Al Sharpton says he wants to be served.
A Pascagoula, Mississippi law firm announced Friday afternoon that it was delivering a 19 page presuit defamation demand to Sharpton on behalf of three friends of Nolan Wells. Roughly three hours later, Sharpton posted a response saying he welcomes the lawsuit and will have his attorneys arrange for the other side to serve him so the matter can get into court.
Sharpton has not been sued. A demand letter is a step before litigation, sent to give the other party a chance to resolve things without a case being filed. The letter gives Sharpton 10 days from the date he is served to publicly apologize, retract and delete the statements at issue. If he does not, the attorneys say they will sue. Nothing is in court yet.
The letter comes from attorneys J. Tyler Cox and Edward Paltzik on behalf of Warren Hudson, Jax Pitalo and Morgan Seymour. It argues that Sharpton’s repeated public references to Wells’ three young white male friends could only have meant these three men, and that his remarks implied they were involved in Wells’ death, that they withheld or altered his phone, concealed his keys, or obstructed the investigation. The attorneys write that the accusations amount to alleging felonies under Mississippi law including murder, hindering prosecution and tampering with physical evidence, and that their clients are completely innocent of any wrongdoing in connection with Wells’ death.
The letter points to two specific occasions, a July 14 appearance on TMZ and an online vigil for Wells on August 19. In the TMZ interview, Sharpton questioned why Wells would have left his phone behind, and said he was stunned that a day after the trip, Wells’ mother was out searching for him and no one had come forward.
The attorneys also lay out their clients’ version of the trip. Wells traveled to Horn Island as part of a boating party of about 30 people. Hudson, Pitalo and Seymour left the island with others while Wells stayed behind. The three later contacted Wells’ family and authorities and joined the search for him. The letter says they never possessed or accessed Wells’ phone, stating that a female friend gave it to the mother of another friend, and that Wells had left his keys in Pitalo’s bedroom, which were turned over to Wells’ stepfather.
Sharpton is not backing off. Along with inviting service, he said he welcomes litigation specifically because it would require everyone who was with Wells to answer questions under oath. He said he has been involved in the case for one reason, to help Wells’ parents, Christine and Elmore, find the truth through a transparent and accountable investigation. At the National Association of Black Journalists convention on August 13, appearing alongside the parents, he described the account of what happened as blurred and said some of it did not make sense given Mississippi’s history.
That posture is consistent. He has publicly invited people who take issue with his statements to sue him first. Somebody is now moving in that direction.
Wells, an 18 year old from Ocean Springs, was found dead in the water off Horn Island on July 6, one day after he was reported missing during a Fourth of July trip. A cause of death has not been officially released. The district attorney’s office says the state medical examiner’s report is being withheld until a grand jury can review the case. Wells’ family and their attorneys called for a federal review at the NABJ convention.
Nobody has been charged in connection with Wells’ death.
There is also money already moving behind the legal fight. Weeks before the demand letter went out, Benjamin Hudson, the father of one of the three men, organized an online fundraiser to help cover legal expenses tied to potential wrongful death claims and to pursuing action over alleged slander and libel.
The 10 day clock starts when Sharpton is served, and he has said he is arranging for that to happen.
