In over two years of litigation, there is one moment that Devin “Velvel” Freedman, a partner at Freedman Normand Friedland and lead counsel for the plaintiff, pinpointed as pivotal: the cross-examination against the CNN correspondent Alex Marquardt.

Friedman represented Zachary Young, who claimed that the defendant, CNN, destroyed his business, showing his face in a segment and claiming that he was one of several advertising evacuations from Afghanistan on the "black market." In doing so, Young claimed that Marquardt staged a phone call to him for "theater" instead of learning the opposing side of the story.