Appeals court slashes Alex Jones’s Sandy Hook judgment from $50M to $1.5M
The court left compensatory damages intact and said the parents did not show evidence to exceed Texas’s $750,000 punitive-damages cap per plaintiff.
- On Friday, a Texas appeals court reduced a $50 million judgment against Infowars founder Alex Jones to $1.5 million over his false claims that the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting was a hoax.
- Parents Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis sued Jones after he falsely claimed the Newtown, Connecticut massacre was a government hoax, killing their 6-year-old son Jesse Lewis among 20 children and six educators in 2012.
- The Texas Third Court unanimously ruled that Heslin and Lewis failed to show harassment evidence exceeding the state's $750,000 damage cap. Defense attorney Andino Reynal had predicted shortly after trial he could reduce it to $1.5 million.
- A separate $1.4 billion judgment against Jones in Connecticut remains unaffected by this ruling, while his company, Free Speech Systems, continues navigating ongoing bankruptcy proceedings.
- The 2022 verdict established the first time Jones was held financially liable for peddling lies about the massacre, setting legal precedent that persists despite the Texas reduction and ongoing bankruptcy asset distribution proceedings.
164 Articles
164 Articles
(Los Angeles=Yonhap News) Correspondent Kim Kyung-yoon = To the founder of the far-right media outlet Infowars, who spread a conspiracy theory claiming that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a fabricated incident...
Court Reduces $50 Million Judgment Against Alex Jones Over False Sandy Hook Hoax Claim
A Texas appeals court on Aug. 21 drastically reduced a judgment owed by Infowars host Alex Jones, shrinking the amount from $50 million to around $6 million, over his commentary falsely calling the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting in Connecticut a hoax. Jones and his company, Free Speech Systems LLC, appealed the multimillion-dollar settlement after a jury in 2022 found him liable for “defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress”…
Alex Jones’ $50 Million Sandy Hook Judgment Slashed by Texas Appeals Court
Alex Jones scored a major legal victory Friday, as a Texas court slashed the near $50 million judgment he was ordered to pay the family of a 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victim down to $6 million. “We modify the judgment by reducing the exemplary damages award consistent with the statutory cap, resulting in exemplary damages awards of $750,000 to Scarlett Lewis and of $750,000 to Neil Heslin,” a ruling from the Texas Third Court of…
Alex Jones no longer on-the-hook for $50 million owed to Sandy Hook families—but he still has $1.25 billion looming over his head
The Infowars' founder can only be forced to pay about $6 million from the Texas court, but still has a separate judgement in Connecticut up to $1.25 billion.
Coverage Details
Bias Distribution
- 57% of the sources are Center
![[your]NEWS](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgroundnews.b-cdn.net%2Finterests%2Ffb6dc495f74049f513563c33352175eaa0ecd509.jpg%3Fwidth%3D60&w=128&q=75)
Factuality
To view factuality data please Upgrade to Premium
