Better hope he is just there to garner publicity and will have nothing to do with actual strategy.
He wouldn't represent the boy in the trial. he'd pay for someone to do it. HTH
See the final sentence of my post.
If that is the case there is no point in him being involved from anyone’s perspective other than L. Wood himself who is getting some sweet free pub out of it.
Better hope he is just there to garner publicity and will have nothing to do with actual strategy.
He wouldn't represent the boy in the trial. he'd pay for someone to do it. HTH
See the final sentence of my post.
If that is the case there is no point in him being involved from anyone’s perspective other than L. Wood himself who is getting some sweet free pub out of it.
Is his role in the Covington settlement overblown? I wasn't following the attorneys but that appears to be his current claim to fame
Better hope he is just there to garner publicity and will have nothing to do with actual strategy.
He wouldn't represent the boy in the trial. he'd pay for someone to do it. HTH
See the final sentence of my post.
If that is the case there is no point in him being involved from anyone’s perspective other than L. Wood himself who is getting some sweet free pub out of it.
I did and answered you. That was started at the outset when he said he'd defend him.
Jesus Christ. PolitiFarce seems to think no fucking video exists any-fucking-where showing that this fucking kid is a fucking American hero! Total bullshit. Trump's right, and the kid is going to walk.
Better hope he is just there to garner publicity and will have nothing to do with actual strategy.
He wouldn't represent the boy in the trial. he'd pay for someone to do it. HTH
See the final sentence of my post.
If that is the case there is no point in him being involved from anyone’s perspective other than L. Wood himself who is getting some sweet free pub out of it.
Is his role in the Covington settlement overblown? I wasn't following the attorneys but that appears to be his current claim to fame
He originally built his name off a well known defendant in the 90s (Richard Jewell the Atlanta Olympics security guard who found the bomb) and then proceeded to represent numerous public figures more often in the media than in court.
I agree with the analysis of pretty much every civil litigator I’ve seen opine on the issue that the Covington settlement was likely for a low $ value considering the case was in the pre-discovery stage and had barely survived the initial motion to dismiss. There would have been another summary judgment motion after discovery was taken the defendants were under no pressure to settle.
Better hope he is just there to garner publicity and will have nothing to do with actual strategy.
He wouldn't represent the boy in the trial. he'd pay for someone to do it. HTH
See the final sentence of my post.
If that is the case there is no point in him being involved from anyone’s perspective other than L. Wood himself who is getting some sweet free pub out of it.
Is his role in the Covington settlement overblown? I wasn't following the attorneys but that appears to be his current claim to fame
He originally built his name off a well known defendant in the 90s (Richard Jewell the Atlanta Olympics security guard who found the bomb) and then proceeded to represent numerous public figures more often in the media than in court.
I agree with the analysis of pretty much every civil litigator I’ve seen opine on the issue that the Covington settlement was likely for a low $ value considering the case was in the pre-discovery stage and had barely survived the initial motion to dismiss. There would have been another summary judgment motion after discovery was taken the defendants were under no pressure to settle.
Thanks. I just watched the Jewell movie. Interesting
Ah, but it did survive the motion to dismiss. After that, it was all down hill for CNN and the Washington Post. They faced millions in discovery costs. They had lots to hide. The Sandmann was facing a fraction of the discovery costs of the defendant. Pretty easy to ask for all relevant email, hard to dig them up. It would take a small mind to ignore the shitload of truly awful internal emails out there and the depositions would also be embarrassing. The trial would be in Kentucky with a jury that would be sympathetic to the plaintiff against a clearly biased and untruthful defendants. I initially guessed that CNN would settle for $5 million. That's a low value against $250 million but a series of settlements add up.
Ah, but it did survive the motion to dismiss. After that, it was all down hill for CNN and the Washington Post. They faced millions in discovery costs. They had lots to hide. The Sandmann was facing a fraction of the discovery costs of the defendant. Pretty easy to ask for all relevant email, hard to dig them up. It would take a small mind to ignore the shitload of truly awful internal emails out there and the depositions would also be embarrassing. The trial would be in Kentucky with a jury that would be sympathetic to the plaintiff against a clearly biased and untruthful defendants. I initially guessed that CNN would settle for $5 million. That's a low value against $250 million but a series of settlements add up.
No, no, no, no.
First of all to clarify these companies are insured. The decision is made by the commercial carrier.
Second, discovery and motion work costs at most would run into the low six figures not anywhere near millions. We are talking about one specific story and one specific period of time. This isn’t, for example, an environmental tort against a corporation with years of actions and inaction at question. Any documentary evidence that may exist is very limited in time and scope.
Third, Sandman may have had lower costs but he also had more to lose in discovery. He would have to be deposed. Not fun for a teenager and also likely to sink the case completely especially on the issue of damages.
Fourth, regardless of how you feel about the parties involved the theory behind the case was convoluted. Sandmann would have to prove that WaPo knew that Phillips was lying in republishing his statements. Keep in mind Wood just got destroyed at trial in a case where his client was directly accused of pedophilia on multiple occasions and said accusations were made to tens of millions of people. The Sandmann theory of knowingly republishing false statements would be a lot harder to explain to a jury.
Fifth, again, trial was a long way off so not really a significant threat to force settleKent at that point. A renewed summary judgment motion would be made after discovery was completed.
I agree that the likely costs of discovery for the defendants is a good place to start for the likely value of the settlement.
As a side note I found it interesting when Wood freaked out on Twitter about people unconnected to WaPo speculating that the settlement was probably for nuisance value. Me thinks the lady doth protest too much.
Not sure what Wood is up to now since he blocked me on Twitter after that incident but I am pretty sure he didn’t follow through with his baseless threats to sue for breach of confidentiality.
Comments
Here is a primer: https://www.law.com/dailyreportonline/2020/09/02/lin-wood-calls-ex-partners-fee-splitting-lawsuit-a-shakedown-effort/
He managed to lose his last jury trial despite Elon Musk double and tripling down on his client being a “pedo guy” to his millions of followers.
Lin failed to establish the very first element of libel: that the statements in question were referring to his client! Oops.
Afterward he penned an embarrassing capitulation saying Elon told the truth and claimed it was his last jury trial ever: https://www.reddit.com/r/RealTesla/comments/e8kjzw/some_reflections_from_lake_the_verdict_in/
Better hope he is just there to garner publicity and will have nothing to do with actual strategy.
If that is the case there is no point in him being involved from anyone’s perspective other than L. Wood himself who is getting some sweet free pub out of it.
Fact check my fucking ass.
https://politifact.com/factchecks/2020/sep/01/donald-trump/trump-paints-false-picture-kyle-rittenhouse-shooti/#sources
long time Tug reader, first time Tug poster...
I agree with the analysis of pretty much every civil litigator I’ve seen opine on the issue that the Covington settlement was likely for a low $ value considering the case was in the pre-discovery stage and had barely survived the initial motion to dismiss. There would have been another summary judgment motion after discovery was taken the defendants were under no pressure to settle.
First of all to clarify these companies are insured. The decision is made by the commercial carrier.
Second, discovery and motion work costs at most would run into the low six figures not anywhere near millions. We are talking about one specific story and one specific period of time. This isn’t, for example, an environmental tort against a corporation with years of actions and inaction at question. Any documentary evidence that may exist is very limited in time and scope.
Third, Sandman may have had lower costs but he also had more to lose in discovery. He would have to be deposed. Not fun for a teenager and also likely to sink the case completely especially on the issue of damages.
Fourth, regardless of how you feel about the parties involved the theory behind the case was convoluted. Sandmann would have to prove that WaPo knew that Phillips was lying in republishing his statements. Keep in mind Wood just got destroyed at trial in a case where his client was directly accused of pedophilia on multiple occasions and said accusations were made to tens of millions of people. The Sandmann theory of knowingly republishing false statements would be a lot harder to explain to a jury.
Fifth, again, trial was a long way off so not really a significant threat to force settleKent at that point. A renewed summary judgment motion would be made after discovery was completed.
I agree that the likely costs of discovery for the defendants is a good place to start for the likely value of the settlement.
As a side note I found it interesting when Wood freaked out on Twitter about people unconnected to WaPo speculating that the settlement was probably for nuisance value. Me thinks the lady doth protest too much.
Not sure what Wood is up to now since he blocked me on Twitter after that incident but I am pretty sure he didn’t follow through with his baseless threats to sue for breach of confidentiality.