The Washington Post has settled, for undisclosed terms, a $250 million lawsuit filed by Nicholas Sandmann, the Covington Catholic High School student who had a viral encounter with a Native American activist last year at a protest at the Lincoln Memorial.
“We are pleased that we have been able to reach a mutually agreeable resolution of the remaining claims in this lawsuit,” Kris Coratti, a spokesperson for the paper, said in a statement to TheWrap.
On Twitter, Sandmann — who is now 18 years old — celebrated the settlement and said he had “more to do.”
Last year, Sandmann sued the Post, arguing that the paper defamed him in its coverage of a viral video that depicted his encounter at the Lincoln Memorial with Nathan Phillips. The initial lawsuit said the paper “wrongfully targeted and bullied Nicholas because he was the white, Catholic student wearing a red ‘Make America Great Again’ souvenir cap” and falsely accused Sandmann of instigating the incident. A few months later, a judge dismissed the case, finding that “Sandmann’s allegation attempts to insert innuendo not found within … the publication.” But last October, the same judge partially reopened the case to narrow in on three contested statements included in the original lawsuit.
Sandmann also sued CNN for $275 million over similar accusations of defamation regarding its coverage of the encounter. The network settled its suit with Sandmann in January for undisclosed terms.