Court vacates $1.8M Ventura award in ‘American Sniper’ case

In the book, Kyle described punching a celebrity referred to as “Scruff Face” who was making offensive remarks about the SEALs at a gathering following the funeral of a SEAL killed in combat.

Jesse Ventura was once governor of Minnesota, a pro-wrestler, and in Navy special operations.

Ventura sued Kyle’s estate for disparaging comments about him included in American Sniper.

Ventura claimed the incident never happened, that Kyle had ruined his reputation with his fellow SEALs and among members of the military, and that Kyle had defamed and harmed him in the process.

The 2014 verdict was the product of a rare split decision. The verdict favored Ventura by 8-2. Ventura won a $1.8 million award, but yesterday an appeals court reversed this and ordered a new trial.

In a 2-1 decision, the appeals court kicked the defamation case back to district court for a new trial, reported The Associated Press.

A jury awarded Mr Ventura $500,000 for defamation and $1.3m for unjust enrichment.

Furthermore, the appeals court ruling said Ventura wasn’t entitled to recover all that money.

No such contract existed, said the court. The court’s opinion kills the unjust enrichment claim and ensures that the defamation claim will be retried without the question of insurance to color the outcome. It hinged its reversal on a more technical argument, but one that was a centerpiece of the appeal filed by the attorneys for Taya Kyle and her estate.

Ventura alleged that the story Kyle recounted was false and defamatory and that the success of the book was attributable in part to the story Kyle told in those pages.

“As a matter of basic evidentiary foundation, Ventura never established by direct evidence or reasonable inference that Rosenblum and Hubbard even knew about any insurance coverage or possible insurance payment”, according to the ruling. A message left with an attorney for Kyle’s estate also did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

In addition, the court ruled that the jury had been prejudiced by Ventura’s lawyer’s suggestions during the trial that any judgment against Kyle’s estate would be covered by an insurance policy held by Kyle’s publisher, HarperCollins. Such testimony is uncommon in court, they said, given it could improperly sway the jury. The district court clearly abused its discretion in denying a new trial.

“It is hard to see how Ventura’s counsel’s comments were anything other than a deliberate strategic choice to try to influence and enhance damages by referencing an impersonal deep-pocket insurer”, Chief Judge William Riley wrote.

Judges tossed the unjust-enrichment judgement because it was inconsistent with Minnesota law. Throughout the trial, Ventura argued that Kyle’s memoir contained an untrue and damaging story about him.

In previous interviews, Ventura vowed to move permanently to Mexico where he has a winter home, if he lost the case.