CNN hires Amber Heard’s lawyer in billion-dollar defamation battle
Attorneys David Axelrod and Joseph Bailey join the team tasked with proving that CNN was justified in its coverage of Young during a 2021 episode of Starring Jake Tapper.
Young’s lawsuit argued that the report, which covered America’s failed withdrawal from Afghanistan, wrongly portrayed him as a war crimes profiteer by suggesting he charged “exorbitant fees” on the “black market” when he helped desperate Afghans to flee the country.
The network’s legal team turned it into a series failed attempts by having the suit thrown before it failed to reach it a settlement agreement with Young – leaving the defense no choice but to prepare for the looming civil trial, set to begin in January.
This week, CNN’s lead attorney, Deanna Shullman, filed for the new defense additions from Ballard Spahr LLP, a Pennsylvania-based firm known for litigating other high-profile defamation cases.
Heard hired Axelrod to join her legal team in 2022 as she appealed the $10 million verdict in her case. defamation battle with ex-husband Johnny Depp.
The embattled pair finally reached a settlement deal in which Heard agreed to pay Depp $1 million of the original judgment, effectively closing the case.
Axelrod also defended “successfully The New York Times in a defamation lawsuit brought by Sarah Palin” in 2017, as noted on Ballard Spahr website.
The former governor of Alaska lost the case in 2022, but appealed the decision and recently won her bid for a new trial. Reuters reported.
According to Ballard Spahr, “Bailey practices complex commercial litigation, with experience in matters involving breach of contract, trade secret misappropriation, consumer protection, antitrust, securities law, employment law and insurance law.”
He has conducted “numerous internal investigations into allegations of employee misconduct,” according to the company’s site.
Axelrod and Bailey also join their colleague from Ballard Spahr, Charles Tobin, on CNN’s case in Bay County, Florida.
Tobin represented CNN when it appealed a ruling that allowed Young to subpoena the network’s parent company, Warner Bros., to turn over sensitive financial data relevant to the case. They lost the appeal, paving the way for Young to sue for damages.
That loss was followed by a series of additional blows for the network, which was ordered to turn over its journalistic conduct social media guidelines as well as financial documents.
The plaintiff’s lawyers have predicted they could win up to a billion dollars if the court agrees that “CNN published defamatory statements that harmed Mr. Young, ruined his reputation and destroyed his business.”
CNN has continued to do that standby its controversial report, claiming it did not intend to cause any harm.
The civil jury trial will begin on January 6, 2025.
Do you have a tip? Send it to us! E-mail RadarOnline.com bee tips@radaronline.com.
