Right or wrong, CFB should prepare his anus and his wallet. Defending a defamation suit is no joke. Naming names -- minors' names -- under investigation, but not charged, is playing with fire. Plaintiff's attorneys have ways of discovering alt identities.
Buckle up. Either way, it will be interesting.
(not saying the kids will win. Don't twist.)
Proving a defamation suit is an incredibly high bar legally, I think that’s one of the most common misconceptions people have about the law. I’m not a lawyer, but to me this seems to be nowhere near reaching the standard of defamation. And if you sue and lose, which is the most likely thing in a defamation case by a mile, you often have to pay the attorneys fees (although I’m not sure this is true for Washington and I’m too lazy to look it up).
Defamation suits are one of the biggest wastes of time. You have to prove negligence, harm, and that the statement was maliciously false.
Also, anytime you file suit on someone it should be because they have assets or insurance worth your time. Suing an 18 year old running a parody twitter account is a waste of time unless you like burning money for no reason.
Thought the malice part only applies to public figures? Unless you can make the argument prominent high school athletes are public figures (hmm). Moot point though because there is no clear disregard for the truth in publishing/referencing a police report, right? In fact, the opposite.
Studying for the Bar (or should be), but instead am relying on a teen boi recruiting site for legal tidbits. I know I’ll pass..
If you KNEW it was false and published it resulting in damages it would most likely be defamation. I’ve never seen a defamation suit IRL even while clerking. It’s so rare professors don’t even want to waste time talking about it. And a 4-star recruit definitely qualifies as a public figure, which as you know raises the threshold
Quoting published stories, which quote official police investigations, is pretty safe.
When I was a kid, if there was group sex you either partook or hopped out the fucking car, not pull your phone out. What a weird voyeur/cuck/creep move.
Why did King5 make an editor's note clarifying that one random kid wasnt involved. That seems...odd
It would appear he got in touch with his lawyers
But there was no mention of him in any actual news reports. I don't think any names were mentioned. It seems odd that you would clarify that a certain student you never explicitly mentioned was not involved in an incident. The only explanation I see is that this is driven by pure narcissism like, "my son is a local celebrity. You need to run an extra story to make sure everyone knows he wasnt involved."
There are two layers. Those who were there at the event, and those who circulated or viewed the video. If the police seized cell phones to check the circulation they may also be privy to text conversations regarding the event.
Some of these convos could be documented? Who knows. Maybe some of these kids lied about or attempted to stonewall investigators, helping a coverrup.
Anyway, there are many ways people could end up looking bad in relation to this case.
Why did King5 make an editor's note clarifying that one random kid wasnt involved. That seems...odd
It would appear he got in touch with his lawyers
But there was no mention of him in any actual news reports. I don't think any names were mentioned. It seems odd that you would clarify that a certain student you never explicitly mentioned was not involved in an incident. The only explanation I see is that this is driven by pure narcissism like, "my son is a local celebrity. You need to run an extra story to make sure everyone knows he wasnt involved."
Pure narcissism is definitely on the table here.
I’m sure Gee’s Involved teammates appreciate him social (media) distancing himself from them so quickly and forcefully.
King 5 is burying them right now on TV. This is only getting started.
I don’t think King 5 is going to be the arbiter of truth on this. There is a reason they got all the documents from the PD a year and a half ago and other media outlets were unable to get anything until a lawsuit against the PD had formed and the Palo Alto newspaper reported about the abnormal behavior between King 5, the school, the kids’ lawyers and the PD.
For King 5 to come out with this all today, with a segment based predominately on direct interviews with the PD who investigated this seems super fishy.
The lawsuit with Seattle Times vs the county PD is going to be the main driver of how big this case gets and how much truth about what happened with the investigation ultimately gets shared.
Comments
Quoting published stories, which quote official police investigations, is pretty safe.
I never blame the kids for choosing a group sex education.
Something really weird about exonerating one and only one individual.
And the wording is funny too. The police reports explicitly state Scott wasn’t involved? That seems extremely unlikely.
Some of these convos could be documented? Who knows. Maybe some of these kids lied about or attempted to stonewall investigators, helping a coverrup.
Anyway, there are many ways people could end up looking bad in relation to this case.
I’m sure Gee’s Involved teammates appreciate him social (media) distancing himself from them so quickly and forcefully.
For King 5 to come out with this all today, with a segment based predominately on direct interviews with the PD who investigated this seems super fishy.
The lawsuit with Seattle Times vs the county PD is going to be the main driver of how big this case gets and how much truth about what happened with the investigation ultimately gets shared.