{"id":300936,"date":"2024-02-10T15:25:10","date_gmt":"2024-02-10T14:25:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=300936"},"modified":"2024-02-10T15:25:12","modified_gmt":"2024-02-10T14:25:12","slug":"jury-finds-in-favor-of-michael-mann-in-defamation-lawsuit-against-mark-steyn-rand-simberg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=300936","title":{"rendered":"Jury finds in favor of Michael Mann in defamation lawsuit against Mark Steyn, Rand Simberg"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
The Trial of George Jacobs, 5th August 1692, 1855 (oil on canvas)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Climate Depot<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By\u00a0Marc Morano<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/tnc.news\/2024\/02\/08\/mann-defamation-lawsuit-steyn-simberg2<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n


By Andrew Lawton<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Washington, D.C. jury has found that conservative writers Mark Steyn and Rand Simberg defamed climate scientist Michael Mann.

The jury deliberated for close to a full day before reaching its decision.

At issue were two blog posts, one by Steyn and one by Simberg, comparing the investigation into alleged academic misconduct by Mann, then a Penn State professor, to Penn State\u2019s handling of Jerry Sandusky, the school\u2019s former head of athletics who raped and molested children.

\u201cIf an institution is prepared to cover up systemic statutory rape of minors, what won\u2019t it cover up?\u201d Steyn wrote in his post, which quoted Simberg\u2019s.

The jury awarded Mann $1 in compensatory damages from each plaintiff. It also awarded $1,000 in punitive damages from Simberg and $1 million from Steyn.

The jury found that the statements at issue were defamatory and published with reckless disregard for the truth. They also found that Mann suffered actual injury from the statements\u2019 publication.

Mann sued Steyn and Simberg, along with their respective publishers National Review and the Competitive Enterprise Group in 2012, claiming the posts damaged his reputation as a climate scientist.

In a trial that stretched on for three-and-a-half weeks, Mann claimed he felt like a pariah in his community, noting he once received a dirty look from someone in a grocery store. He said he lost significant grant funding after the blog posts were published, but was not able to produce any evidence linking this to the posts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n



Steyn and Simberg argued that Mann\u2019s stature, earnings and reputation have only improved since 2012, meaning that even if he had been defamed, he had suffered no damages, which the plaintiff in a defamation suit must prove.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The jury deliberated for close to a full day before reaching its decision.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":300940,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"The jury deliberated for close to a full day before reaching its decision.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691818701,691823943,691818215,691826633],"class_list":["post-300936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-climate-scientist","tag-mark-steyn","tag-michael-mann","tag-rand-simberg","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/01fcbbecee0e08e62e7f9fe4b63a17fa5.jpg?fit=2000%2C1000&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1ghO","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":300918,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=300918","url_meta":{"origin":300936,"position":0},"title":"Mann vs. Steyn: A Disgrace to the Profession \u2013 Climate Change Roundtable #97","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"02\/10\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"On episode 97 of Climate Change Roundtable, The Heartland Institute\u2019s Anthony Watts, H. Sterling Burnett, Linnea Lueken, and Jim Lakely break down what happened in the trial, how this criminally unjust jury decision came to be, and what this means for the First Amendment rights of anyone who questions alarmist\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Climate change\"","block_context":{"text":"Climate change","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=climate-change"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/0Screenshot-2024-02-10-132559.png?fit=1200%2C674&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/0Screenshot-2024-02-10-132559.png?fit=1200%2C674&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/0Screenshot-2024-02-10-132559.png?fit=1200%2C674&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/0Screenshot-2024-02-10-132559.png?fit=1200%2C674&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/0Screenshot-2024-02-10-132559.png?fit=1200%2C674&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":373736,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=373736","url_meta":{"origin":300936,"position":1},"title":"Mark Steyn and the Reversal of Fortune","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"04\/05\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"A year ago, Michael Mann was riding high after winning his 12-year-old lawsuit against journalist\/pundit Mark Steyn and Rand Simberg over comments sharply critical of Mann\u2019s famed \u201chockey stick\u201d graph. 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