A Virginia man who admitted to entering the U.S. Capitol during the riot on January 6, 2021, has asked a court to enter a default judgment against CNN after suing the network for defamation.
Jacob Hiles, a charter boat captain from Virginia Beach, pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building in September 2021. He was sentenced in December 2021 to two years of probation and ordered to complete 60 hours of community service.
Hiles sued CNN last year, alleging the network defamed him in an article published on October 15, 2021, with the headline: “US Capitol Police officer indicted on obstruction of justice charges in connection with January 6.”
The article reported on the indictment of Michael Angelo Riley, a Capitol Police officer who prosecutors said messaged Hiles on Facebook and encouraged him to delete his posts. Riley was sentenced to two years of probation and four months of home detention earlier this year after being convicted on one count of obstruction of justice.
The article’s focus later shifts to Hiles, with a subheading that says: “Man wanted to start ‘a revolution’ on January 6.” According to an FBI affidavit, Hiles posted numerous videos and photos on his Facebook page on the day supporters of then-President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol building.
The posts included a selfie he posted that morning with the caption: “Feelin cute…might start a revolution later.”
Department of Justice
Hiles’ lawsuit alleged that the subheading and the article’s contents were defamatory because “they falsely accuse Hiles of felonious criminal activity of which he was not charged or convicted, either directly or indirectly.”
Hiles was initially seeking $37 million in compensatory damages but is now seeking $100 million.
In a filing in the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on Friday, reviewed by Newsweek, Hiles’ attorneys asked the court to enter a default judgment against CNN, alleging counsel for the network has not satisfied legal requirements or communicated with Hiles’ attorneys for months.
A CNN spokesperson declined to comment when contacted by Newsweek. Attorneys for CNN and Hiles have also been contacted for comment via email.
According to the filing, CNN filed a motion on August 28, 2023, seeking to dismiss Hiles’ amended complaint.
The filing said Hiles’ attorneys filed a response requesting the court deny that motion on September 11 and CNN’s attorneys then filed a reply in further support of the motion to dismiss.
But Hiles’ attorneys say CNN has not complied with Virginia Local Rule 7(E), which required CNN to “set the motion for hearing or arrange with opposing counsel for submission of the motion without oral argument” within 30 days of filing their motion.
It also states that CNN was also required to “meet and confer in person or by telephone” with the plaintiff’s counsel “in a good-faith effort to narrow the area[s] of disagreement.”
Attorneys for CNN have “not satisfied any of the requirements imposed by Local Rule 7(E) despite more than 140 days having passed from the date” that the motion was filed, the filing alleges. “Defendant’s counsel has also not had any communication with Plaintiff’s counsel since filing the Motion nearly five months ago.”
The failure to comply with the meet and confer requirements and scheduling procedures mean the motion “is deemed withdrawn, and Defendant has defaulted, according to the filing. Hiles “respectfully requests the Clerk enter a default against” CNN, it adds.
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