Jesse Ventura $1.8 Million Verdict Thrown Out
A federal appeals court overturned a $1.8 million judgement to WWE Hall of Famer Jesse "The Body" Ventura from his defamation case against former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle in 2014.
Kyle had claimed in his 2006 autobiography to have punched Ventura in a bar fight after Ventura was making disparaging remarks about the SEALS. After Kyle was shot and killed in 2013, Ventura named his widow, Taya, the defendant in the lawsuit. Ventura claims that the fight never happened and that his $1 million a year income "came to a screeching halt" after the book was released.
Taya appealed the judgment, and by a 2-1 decision today, the defamation award of $500,000 was thrown out and the district court was ordered to conduct a new trial. CBS News reports that a key issue with the defamation award was whether "Kyle acted with 'actual malice.'
The $1.35 million awarded to Ventura for "unjust enrichment" was reversed because the panel felt that it "fails as a matter of law."
Source: CBS News
damien demento contributed to this article.