Nicholas Sandmann (left) facing Native American activist Nathan Phillips at the Lincoln Memorial on Jan. 18. (Photo: YouTube)

The fallout from the news coverage following a viral Twitter post featuring a Kentucky high school student in an encounter with a Native American on Washington, D.C.'s National Mall has resulted in a third defamation lawsuit against a media organization.

On Wednesday, Atlanta libel lawyer Lin Wood filed a $275 million lawsuit against NBCUniversal Media LLC, the parent company of NBC and MSNBC, on behalf of 16-year-old Nicholas Sandmann of Covington, Kentucky. Wood has filed similar lawsuits against CNN and The Washington Post.

The Post and CNN have defended their reporting, saying they added to their initial reports as more witnesses, including Sandmann himself, came forward and as more information became available. The Post also has filed a motion to dismiss the suit, arguing its coverage was neither false nor defamatory.

The NBCUniversal suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the the Eastern District of Kentucky, seeks $75 million compensatory damages and $200 million in punitive damages from NBCUniversal. It includes claims similar to those in the CNN and Washington Post lawsuits. Wood sued the Post for $250 million and CNN for $275 million.

The NBC suit claims Sandmann was defamed in multiple broadcasts, online news articles and tweets published last January after Sandmann came face-to-face with Native American protester Nathan Phillips near the Lincoln Memorial. At the time, Sandmann and his classmates from Covington Catholic High School were attending the annual March for Life. Phillips was attending the Indigenous People's March.

Like Sandmann's other two suits, the NBC complaint alleges the network's reporting was based on “biased and unreliable” sources, including comments from Philips, and falsely portrayed Sandmann as “the face of an unruly hate mob of hundreds of white racist high school students” who allegedly harassed and taunted peaceful minority groups.

The NBC lawsuit also accuses the network of using “its vast corporate wealth, influence, and power” to falsely attack Sandmann because he is a white, Catholic youth who was wearing a red “Make America Great Again” ball cap.

“The truth is that Nicholas and his CovCath classmates were bullied, attacked, and confronted with racist and homophobic slurs and threats of violence,” the suit alleges.

Sandmann's suit also accuses NBC of having a “well-known bias against conservatives in general and President Donald J. Trump in particular” and suggests that Sandmann “was an easy target” to advance an “anti-Trump agenda.”

Sandmann's CNN and Post suits also accuse those media organizations of similar, long-standing bias against the president that allegedly shaped their coverage of the encounter between Philips and Sandmann.

“The bias exists and certainly plays a relevant role in a defamation case,” Wood said Wednesday. Wood also suggested that an interview Sandmann gave to Savannah Guthrie of NBC's “Today” show—during which she asked the teenager whether he thought he owed anyone an apology—“conveyed bias against Nicholas and suggested wrongdoing on his part,” although Wood added that he “did not sue specifically over the Guthrie interview.”

The Daily Report has contacted NBCUniversal for comment and is awaiting a response.

Additional Reading:

Judge in CNN, Washington Post Libel Cases Is No Stranger to Free Speech Fight

Lin Wood Files $275M Defamation Suit Against CNN

Lin Wood Files Lawsuit on Behalf of Teen Wearing MAGA Hat in Viral Video