Federal Judge Dismisses Devin Nunes Aide's Lawsuit Against CNN

[634-5789]

A federal judge the District of Maryland on Wednesday threw out a lawsuit that Rep. Devin Nunes‘s senior aide Derek Harvey filed against CNN, former Rudy Giuliani business associate Lev Parnas, and Parnas’s lawyer Joseph Bondy.

Judge Richard Bennett, a George W. Bush appointee, ruled that the defamation action failed to state a claim against CNN. As to Parnas and Bondy, the judge said the court lacked personal jurisdiction given Maryland state law.

The lawsuit, filed in Maryland’s U.S. District Court, stemmed from a November CNN report that Parnas was prepared to provide Congress with testimony as part of Donald Trump’s first impeachment. Parnas, CNN said, would testify, in effect, that Nunes met with former Ukrainian prosecutor Victor Shokin “to discuss digging up dirt of Joe Biden.”

In his original complaint, Harvey alleged that the defendants falsely accused him of participating in an effort to aid and abet the commission of criminal, unethical, and dishonest conduct. He sought punitive damages and an order prohibiting the defendants from continuing to repeat false claims on the basis that they constituted defamation and false light invasion of privacy. CNN, Bondy, and Parnas all promptly moved to have the suit dismissed.

https://lawandcrime.com/first-amendment/federal-judge-dismisses-devin-nunes-aides-lawsuit-against-cnn/

[Mike Niendorff]

1. 12(b)(6) dismissal (claim against CNN)

"Failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted."

To translate in layman's terms : even if everything the plaintiff alleges can be proven in court, they still do not have a legally valid case.

This is the most basic test any lawsuit must pass before going forward to the discovery phase. And this one failed.

(Ok, there is another even-more-basic test ... jurisdiction. And that's where it failed for the other defendants -- 12(b)(2) dismissal for lack of personal jurisdiction)).

At some point, the courts seriously need to dust off Rule 11 and start imposing sanctions on the wingnut attorneys who keep abusing the system with these frivolous, bad faith filings.


MDN

[Enterstageleft]

2. Well darn Devin, I guess you can Mooooooove to apeal the decision.