A federal appeals court dealt a major slapdown to former Republican Congressman Devin Nunes, refusing to revive his $435 million defamation lawsuit against CNN and dismissing the the suit with prejudice.
According to Reuters:
In a 2-1 decision on Thursday, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said Nunes failed to seek a correction fast enough, or show he deserved “special damages” for economic loss.
Circuit Judge William Nardini said the trial judge “did not err” in finding that Nunes did not comply with applicable California law governing retractions, and thus his $435 million lawsuit should be dismissed with prejudice.
Nunes filed the lawsuit in response to an article which stated that Lev Parnas, a former associate of Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani would testify under oath to Congress that the California congressman met with a former Ukrainian prosecutor in 2018 for the purpose of “digging up dirt” on Joe Biden.
CNN drew Nunes’ ire due to a report on the network:
The former Republican congressman also objected to a broadcast of CNN’s “Cuomo Prime Time,” where the reporter and host Chris Cuomo discussed his alleged role in “looking for dirt” on Biden and his son Hunter.
Nunes denied the accusations, said his reputation was damaged, and branded CNN “the mother of fake news.”
Ironically, all three of the judges on the Manhattan appeals court were appointed by Trump during his failed term as president.
Nunes is known for being extremely litigious, but he never wins, which makes you wonder why he wastes so much money taking losing issues to court in the first place.
Earlier this month, an appeals court refused to revive a $250 million lawsuit Nunes filed against the Washington Post, ruling he had “failed to plausibly allege a claim of defamation.”
Nunes resigned from Congress on January 1, 2022 to become chief executive officer of the Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), which launched the social media site Truth Social. It is widely considered to be a massive failure.
