Judge reinstates part of lawsuit filed by Covington student against Washington Post

[Valin]

The Hill

Justin Wise

10/28/19

A federal judge has reinstated part of a lawsuit against The Washington Post alleging that the newspaper defamed a Kentucky teen in its coverage of an encounter between high school students and a Native American activist.

Judge William O. Bertelsman on Monday ruled that the case could enter the discovery phase and that a small part of the initial lawsuit could proceed. The decision came just months after Bertelsman dismissed the case on grounds that The Post's reporting on the matter was protected by the First Amendment. 

The family of Nicholas Sandmann, a Covington Catholic High School student, sued The Post for $250 million in damages in February over its coverage of the teen and his classmates' encounter with a Native American elder in Washington, D.C. The suit accused the newspaper of having "targeted and bullied" Sandmann and of publishing a "a series of false and defamatory print and online articles" about the incident.

(Snip)

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