Navy veteran fights Associated Press over ‘smuggling’ in defamation suit

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. 

NAVY VETERAN SEEKS NEARLY $500 MILLION IN DEFAMATION LAWSUIT AGAINST ASSOCIATED PRESS

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.’”

NAVY VETERAN WHO PROVED CNN DEFAMED HIM SUES ASSOCIATED PRESS, SAYS HE WAS FALSELY PAINTED AS ‘SMUGGLER’

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 the statement, in context, was not defamatory. That is not a defense, it is a concession. Under Florida law, if a statement is reasonably capable of a defamatory meaning, it is a question for the jury, not one to be resolved on a motion to dismiss. AP’s attempt to invoke the anti-SLAPP statute to shield such a statement is both legally unsupported and fundamentally flawed,” Lustig wrote. 

Young’s legal team has also filed a motion to amend the complaint to include punitive damages. The 242-page filing suggested this case “exemplifies the very scenario in which punitive damages are warranted to punish and deter such consciously indifferent conduct by a media organization.” 

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On Tuesday, each side appeared for the first hearing in front of 14th Judicial Circuit Court Judge William S. Henry, who also presided over the CNN trial. The Case Management Conference, conducted over Zoom, was largely procedural and offered a chance for each party to explain why respective motions should be heard. 

Judge Henry scheduled the next hearing for July 3. He is expected to rule on both the AP’s motion to dismiss and Young’s amended complaint.

The AP has referred to the lawsuit as “frivolous” in past statements to the press.