AJ rides again.
Posted on 08/04/2022 2:44:28 PM PDT by navysealdad
A jury in Austin ordered Alex Jones to pay $4.1 million to the parents who lost children in the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School who sued the InfoWars host for defamation.
Jones was sued by the parents after the radio host and conspiracy theorist said the Sandy Hook massacre, the deadliest mass shooting at a U.S. elementary school, was “completely fake” and a “giant hoax” during a 2017 radio show. Opening statements and testimony for the trial began last week, and the jury broke for deliberations on Wednesday.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...
“I’ll put it this way. If ABC/CBS/CNBC/CNN/MSNBC/NBC/NPR first reported, from some anonymous sources, that the Sandy Hook event was a hoax or scam (no matter if they later retracted that reporting), would we now be seeing a defamation suit against ABC/CBS/CNBC/CNN/MSNBC/NBC/NPR? I don’t think so.”
Jones lost the defamation case because he refused to cooperate, he just ignored depositions, he refused to turn over evidence, he never cooperated in the cases in Texas and Connecticut and had default judgements entered against him in both states because he just wasn’t there for proceedings.
Jones isn’t a hero. He’s a money grubbing con man.
And yeah, ABC/CBS.etc would probably be sued if they said the parents were part of the scam, meaning they were lying about having lost children.
“He said it was a hoax and all the parents were actors.”
How is that actionable? There are scores of people who say the 1969 moon landing was a hoax, and that the astronauts were actors. Are they now subject to charges?
There must be more than that. I’ll have to check this out.
AJ rides again.
Mr. Jones’ problem is not the $4 million, his problem is the contents of his phone which are no longer protected and could be made public.
Did he have to, though? If he said that it was a hoax and that the families were “crisis actors”, did he really need to specify who he was talking about for anyone who lost a child there to have standing? I don’t think he excluded anyone from his allegations.
To support an award of punitive damages, you must find that [defendant]acted with ill-will or with a wrongful intent to injure [plaintiff]. The mere act of (making) (publishing) the defamatory statement is not sufficient to justify an award of punitive damages. The evidence must establish ill feeling, personal hostility or spite, or an actual desire to hurt [plaintiff] without belief or without any reasonable grounds to believe in the truth of the defamatory statement.
This will be a heavy lift.
They’re not rich.
At his peak in 2018, Alex Jones was raking in $800k each day from InfoWars.
And they’re looking to take all of it.
Which looks an awful lot like opinion. Statements of opinion can not be “defamatory”. Only statements of fact can be
This should be appealed
“Because he voiced his personal opinion? This country sure as hell isn’t free anymore.”
Oh come on. I could knock on your neighbors’ doors and tell them you’re a child molester. I could go to someones place of employment and say they’re a child molester.
Would that be ok with you?
I guess so. It’s just my personal opinion, meaning I don’t need any evidence or facts, and apparently you’re fine with that.
Precisely. Now people can sue the January 6 Patriot Day protesters for “mental anguish” and the like. Horrible precedent and the judge was a total Kangaroo.
“They’re not rich. At his peak in 2018, Alex Jones was raking in $800k each day from InfoWars. And they’re looking to take all of it.”
He must have been representing himself, because a good lawyer should have been able to get such a case tossed.
What about his insurer? If he made the comments on air, during his radio show, he’d probably have coverage for this, and the insurer would provide defense counsel.
Sounds pretty crazy to me.
Ridiculous
” after the radio host and conspiracy theorist said the Sandy Hook massacre, the deadliest mass shooting at a U.S. elementary school, was “completely fake” and a “giant hoax” during a 2017 radio show.”
I keep hearing that, but nobody ever seems to post that video. Wonder why?
Disagree, there are plenty of cases where punitive damages are appropriate, even if they bankrupt someone.
“He said it was a hoax and all the parents were actors.”
And you of course, have the video where he said this?
“Punitive damages are by their very nature and intent excessive, they should not exist in this country. There should only be monetary damages.”
You won’t be getting any greeting cards from the plaintiffs’ bar.
Seeming appropriate or not, they are by intent excessive of damages that can be assessed for monetary causes and should be seen as being forbidden by the Constitution.
If something deserves being punished it should be a criminal matter, not a civil matter.
“Oh come on. I could knock on your neighbors’ doors and tell them you’re a child molester. I could go to someones place of employment and say they’re a child molester. Would that be ok with you?”
Much, much different. You are accusing someone of a heinous crime. From what I’m reading on this thread, Jones just said the incident was a hoax and the parents were actors. Very, very different from your scenario.
Lawyers have done more to damage the law than any other class of persons, including criminals.
You can say what you want about me. I really don't care. I know I'm none of those things, so do the very little family I have left, and the few friends I've had for 50+ years. At almost 75 years of age, this old lady could care less what anyone says about me. I'll be meeting my maker in the not-too-distant-future. He knows what kind of person that I am, and have been during my lifetime.
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