Nicholas Sandmann, then a Covington Catholic High School student, was filmed at the Lincoln Memorial on January 18, 2019, wearing a Make America Great Again hat during a March for Life trip. Coverage of the encounter with Nathan Phillips produced a wave of national stories. Sandmann sued. The Eastern District of Kentucky docket in Sandmann v. Cable News Network Inc., No. 19-cv-00031, lists attorneys with L. Lin Wood P.C. alongside Kentucky counsel Todd V. McMurtry.
Associated Press reported on January 7, 2020, that CNN had settled the suit. Neither side disclosed terms. Bloomberg Law the same week confirmed the settlement date and the Wood firm’s appearance. Associated Press reported on July 24, 2020, that Sandmann and The Washington Post had also settled; the Post’s own story that day said it admitted no wrongdoing and that terms were undisclosed. A federal judge’s dismissal order said each side would pay its own costs.
Fox News carried Wood on the record while the suits were live. In a Hannity appearance he said mainstream coverage had given “the mob a megaphone.” In a Life, Liberty & Levin interview he described the planned CNN claim as larger than the Post claim because of how, in his words, the network “went after Nicholas so viciously.” Those are broadcast quotes, not findings.
In January 2021 Sandmann filed an affidavit ending the lawyer-client relationship. Reuters quoted him: “I have ended my lawyer-client relationship with Mr. Wood and no longer wish to be represented by him.” McMurtry remained. Wood posted that McMurtry “is an excellent lawyer.” The split is public record. It does not erase the settlements already on the docket.