Washington Post files motion to dismiss Covington Catholic suit

The Washington Post has filed a motion to dismiss the defamation lawsuit brought by Nick Sandmann, the Covington Catholic High School student who was at the center of a viral confrontation with a Native American elder earlier this year.

In a filing Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Covington, Ky., the newspaper said the stories cited in Sandmann’s lawsuit “may not have been flattering” portraits, “but they do not give rise to a defamation claim by Sandmann,” the Post reported.

{mosads}“Indeed, the Post’s overall coverage — including the articles that the Complaint fails to mention — was not only accurate; it was ultimately favorable to him,” the motion reads.

The Post also says that it was “neither false nor defamatory” for the newspaper “to report the comments of eyewitnesses, including the only participants who were speaking publicly about the matter on the day that videos of the event went viral on the internet.”

Sandmann sued the Post in February for $250 million, arguing that the newspaper “targeted and bullied” him and published “a series of false and defamatory print and online articles.”

Sandmann was in Washington with classmates for the March for Life and came into contact with Nathan Phillips, a Native American elder who was there for the Indigenous People’s March. Sandmann, who was wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat, could be seen standing close to Phillips and smiling in a video that went viral on social media. 

Sandmann also sued CNN for its coverage of the confrontation.

Sandmann’s attorneys did not immediately return a request for comment.