The $1 billion defamation suit against CNN continued to chug along in the background as the presidential election and world events take center stage. But on Tuesday, Florida 14th Circuit judge William Scott Henry cleared the way for Plaintiff and U.S. Navy veteran Zachary Young to use legal force to compel CNN to turn over financial documents and to subpoena their parent company Warner Bros. Discovery, all part of financial discovery to determine punitive damages.
In an order obtained by NewsBusters, CNN’s objections to turning over certain documents, Judge Henry ruled that Young is entitled to see documents dating back to January 1, 2021, the year CNN allegedly defamed him in their report about getting people out of Afghanistan after the U.S. withdrawal.
“Plaintiffs’ financial discovery requests shall be limited to the time period from September 2021 to the present, except as to documents that can only be produced on a yearly basis, in which case the applicable time period will be from January 1, 2021 to the present,” he wrote.
The Judge also told CNN that their corporate representative should be prepared to answer probing questions in an upcoming deposition regarding financial discovery:
The Corporative Representative shall be prepared to answer questions relating to CNN, Inc.’s relationship to any parent or subsidiary company and how those relationships impact the financial resources of CNN, Inc. and CNN Worldwide. But, the Corporate Representative is not otherwise required to answer questions relating to the financial resources of any parent or subsidiary of CNN, Inc. to the extent it does not concern monetary streams into or out of CNN, Inc. or CNN Worldwide within the corporate structure.
The path was also cleared for CNN’s parent company Warner Bros. Discovery to be subpoenaed for documents related to CNN’s finances:
CNN, Inc.’s Amended Objections to Plaintiffs’ Notice of Intent to Serve Subpoena on Warner Bros. Discovery are sustained in part and overruled in part. Plaintiffs may serve a subpoena on Warner Bros. Discovery in the form attached hereto as Exhibit A.
According to an accompanying documents request put together by Young’s legal team at Freedman Normand Friedland LLP, the files requested were extremely thorough:
1. Any documents created in whole or in substantial part (over 50%) by CNN, Inc. or CNN Worldwide containing internal modeling or predictions of future revenues or profits for CNN, Inc. or CNN Worldwide.
2. Any documents created in whole or in substantial part (over 50%) by CNN, Inc. or CNN Worldwide containing financial reports, analyses, or valuations of CNN, Inc. or CNN Worldwide including any analyses or valuations prepared in connection with any potential merger, acquisition, or sale of CNN, Inc. or CNN Worldwide.
3. Documents sufficient to show the details of any transactions, loans, and payments (including dividends), between You and CNN, Inc. or CNN Worldwide.
4. Documents sufficient to show any and all advertising expenditures, research and development expenditures, and capital expenditures by CNN, Inc. or CNN Worldwide.
5. To the extent not already produced, documents sufficient to show any lines of credit or credit facilities extended or established specifically for CNN, Inc. or CNN Worldwide.
6. Any indemnity agreements of any kind between You and CNN, Inc., or between You and any other entity or entities concerning CNN, Inc., relating or applying to the claims asserted in the instant action.
As NewsBusters previously reported, the subpoenaing of Warner Bros. Discovery was likely coming following a hearing on September 5, where Judge Henry voiced verbal approval of seeking documents from CNN’s parent company.
His logic was sound, noting that it was a way of double checking to see if what CNN was producing while being sued was the same as what they were disclosing to corporate to prove financial sustainability. He equated it to double checking medical records in a car accident suit:
In a car accident case, the defense does a RFP to the plaintiff saying, ‘send me all your medical records,’ but then, at the same time, there's a notice of production and subpoenas all the medical providers and gets their records not only from the accident but predating it or whatever. And it's just to make sure that what's being produced on one side is the same as what the doctor actually has in their office.
In the same September hearing, Judge Henry also approved that Young was also allowed to see the last three years of CNN's defamation settlements. These are important because punitive damages are meant to cause enough pain to deter or prevent an entity from repeating the offensive behavior. So, if what they paid in settlements wasn’t enough to correct their behavior, a jury could take that into consideration in setting a price to punish them.
