig said the CNN trial is evidence that news organizations should not automatically benefit from doubt.
“The CNN Trial showed exactly how media companies operate under pressure and how far they go to avoid responsibility when they know they have announced something false. The harm is even more serious when their target is a veteran who has served in honor of the country.
“We trust Bay County ju apprentices to see the facts,” Lustig continued. “Like they did before.”
Young believes that the AP is acting with actual malicious intent and seeking “damages exceeding $50,000.00, excluding interest, costs and attorney’s fees” and punitive damages.
The ju apprentices discovered that CNN committed a honour and damages against a Navy veteran, and that the settlement reached punitive damages.
Last week, US News & World Report withdrew the reissue of the AP report, but the AP continued to support it.
“The Associated Press was a de facto accurate report on the discovery of a ju verdict in favor of Zachary Young. We will vehemently defend the report on this frivolous lawsuit,” an Associated Press spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
Young’s team continues to put pressure on the Associated Press, filing another amendment on Monday to include a news organization calling the lawsuit “frivolous” in media outlets.
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The AP did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In January, six ju umpires determined Young was owing $1 million in loss revenue, personal damages such as pain and suffering, and said CNN was guaranteed punitive damages. A settlement was reached before punitive damages were decided by the ju apprentice.
