Wow, this is incredible.
Teach all of them a lesson.
Todd V. McMurtry, Hemmer DeFrank Wessels, PLLC
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF KENTUCKY
NORTHERN DIVISION
AT COVINGTON
NICHOLAS SANDMANN, by and through his parents and natural
guardians,
TED SANDMANN and JULIE SANDMANN,
Plaintiffs,
v.
WP COMPANY LLC d/b/a THE
WASHINGTON POST,
Defendant.
PLAINTIFF’S COMPLAINT WITH JURY DEMAND
NOW COMES Nicholas Sandmann, by and through his parents and
natural guardians, Ted Sandmann and Julie Sandmann, and by and through his
counsel, states his Complaint against Defendant, WP Company LLC d/b/a The
Washington Post (“the Post”) as follows:
INTRODUCTION
The Post is a major American daily newspaper published in
Washington, D.C. which is credited with inventing the term
"McCarthyism" in an editorial cartoon published in 1950. Depicting
buckets of tar, the cartoon made fun of then United States Senator Joseph
McCarthy's "tarring" tactics of engaging in smear campaigns and
character assassination against citizens whose political views made them
targets of his accusations.
In a span of three (3) days in January of this year
commencing on January 19, the Post engaged in a modern-day form of McCarthyism
by competing with CNN and NBC, among others, to claim leadership of a
mainstream and social media mob of bullies which attacked, vilified, and
threatened Nicholas Sandmann (“Nicholas”), an innocent secondary school child.
The Post wrongfully targeted and bullied Nicholas because he
was the white, Catholic student wearing a red “Make America Great Again”
souvenir cap on a school field trip to the January 18 March for Life in
Washington, D.C. when he was unexpectedly and suddenly confronted by Nathan
Phillips (“Phillips”), a known Native American activist, who beat a drum and
sang loudly within inches of his face (“the January 18 incident”).
Nicholas stood quietly and respectfully for several minutes
after being targeted and bullied by Phillips and Nicholas’ body language
remained non-aggressive and passive throughout the incident.
Nicholas is 16-years of age, is 5’9” in height and weighs
115 pounds.
The school field trip to the Nation’s capital was the first
out-of-state trip Nicholas had ever taken without being with his family.
In targeting and bullying Nicholas by falsely accusing him
of instigating the January 18 incident, the Post conveyed that Nicholas engaged
in acts of racism by “swarming” Phillips, “blocking” his exit away from the
students, and otherwise engaging in racist misconduct.
The Post ignored basic journalist standards because it
wanted to advance its well-known and easily documented, biased agenda against
President Donald J. Trump (“the President”) by impugning individuals perceived
to be supporters of the President.
As a 16-year old secondary school student, Nicholas’
political beliefs are anything but established and entrenched in his young
mind.
Nicholas has zero history of political activism or
aggressiveness and did not exhibit any such conduct even when confronted with
unbridled racist attacks by activist bullies at the National Mall.
The Post’s campaign to target Nicholas in furtherance of its
political agenda was carried out by using its vast financial resources to enter
the bully pulpit by publishing a series of false and defamatory print and
online articles which effectively provided a worldwide megaphone to Phillips
and other anti-Trump individuals and entities to smear a young boy who was in
its view an acceptable casualty in their war against the President.
Unlike the Post’s abuse of the profession of journalism,
Plaintiffs do not bring this lawsuit to use the judicial system to further a
political agenda. This lawsuit is brought against the Post to seek legal
redress for its negligent, reckless, and malicious attacks on Nicholas which
caused permanent damage to his life and reputation.
The Post bullied an innocent child with an absolute
disregard for the pain and destruction its attacks would cause to his life.
The Post proved itself to be a loud and aggressive bully
with a bully pulpit.
In this country, our society is dedicated to the protection
of children regardless of the color of their skin, their religious beliefs, or
the cap they wear.
But the Post did not care about protecting Nicholas. To the
contrary, the Post raced with a reckless disregard of the facts and truth
because in this day and time there is a premium for being the first and loudest
media bully.
The Post wanted to lead the charge against this child
because he was a pawn in its political war against its political adversary – a
war so disconnected and beyond the comprehension of Nicholas that it might as
well have been science fiction.
The Post must be dealt with the same way every bully is
dealt with and that is hold the bully fully accountable for its wrongdoing in a
manner which effectively deters the bully from again bullying other children.
In a civil lawsuit, punishment and deterrence is found in awarding money damages
to the victim and target of the bully.
In order to fully compensate Nicholas for his damages and to
punish, deter, and teach the Post a lesson it will never forget, this action
seeks money damages in excess of Two Hundred and Fifty Million Dollars ($250,000,000.00)
– the amount Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest person, paid in cash for the Post
when his company, Nash Holdings, purchased the newspaper in 2013.
