L. Lin Wood

Lucian Lincoln "Lin" Wood Jr. (born October 19, 1952 in Raleigh, North Carolina) is an American attorney based in Atlanta, Georgia. He is best known for representing Richard Jewell,[1][2][3][4] the security guard falsely accused in the Centennial Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta in 1996. Wood's representation of Richard Jewell inspired Dan Rather to call him the "attorney for the damned",[5][6] and helped transform Wood from a personal injury lawyer to a nationally known defamation lawyer.[7]

L. Lin Wood
Wood in November 2011.
Born
Lucian Lincoln Wood Jr.

(1952-10-19) October 19, 1952
Raleigh, North Carolina
OccupationAttorney
Years active1977–present
Websitelinwoodlaw.com

Biography

Wood graduated from Mercer University cum laude in 1974, and graduated from Walter F. George School of Law cum laude in 1977. From 1977 to 1996 Wood litigated personal injury cases and medical malpractice cases in the State of Georgia.[8][9]


Wood's first libel and defamation client was Richard Jewell,[1][2][3][4] the security guard falsely accused in the Centennial Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta in 1996.

Jewell was quickly followed by other high-profile cases, including John and Patsy Ramsey, the parents of JonBenét Ramsey. [10][11][12] Wood was the plaintiff's lead attorney for John and Patsy Ramsey and their son Burke, prosecuting defamation claims on their behalf against St. Martin's Press, Time Inc., The Fox News Channel, American Media, Inc., Star, The Globe, Court TV and The New York Post. John and Patsy Ramsey were also sued in two separate defamation lawsuits arising from the publication of their book, The Death of Innocence. The suit was brought by two individuals named in the book as having been investigated by Boulder police as suspects in JonBenét's murder. The Ramseys were defended in those lawsuits by Lin Wood and three other Atlanta attorneys, James C. Rawls, Eric P. Schroeder, and S. Derek Bauer. The lawsuits against the Ramseys were dismissed. The ruling was partially based on an in-depth decision by U.S. District Court Judge Julie Carnes that "abundant evidence" in the murder case pointed to an intruder having committed the crime.[13]

In November 2006, Wood, on behalf of Rod Westmoreland, a friend of JonBenét Ramsey's father, filed a defamation suit[14] against Keith Greer, who had posted a message on an Internet forum using the pseudonym "undertheradar". Greer had accused Westmoreland of participating in the kidnapping and murder.[15] Greer has defended his statement.[16]

Wood went on to represent former U.S. Congressman Gary Condit, and the alleged victim in the Kobe Bryant case.[6] He has also represented fellow attorney Howard K. Stern in defamation lawsuits against John O'Quinn, lawyer for Virgie Arthur, the mother of Anna Nicole Smith and against Rita Cosby, the author of Blonde Ambition, The Untold Story of Anna Nicole Smith.

In November, 2011, Wood was hired by then-presidential candidate Herman Cain, in his efforts to fight off sexual harassment accusations.[5][17]

Wood represented Burke Ramsey, older brother of murder victim JonBenet Ramsey, in a pair of related lawsuits stemming from the CBS network docuseries The Case of: JonBenét Ramsey. They included a $150 Million suit against Dr. Werner Spitz, a Michigan-based forensic pathologist, over his assertion in a promotional CBS Detroit radio interview that Burke killed his sister when a young child. [18] The other suit was a $750 Million suit against CBS and other parties involved in the docuseries, where the same allegations were made. Both lawsuits were settled out of court.

Wood is the lead attorney in Nicholas Sandmann's defamation suit against The Washington Post. Sandmann, a student at Covington Catholic High School, was a party to the January 2019 Lincoln Memorial confrontation.

In December 2019 Wood lost a multi-million defamation case for Vernon Unsworth against Elon Musk who had branded him a 'Pedo guy'. The case was lost on the elementary grounds that the alleged libel was unbelievable and therefore not defamation.

Other significant lawsuits

On November 30, 2012, CNN covered the DaVita Inc. Medicare and Medicaid fraud lawsuit pending in which Wood was a lead attorney for the plaintiffs.[19] The lawsuit was settled in 2015 for nearly $500 million plus attorneys fees.[20]

In July 2020, Wood was retained to represent Dr. Simone Gold, founder of America's Frontline Doctors, who was fired for appearing on videos regarding Covid-19 treatments.

Personal life

Lin Wood was raised in Georgia after moving to Macon, Georgia, at age 3. Wood has stated in news accounts that his family struggled financially with frequent episodes of domestic abuse involving his parents.[8][9] He has one sibling, Diane Wood Stern, born February 1951 and a half sister, Linda Martin born in 1946. After a school dance, the then 16-year-old Wood returned home to find his father had beaten his mother to death.[8][9][21] L. Lin Wood Sr. pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, a charge reduced from first-degree murder.[22] He served a little over two years in prison. Wood has stated that it was this experience that solidified his earlier decision to become a lawyer.[8][9][21]

Wood lived with friends and graduated from Mark Smith High School in Macon, Georgia in 1970.

Wood presently lives in Atlanta, Georgia, and has four children, two of whom are attorneys.[23] Wood and Mercer University announced a one million dollar fund set up by Wood at his Alma Mater to be called the "L. Lin Wood Fund for the Enhancement of Mercer Law School".[24]

In the summer of 2020, Lin Wood added a Qanon slogan #WWG1WGA to the biography of his Twitter account.[25]

References
  1. Washington Post, "Ex-Suspect in Bombing Sues Newspapers, College; Jewell's Libel Claim Seeks Unspecified Damages," Washington Post, January 29, 1997.
  2. HARRY R. WEBER, "Former Olympic Park Guard Jewell Dies," Washington Post, August 30, 2007.
  3. CNN, "Jewell sues newspapers, former employer for libel," Archived 2012-03-11 at the Wayback Machine CNN, January 28, 1997.
  4. David Kohn, "60 Minutes II: Falsely Accused," CBS 60 Minutes, February 11, 2009.
  5. Dongen, Rachel Van (8 November 2011). "Herman Cain's powerful attorney: L. Lin Wood". Washington Post. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
  6. Olsen, Patrick; Rodriguez, Victoria (28 September 2004). "Bryant's team up against 'attorney for the damned'". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
  7. Tucker, Kathryn (28 January 2019). "Teen in Viral Video Hires Atlanta Defamation Lawyer". ALM Media Properties, LLC. Daily Report. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
  8. Krista Reese, "Public figures have tough case to prove," Archived 2006-02-11 at the Wayback Machine Denver Rocky Mountain News, November 7, 1999
  9. Carlton Fletcher, "L Lin Wood," Archived 2008-09-19 at the Library of Congress Web Archives Albany Herald, September 14, 2008.
  10. Erin Moriarty, "JonBenét: DNA Rules Out Parents," "CBS", March 26, 2005.
  11. Vanessa Miller, "Boulder police take back Ramsey case," Archived 2015-09-23 at the Wayback Machine "Colorado Daily" February 2, 2009
  12. David Kohn, "Searching: The Interrogation Tapes," "CBS" February 11, 2009
  13. R. Robin McDonald All Articles (2009-03-16). "Northern District of Georgia's New Chief Judge Reflects on Her Career". Law.com. Retrieved 2011-06-22.
  14. Time Waster (2006-11-09). "Man Sues Over JonBenet Murder Claim". Thesmokinggun.com. Retrieved 2011-06-22.
  15. "JonBenet Ramsey Case Encyclopedia wiki / Legal Issues Surrounding JBR Case". Jonbenetramsey.pbwiki.com. Retrieved 2011-06-22.
  16. "JonBenet Ramsey Case Encyclopedia wiki / undrtheradar biosketch". Jonbenetramsey.pbwiki.com. 2007-02-28. Retrieved 2011-06-22.
  17. Shear, Michael D.; Rutenberg, Jim; McIntire, Mike (November 8, 2011). "Herman Cain Denies Harassment Accusations; Second Woman Speaks Out". The New York Times.
  18. "Burke Ramsey Lawsuit: JonBenet Family Lawyer Rips CBS Docuseries. Westword.com, October 10, 2016.
  19. Scott Bronstein and Drew Griffin, "Dialysis company accused of giant Medicare fraud," CNN Special Investigations Unit, November 30, 2012.
  20. DENVER (CBS4), "DaVita Settlement Nearly $500 Million In Medicare Fraud Case," DENVER (CBS4), May 5, 2015.
  21. Erik Lundegaard, "L. Lin Wood, Attorney for the Damned, Gets Out Front for Herman Cain," "The Super Lawyers," November 9, 2011
  22. Kate Julian,"Is Herman Cain’s Lawyer the Anti-Gloria Allred?" Slate, Nov. 11, 2011.
  23. Baker Botts, "Matt C. Wood," Archived 2014-01-01 at the Wayback Machine Matt C Wood", verified June 16, 2013
  24. Macon Telegraph, "," Macon Telegraph", verified Feb. 22, 2016
  25. "Lin Wood (@LLinWood) / Twitter". Twitter.com. Retrieved 2020-08-08. Archived 2020-08-08 at Archive.today
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