Appeals court slashes Alex Jones’s Sandy Hook judgment from $50M to $1.5M
The court left compensatory damages intact but said Texas law capped punitive damages because the parents did not prove harassment justified more.
- 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.
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147 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...
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.
Court cuts $50M judgment against Infowars' Alex Jones
AUSTIN, Texas — A Texas court on Friday slashed a $50 million judgment to about $6 million against Infowars founder Alex Jones after he falsely claimed the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school mass shooting was a hoax.
‘Gigantic victory’: Appeals court slashes Alex Jones’ $50 million Sandy Hook judgment by huge percentage * WorldNetDaily * by Jim Hoft, the Gateway Pundit
Ruling says parents should not have been allowed to exceed Texas' strict statutory cap on punitive damages
Alex Jones gets Sandy Hook family’s Texas verdict reduced on appeal
By Dietrich Knauth NEW YORK, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones won an appeal in one family's defamation lawsuit over his false claims that the 2012 Sandy Hook mass shooting was a hoax, reducing the judgment against him from $50 million ...
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