US climate scientist Michael Mann won his longstanding libel suit against right-wing climate deniers on Feb. 8, 2024, with a jury award of $1 million in puntive damages.
The lawsuit began in 2012, when Mann accused Rand Simberg, a former adjunct scholar at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, and Mark Steyn, a contributor to National Review, of defamation when they alleged that his work was so fraudulent it was like child molestation.
Scientists see the verdict “as a warning to those who attack scientists working in controversial fields, including climate science and public health,” according to Nature magazine.
The question in libel is whether the defendant knowingly published a falsehood or acted in reckless disregard for the truth. In testimony, Simberg and Steyn both insisted that they do not agree with Mann’s climate science, so the question was whether or not they were reckless.
“The trial transported observers back to 2012, the heyday of the blogosphere and an era of rancorous polemics over the existence of global warming, what the psychology researcher and climate misinformation blogger John Cook called “a feral time,” said a New York Times article.
A federal court opinion from 2016 located here: Competitive Enterprise Institute v Mann. The 2024 decision is not yet on Nexis, SCOTUS blog, or other legal sources. Also see Alito Dissent from denial of cert, 2021.
