Sunny Hostin Could Be on the Hook for ‘A Lot of Money’ for Damages Over Statements About Nolan Wells’ Friends

A co-host of ABC’s “The View,” Sunny Hostin, may not be able to get out of a defamation lawsuit over comments she made about the friends of Nolan Wells with a simple apology, according to an attorney. Wells, who was black, was found dead in Mississippi after he went missing on July 4 while visiting Horn Island with friends. His friends left him on the popular island — there were reportedly around 100 people on the island that day. Wells’ body was found on July 6. Police said he drowned and that there was no evidence of foul play. None of the friends have been named as suspects. However, Wells’ parents have called for an independent investigation, questioning why he would have stayed behind on the island. They have also suggested police moved too quickly to rule out foul play. A preliminary independent autopsy was not able to determine cause of the death, and the state’s autopsy is under seal until a grand jury is convened. A Massachusetts-based attorney, Andrew Branca, read a letter sent by Attorneys for the trio, Tyler Cox and Edward Andrew Paltzik, sent a letter to Ms. Hostin, alleging that she defamed the three friends of Wells: Warren Hudson, Jax Pitalo, and Morgan Seymour. Mr. Branca argued that Ms. Hostin could be on the hook for some kind of financial payout as he noted that the letter stressed the attorneys “reserve all rights” to sue even if she makes an apology. “They’re not going to let this go without money. She’s going to have to do more than read a statement,” Mr. Branca said on his YouTube show on Friday. “You Google these kids names and the Google results are going to come up with these insinuations for the rest of their lives… They’re going to need a lot of money in damages.”The Wells case has garnered national attention as some commentators have suggested that race is a factor. A former NFL quarterback, Colin Kaepernick, paid for the independent autopsy. Trio has become the center of online chatter about the case because the friends rode with him on the boat to the island and left him there. The friends, who are white, say Wells was talking to a girl when they left. The letter, dated September 16 and first obtained by a Mississippi-based outlet, the Sun Herald, alleges that “The View” co-host made defamatory comments on two different days. During a July 13 episode of “The View,” Ms. Hostin said, “In my view, there are a lot of inconsistencies, especially around Nolan’s cellphone and cellphone records… and social media profiles being erased.”Wells’ parents, who are being represented by civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, have alleged that some Snapchat photos and messages had been deleted from their son’s phone.On July 14, Ms. Hostin questioned the local police department’s investigation as she said Wells was the “only black kid on an island full of kids that were white.”Ms. Hostin said, “I would think that those three boys would have been brought into the police department, separated in different rooms, and they would, they should be giving an account of what happened.”“I don’t know that that’s happened here, and that is shocking to me. That is police investigation 101. Seems to me that the police department in Mississippi immediately said that there does not appear to be foul play,” she said. While Ms. Hostin did not mention the friends by name, the show displayed a photo of the trio for the length of the segment. In the letter,the attorneys write, “It is hard to fathom the pure negligence and recklessness you have shown through your multiple interviews regarding these young men and the tragic death of their friend, Nolan Wells.”“Your unwillingness to research the most basic facts surrounding the incident before commenting publicly is downright baffling,” they said.The attorneys noted that their clients spoke with law enforcement, turned over their cellphones as part of the investigation, and were the first ones to notify officials that Wells was missing. The letter alleges that Ms. Hostin’s comments implied that their clients “were colluding to hide evidence and or obstruct the efforts to find Nolan at the very least, and that they murdered Nolan at the very worst..”While there are questions around whether content was deleted from Wells’ phone, the attorneys said that the friends never had possession of the phone. They also said that Wells’ phone was never turned over to the police by his family after his parents retrieved it.“Neither Warren, Jax, nor Morgan breached, accessed, tampered with, or deleted any data from Nolan’s cellphone. None of them hid, concealed, nor withheld Nolan’s keys or lied about the whereabouts of Nolan’s keys. And they absolutely came forward and made numerous diligent efforts to increase the probability of locating Nolan,” the letter says.The attorneys gave Ms. Hostin a 10-day window to retract her comments or face a defamation lawsuit. Representatives for Ms. Hostin did not respond to The New York Sun’s request for comment by the time of publication. The attorneys have also threatened to sue Reverend Al Sharpton for allegedly accusing their clients of being involved in Wells’ death. Last month, he said he did not know what happened in the case, but added, “I got your history of Mississippi. And the history tells me: Black boy goes out with three white kids. Three white kids come back. There’s a blurred story on what happened … Some of this don’t make sense given Mississpi’s history.” He declined to retract the statement and said he “welcome[s]” a lawsuit.

Sunny Hostin Could Be on the Hook for ‘A Lot of Money’ for Damages Over Statements About Nolan Wells’ Friends

Sunny Hostin Could Be on the Hook for ‘A Lot of Money’ for Damages Over Statements About Nolan Wells’ Friends

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