Michael Mann Wins $1 Million Verdict In Defamation Trial

DeSmog | Diane Bernard and Adam M. Lowenstein | February 8, 2024

In a victory for climate scientists, jurors in Michael Mann’s defamation case against Rand Simberg and Mark Steyn awarded Mann $1 million in punitive damages for defamatory comments made in 2012…

Mann has “been attacked in all the ways that a climate scientist can be attacked,” Lauren Kurtz, the executive director of the Climate Science Legal Defense Fund, told DeSmog. “He’s been remarkably public about what’s happened to him, [and] willing to fight back in ways that other scientists haven’t necessarily wanted to take on.”…

“We would like to live in a world in which the facts speak for themselves, but unfortunately that’s not always the case,” Kurtz, of the Climate Science Legal Defense Fund, told DeSmog.

As a result, Kurtz said, “It’s not surprising that scientists are doing more to fight back. Michael Mann, I think, is most prominent among those who are fighting back, but I think there are a lot of other scientists who have decided to become more public about what they’ve experienced or tried to be more assertive in the ways that they challenge some of these totally baseless accusations.”

The fact that Mann has continued to make his case and defend the integrity of climate science could have a galvanizing effect, Kurtz said.

“I’ve heard from scientists that it’s very heartening that Michael Mann is taking a stand against this.”

Read the full article at DeSmog.