YouTuber Ordered to Pay Defendant $1-Million+
A Texas court has ruled that online allegations made by controversial YouTuber Dan Gryder against Texas pilot and airport-owner Charles Cook were false and defamatory. Judge John P. Chupp of the 141st District Court in Texas’s Tarrant County ordered Gryder to pay Cook a total of $1,081,667 plus interest accruing at five-percent annually "until all amounts are paid in full”—according to court records.
Dan Gryder is the proprietor of Probable Cause, a YouTube channel dedicated to the analysis of aviation incidents and accidents. Detractors of his channel contend Gryder’s analyses are hasty, often presumptuous, and vituperative in degrees ranging from tacit to overt.
In 2021, Gryder posted a three-installment video-series in which he cast aspersions on Charles Cook, a Boeing 777 captain and the owner of Fort Worth, Texas’s Flying Oaks Airport (2TE2).
Released on 28 August 2021, the first of the three videos addressed a 21 August 2021 accident in which an Aeronca 7AC Champion, registration N1472E, was substantially damaged and its pilot and a single passenger killed shortly after departing the aforementioned Fling Oaks Airport. Gryder, in subject video, named Cook as the airport’s owner and alleged the facility was "rampant with cowboys.” Moreover, Gryder made vague accusations of illegal activity having transpired at Flying Oaks Airport and alluded to "complaints," ostensibly pertaining to the alleged illegal activity, having been made to the FAA by unnamed parties.
Cook maintained in his lawsuit that neither illegal activity nor complaints thereof had transpired at the airfield.
The suit further stated Gryder, among the viewer comments germane to the 28 August video, had accused Cook of carrying on an extramarital affair and making false statements to the FAA on his medical certificate application form. In addition, Gryder claimed three past aircraft accidents transpired in the vicinity of Flying Oaks Airport had occurred "because of the lack of annuals and licensing." A screen-capture of Gryder’s allegations was presented as plaintiff's evidence.
Released in September 2021, the second installment of Gryder’s three-video series featured additional disparaging remarks aimed at Cook and his airport.
The third installment, posted September 06 2021, saw Grider brazenly cite Cook by name in the video’s title.
“I’ve got to talk about Charles Cook,” Gryder remarked, according to the lawsuit. “ … apparently, Mr. Cook is not very happy with me. Charles Cook—man, I did a deep dive on him; what a history on Charles Cook. It’s fascinating. … Charles Cook, if you want to get your name in lights, we are about to do that …”
Cook’s lawsuit filing states Gryder, in the 28 August video, alleged the Aeronca 7AC Champion accident-aircraft had, prior to its loss, been left on the Flying Oaks Airport following the death of its owner. Gryder contended Cook had sold the aircraft knowing full-well it was defective and misrepresented the machine as suitable for flight-training. Gryder claimed, also, that "Charles is a diabetic. He's got medical problems … All I can say is that the farther we go and the more stuff that Charles wants to stir up, the happier it makes me."
Cook’s attorney established the plaintiff’s medical conditions, which do not include diabetes, had been reported as required, accurately and in their entirety, to his flight-surgeon.
Gryder went so far as to accuse Cook of having sold aircraft with missing logbooks.
"Again, each comment is false," the Cook’s lawsuit asserts. "The airplane was never abandoned at Flying Oaks Airport. The airplane was in flying condition and Cook purchased it from its owner, Francis.” Cook refurbished the aircraft prior to its passing into the possession of the accident-pilot—a friend of Cook’s.”
Cook’s lawsuit cataloged numerous antagonistic text messages authored by Gryder, messages "further harassing Cook and threatening that if Cook files a lawsuit against him, the Defendant intends to 'report play by play as [the lawsuit] happens.”
Cook’s complaint stated the Flying Oaks Airport "lost multiple tenants who rented hangars at the airport. Cook has been unable to fill these hangars with new tenants."
"Additionally," the lawsuit contends, "Cook's reputation has been the subject of public ridicule, contempt, and hatred."
Whether or not Gryder dedicates a Probable Cause episode to the analysis of his own figurative Controlled Flight Into Terrain remains to be seen.
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