A RIGHTEOUS LAWSUIT THAT GEORGE ZIMMERMAN IS UNLIKELY TO WIN

When NBC edited the recording of Zimmerman’s 911 call in order to make it sound like he was a racist, it intentionally demonized the shooter of Trayvon Martin

George Zimmerman has filed a lawsuit against NBC and those at the network who edited the recording of his 911 call to the police. The edited version made Zimmerman out to be a racist by having him volunteer that “This guy looks like he’s up to no good. He looks black.” In fact that is not the way it went down. Zimmerman had reported a suspicious person and when the 911 dispatcher asked him if he was “black, white or Hispanic,” he answered, “He looks black.”

The lawsuit charges that NBC defamed Zimmerman when it intentionally deleted a key portion of the 911 conversation, and by broadcasting the edited version, the TV network inflicted emotional distress on Zimmerman, making him fear for his life and causing him to suffer nausea, insomnia and anxiety.

I’m surprised his attorneys waited this long to file a lawsuit against NBC for intentionally demonizing Zimmerman as a racist in its broadcasts to millions of viewers. While I believe this is a righteous lawsuit, I doubt that in this racially poisoned atmosphere, Zimmerman will be able to prevail.

Earlier this fall, responding to rumors of a possible lawsuit, Clay Calvert, a University of Florida professor specializing in First Amendment Law, issued the following opinion:

“Damages would be tough for Zimmerman to prove given all of the bad publicity that has surrounded him. He would only get what courts call special damages if he can prove that this particular broadcast on NBC caused him to lose a job or sustain some other direct monetary loss. On the other hand, compensatory damages for reputation harm — what it means when his friends don’t hang out with him, for example, or the public generally shuns and avoids him or ridicules him — are possible, but the jury would have to sort that only if Zimmerman wins his case.”