PANAMA CITY, Florida – US Navy veteran Zachary Young is celebrating the “vindication” he received after a jury found CNN defamed him, concluding an intense two-week legal battle.
“I’m glad it’s over,” Young said Fox News Digital in an interview. “I feel very, very, very good.”
After more than eight hours of deliberations, the six-person jury ruled that Young should be awarded $4 million for lost earnings, $1 million for personal damages such as pain and suffering and said damages- Punitive interests were justified against CNN. But as the second phase of the trial was underway, lawyers for Young and CNN said Judge William S. Henry of the 14th Judicial Circuit Court they had reached a settlement.
“It’s been a long three years, and to get the result we wanted, which was a public vindication, is an incredible feeling. And I’m glad it’s over, and we don’t have to spend more years and no more time arguing about the meaning of a word,” Young said.
JURY FINDS CNN COMMITTED DEFAMATION AGAINST NAVY VETERAN, AGREED SETTLEMENT ON PUNITIVE DAMAGES
U.S. Navy veteran Zachary Young spoke with Fox News Digital following his defamation victory against CNN. (Joseph A. Wulfsohn/Fox News Digital)
The settlement amount was not disclosed, but it came after an expert witness suggested that $150 million was a reasonable sum to punish CNN.
After years of legal battle with CNN, Young told Fox News Digital that he has “no animosity” toward the network.
“I think it’s a good result for both of us,” Young said. “I’m able to move on with my life now, and I hadn’t even been able to imagine what that would look like or feel like for a very long time. I still kind of wonder what it would look like when the dust settles. But in terms of animosity towards CNN, I don’t have any at all.
“I hope they learn something from this experience,” he continued. “I hope they take this as an opportunity to look in the mirror and realize that, you know, there’s room for change and improvement, and if that’s the outcome it gets on CNN and maybe others in the media can see it as something positive too.”
CNN DEFAMATION LAWSUIT: FINAL ARGUMENTS MADE AS JURY BEGINS TO DELIBERATE LAWSUIT AGAINST NETWORK
CNN settled its defamation case against Young after a jury found the network defamed him. (John Greim/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Vel Freedman, Young’s lead lawyer in the defamation suit against CNN, also touted the legal victory.
“We were able to clear Zak’s name, get a verdict, and then resolve the matter so he could avoid lengthy appeals and move on with his life,” Freedman told Fox News Digital. “So as a lawyer, that’s exactly what you want to do.”
In a statement to Fox News Digital, a CNN spokesperson said: “We remain proud of our journalists and are 100% committed to strong, fearless and impartial reporting on CNN, although we will shoot well sure all the useful lessons we can learn from it. this matter.”
Young accused CNN of defaming him after it aired a graphic linking him to “black markets” during the segment that first aired on “The Lead with Jake Tapper.” (CNN/Screenshot)
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Young accused CNN of defaming him by implying that it had illegally profited from helping people fleeing Afghanistan on the “black market” during the war. The Biden administration military withdrawal from the country in 2021. Young believed CNN “destroyed his reputation and business” by calling him an illegal profiteer who exploited “desperate Afghans” during the November 2021 segment.
Young’s legal team obtained damning internal messages from CNN through findings repeatedly showing staff members expressing overt hostility toward the Navy veteran. Among those presented to the jury was one who called him a “scumbag” and an “asshole”, another saying he had a “face that could be punched”.
It was also revealed that Alex Marquardtthe CNN correspondent who led the on-air report told a colleague “we’re going to nail this Zachary Young mf— uh”, a message often cited throughout the trial.
Fox News’ Brian Flood and Annie McCuen contributed to this report.
