Chef Ryan McCaskey, former owner of the shuttered Michelin-starred Acadia restaurant, has been ordered to pay $4.5 million to a former Acadia server who accused his former boss of launching an extensive online harassment campaign to retaliate against him for allegedly supplying information to a website that published embarrassing stories about McCaskey and Acadia while the restaurant was closed during the Covid pandemic.
On Sept. 20, a Cook County jury entered a verdict in favor of Cody Nason, who had sued McCaskey for defamation and other charges stemming from the alleged harassment.
The verdict included $1.25 million for defamation and $2 million more in punitive damages against McCaskey.
An attorney for McCaskey said the chef intends to appeal and maintains his innocence, despite the verdict.
Nason filed suit in 2021 in Cook County Circuit Court against McCaskey, soon after McCaskey allegedly launched the website known as CodyNason.com.
According to published reports from Eater Chicago magazine and other sources, Nason worked at Acadia from April to October 2019. He went on to work at another Michelin-starred Chicago restaurant.
However, when Acadia and other fine dining restaurants shut down amid the Covid pandemic, Nason was among other Acadia employees who supplied information about McCaskey and Acadia to an Instagram account known as The86dlist. While restaurants remained closed, that site published embarrassing, controversial and unconfirmed stories, allegedly from restaurant workers, about work and life at the restaurants.
Concerning Acadia, the site published tales of debauchery and lecherous behavior by McCaskey and others at the restaurant, including drug- and alcohol-fueled binges and parties, including some with strippers and sex toys, which employees said they felt pressured by McCaskey to attend.
According to the published reports, employees who did not attend or did not participate sufficiently were subject to name-calling and other alleged mistreatment by McCaskey.
According to published reports, after those stories were published, other online accounts sprang up to defend McCaskey and allegedly begin attacking former Acadia workers.
The accounts particularly targeted Nason, who they blamed for supplying the information to The86dlist.
According to court documents, the online campaign against Nason allegedly included a site accusing Nason of being a pedophile, rapist and a convicted sex offender, as well as a racist and homophobe. That site has since been taken down.
Other accounts allegedly were set up to impersonate Nason's deceased brother and to send Nason messages from those accounts, including one asking: "Why did you let me die?"
Nason claimed he later lost his job at the other Chicago restaurant when someone linked to the CodyNason.com site published a Yelp review against his employer which attacked him personally and accused him of unprofessional conduct.
The online harassment became public in 2020, when Nason secured a no contact order from a Cook County judge against McCaskey in connection with the alleged online stalking.
McCaskey has consistently denied the allegations and any involvement in the online attacks on Nason.
However, at trial, attorneys for Nason reportedly presented jurors with evidence showing McCaskey hid behind internet aliases to allegedly continue the attacks.
Nason's attorneys with the firm of Saper Law, of Chicago, said they subpoenaed call records, website data and bank statements from AT&T, GoDaddy and U.S. Bank, among others, to piece together the evidence they said proved McCaskey's involvement in the harassment campaign against Nason.
"This evidence was crucial in demonstrating McCaskey’s active role in orchestrating the campaign against Cody," Saper Law said in a release announcing the verdict.
The trial was overseen by Cook County Judge Daniel J. Kubasiak.
Nason was represented by attorney Daliah Saper, of Saper Law.
In a statement included in the release, Nason said: “I firstly would like to thank my parents for allowing me to pursue justice, it has been a long ride. I would like to thank Daliah Saper, Brandon Beymer, Chris Theodosis, and her entire legal team for the attention and precision that they have brought for the last four long, hard years. I also want to thank the jury and court for hearing all of the testimony, viewing all of the evidence, and coming to a just verdict.”
In a statement emailed to The Cook County Record, McCaskey's attorney Roger Malavia said: "Ryan McCaskey is deeply disappointed by the jury's verdict in this matter. He has always maintained he was not liable for posting any defamatory content whatsoever and has never done so.
"Mr. McCaskey is not accepting the jury's decision and will continue to maintain his innocence throughout the appeals process until he is vindicated and his reputation is restored."