Navy veteran who beat CNN in court resumes fight to clear name, files lawsuit against U.S. News & World Report

FIRST ON FOX -- U S Navy veteran Zachary Young who successfully sued CNN for defamation earlier this year filed a lawsuit against U S News World Description on Wednesday as he continues to fight to clear his name In January a Florida jury revealed that CNN defamed Young by implying he illegally profited when helping people flee Afghanistan on the black area during the Biden administration's military withdrawal from the country in Young was awarded million in lost earnings million in personal damages such as pain and suffering and the jury determined that punitive damages are also warranted against CNN Young who has since sued the Associated Press and Puck over coverage of the CNN trial filed his latest lawsuit against U S News World Review The dust-up started in January when AP media reporter David Bauder wrote that Young s business helped smuggle people out of Afghanistan when covering the CNN trial Bauder s statement is at the center of Young s separate lawsuit against the AP and U S News World Description republished the story which is common practice for news outlets before eventually retracting it U S NEWS WORLD ANALYSIS RETRACTS AP ARTICLE ABOUT VETERAN ZACHARY YOUNG BUT AP STANDS BY THE STORYIn a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Bay County Florida which has been obtained by Fox News Digital Young s lawyer Daniel Lustig wrote that U S News World Summary s retraction didn t go far enough and his client gave the outlet a chance to correct the mistake before a lawsuit was filed We gave U S News every opportunity to do the right thing to correct what was clearly false to make it right by correcting and acknowledging what smuggling means They had already issued a retraction but it didn t go far enough It was not a full retraction and it was not a fair one Words matter The word they used meant something serious and they knew it Lustig wrote Once Young objected to the AP accusing him of smuggling people U S News World Statement removed its pickup of the story and chalked it up to a feasible misunderstanding NAVY VETERAN WHO PROVED CNN DEFAMED HIM SUES ASSOCIATED PRESS SAYS HE WAS FALSELY PAINTED AS SMUGGLER RETRACTION U S News World Review has removed the article previously available at this URL that had been published on January entitled Florida Jury Says CNN Defamed Navy Veteran in Story About Endangered Afghans The article was shared and written by the Associated Press AP As an AP subscriber U S News regularly republishes multiple AP articles on a daily basis U S News World Document wrote on the page where the AP review used to exist The AP article informed that the jury ascertained that a CNN record on Mr Young had falsely implied he had engaged in illegal conduct U S News World Description continued The AP article also stated that Young's business helped smuggle people out of Afghanistan Mr Young subsequently contacted U S News and objected to the word smuggle as accusing him of engaging in criminal activity In republishing the article U S News had no intention to suggest that Mr Young s actions were unlawful Nevertheless to avoid any workable misunderstanding U S News has removed and retracts the AP article The retraction did not sit right with Young We didn t rush to court we were forced by a refusal from U S News to take responsibility and their decision to not tell the truth The media has a profound responsibility to the constituents and if they can t be trusted to acknowledge what words mean and the damage they can cause we will continue holding them accountable in court That is the only way If they don t want to take responsibility it will be up to the people of Florida to keep them honest Lustig notified Fox News Digital U S News World Description did not without delay respond to a request for comment JURY FINDS CNN COMMITTED DEFAMATION AGAINST NAVY VETERAN SETTLEMENT REACHED ON PUNITIVE DAMAGESIn the court filing Young s attorney reported it s categorically false to say that Young smuggled anyone and noted that human smuggling is a felony under U S law and courts ruled he did nothing illegal during his Afghanistan evacuation effort The AP has previously defended the reporting and did not at once respond to a request for comment regarding the lawsuit against U S News World Overview AP s story was a factual and accurate account on the jury verdict finding in Zachary Young s favor an AP spokesperson previously explained Young is seeking compensatory and other damages and will likely seek to amend the lawsuit to include punitive damages at a later date