Unless Minnesota has something like the Texas Defamation Mitigation Act requiring you request a retraction, he more or less announced up front that to do so would be an act of futility, that he was already entirely aware his statement was actionable and opened him to suit, so Monty going right to court and not bothering with requesting a retraction is entirely justifiable.
He was already on notice what he was asking for, explicitly said so, and got it. So in short Nick's whining is utter bullshit. Monty was under no obligation to notify him of something he openly stated he already knew.