A Texas appeals court has dramatically reduced a roughly $50 million judgment against Infowars founder Alex Jones and his company, Free Speech Systems, stemming from statements Jones made about the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
The Texas Third Court of Appeals issued a unanimous ruling in Jones v. Heslin, leaving millions of dollars in compensatory damages intact while cutting the punitive damages portion of the judgment from more than $45 million to $1.5 million.
The case was brought by Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, whose 6-year-old son, Jesse Lewis, was among the 20 children killed in the shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.
Heslin and Lewis sued Jones and Free Speech Systems for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress over claims broadcast on Infowars describing the massacre as a hoax involving crisis actors.
Jones was found liable by default before a 2022 jury trial was held to determine damages.
The jury ultimately awarded Heslin and Lewis more than $4.1 million in compensatory damages. Punitive, also known as exemplary, damages pushed the overall judgment to approximately $50 million.
The appeals court, however, determined that the punitive damages award should be substantially reduced.
Under the modified judgment, Jones and Free Speech Systems face $750,000 in exemplary damages for each plaintiff, totaling $1.5 million. Combined with the compensatory award, the liability now stands at approximately $6 million before prejudgment interest and certain attorney’s fees.
The appeals court’s decision centered in part on how the trial court handled an amendment to the plaintiffs’ petition after the jury returned its verdict.
The amendment sought to invoke an exception to Texas’ statutory limits on exemplary damages based on provisions concerning injury to a disabled person.
The appeals court determined that the trial court abused its discretion in allowing the amendment because the necessary findings had not been pleaded before trial or submitted to the jury.
As a result, the court reformed the judgment using the plaintiffs’ earlier petition and applied the statutory cap of $750,000 in exemplary damages for each plaintiff.
The Texas case is separate from another massive judgment Jones faces in Connecticut.
In that case, relatives of other Sandy Hook victims, along with an FBI agent who responded to the shooting, brought claims against Jones and related entities for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress, according to Trending Politics.
The Connecticut proceedings resulted in a judgment of approximately $1.25 billion against Jones.
Jones sought to have the U.S. Supreme Court review the Connecticut case, but the high court ultimately declined to hear his appeal.
The Texas ruling therefore represents a substantial reduction in one of the major judgments Jones has faced over his past statements about Sandy Hook, although the much larger Connecticut judgment remains separate from Friday’s decision.
