Alex Jones may pay less in punitive damages to Sandy Hook family. Why?
Global News
Alex Jones' company, Free Speech Systems LLC, filed for bankruptcy protection on July 29, pausing two other Sandy Hook cases against Jones.
U.S. conspiracy theorist Alex Jones could end up owing as little as 10 per cent of the US$45.2 million in punitive damages that a Texas jury awarded to the parents of a Sandy Hook victim last week, legal experts told Reuters on Monday.
A jury handed down the punitive damages’ verdict on Friday and awarded the parents US$4.1 million in compensatory damages on Thursday after a two-week trial in Austin, Texas, where Jones’ Infowars radio show and webcast is based.
Jones was found last year to have defamed parents Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, whose six-year-old son Jesse Lewis died in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012, by spreading lies that they were part of a government plot to stage the massacre.
While juries have broad discretion on awards, Texas law caps punitive damages at $750,000 when economic losses are not involved, as in this case.
Mark Bankston, an attorney for the parents, told Reuters by email that because Jones and his company face three claims each, he estimates the cap would be US$4.5 million. Bankston said he will argue the damages cap does not apply but declined to elaborate.
Judge Maya Guerra Gamble must approve the final amount, a decision that is expected soon.
Jones’ lawyer, Federico Andino Reynal, said in court Friday that he will seek to reduce the US$45.2 million punitive damages award because it does not comply with Texas law. He confirmed to Reuters on Monday that he plans to invoke the cap.
According to the New York Times, Reynal has said he expects the punitive award to be reduced to US$1.5 million.
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