(Aug. 6) – A legal malpractice lawsuit between the former Navy SEAL who wrote No Easy Day and an Indiana lawyer settled late last week.
The case was scheduled to go to trial before an Indiana federal court at the end of November. While the terms of the settlement are confidential, court documents suggest it could be favorable toward the author, Matthew Bissonnette, who was represented by Dallas lawyer Randy Johnston.
The case centered on No Easy Day, Bissonette’s controversial first-hand account of the 2011 raid that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden. Bissonnette, who had written it under the pseudonym “Mark Owen,” sued Indiana lawyer Kevin Podlaski and his former law firm, Carson Boxberger, in 2014 alleging Podlaski gave him faulty legal advice when he told Bissonnette he did not have to get pre-publication review of the book by the Pentagon.
Bissonnette followed the legal advice and the book hit the stores in the fall of 2012. What followed, Bissonnette alleged, was controversy, civil and criminal investigations against him, and a revelation of his identity in the press that caused him to change his children’s names so that they would not be linked back to him.
“Mr. Bissonnette has acknowledged his responsibility for publishing the book without a review by the government,” a joint statement the parties filed Friday to the Indiana court stated. “Carson Boxberger and Kevin Podlaski acknowledge their role in that decision and support Mr. Bissonnette’s efforts to correct the consequences of this unfortunate situation.
“Matthew Bissonnette, Carson Boxberger and Kevin Podlaski are anxious to put this matter to rest and Carson Boxberger and Kevin Podlaski wish Mr. Bissonnette much success in his future endeavors,” the statement continued. “The parties will not comment further on the terms of their settlement.”
Johnston told The Texas Lawbook in June that he was taking the case very personally.
“In my over 40-year career, I consider it to be one of the most important cases I’ve handled,” he said. “Candidly, I’d probably make it the most important. I know that the outcome of this trial will have a profound effect upon this guy’s future life.”
In a separate filing, the parties jointly stipulated “to the voluntary dismissal of all claims asserted in this action, with prejudice. Each party is to bear its or his own attorneys’ fees and costs.”
For more background on the case, read The Lawbook’s previous coverage here.