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Jesse Ventura Wins Defamation Case
By MONICA DAVEYJULY 29, 2014
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/30/us...suit.html?_r=0
ST. PAUL — Jesse Ventura, the former wrestler and Minnesota governor, was defamed when a former member of the Navy SEALs wrote a book about an encounter he said he had with Mr. Ventura in a bar eight years ago, a federal jury here found on Tuesday.
Although verdicts in such cases are customarily unanimous, both sides agreed to a split verdict. The verdict of 8 to 2 was reached after more than a week of deliberations. Jurors awarded Mr. Ventura $500,000 for defamation and $1.3 million for what was termed the author’s unjust enrichment.
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Mr. Ventura, 63, had sued the estate of Chris Kyle, the former member of the SEALs, saying that his book, “American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History,” included passages about Mr. Ventura that were false and defamatory. Mr. Ventura, an outspoken and colorful figure, stunned the nation by winning election as governor of Minnesota against two well-known candidates from the traditional parties. He was governor from 1999 to 2003.
During two weeks of testimony in a federal courtroom in St. Paul, jurors heard a videotaped deposition from Mr. Kyle, who defended his writings as accurate. The jurors were presented an array of statements Mr. Ventura made on topics like religion and war over many years, and defense lawyers suggested that his reputation was already deeply complicated. Most of all, the jurors heard from witnesses with varying memories of one evening in a California bar in 2006 – the scene from the book that Mr. Ventura contended was false.
Mr. Ventura, who served years ago on a Navy underwater demolition team, acknowledged that he was inside the bar – a place frequented by special Navy units like the SEALs - on the night Mr. Kyle described in his book. But Mr. Ventura vehemently denied claims in the book that he had made derogatory statements about fellow members of the military while in the bar, or had said at one point during the evening that the SEALs deserved “to lose a few.”
In his deposition, Mr. Kyle said Mr. Ventura had indeed made such comments, and that Mr. Kyle had ended the conversation by punching Mr. Ventura as he described in the book. Several witnesses for Mr. Kyle said that they had overheard the former governor’s negative comments or had seen him on the ground following an altercation, while witnesses for Mr. Ventura said they saw no such confrontation that night.
Mr. Ventura was not named in the book, which came out in 2012. The chapter on the bar scene referred to a celebrity named “Scruff Face.” But Mr. Kyle said during media interviews after the book’s release that he was referring to Mr. Ventura.
Mr. Ventura said his reputation among military members had been harmed and that his income had been affected as entertainment offers dropped off after the release of the book. Jurors were shown a graph of Mr. Ventura and his wife’s gross income, which ranged from more than $3 million some years to less than $200,000 in 2012.
Mr. Kyle died in a shooting in Texas last year after the book had been published and after Mr. Ventura filed suit. Mr. Ventura continued the lawsuit at that point, pursuing the executor of Mr. Kyle’s estate, his widow, Taya. That irked some members of the military, Ms. Kyle’s lawyers said, who thought Mr. Ventura was pushing the case too far.
Mr. Ventura’s role as a public figure – he has been a wrestler, governor and author, and is now the host of a digital video show, “Off the Grid” – complicated matters at trial. A higher legal standard is required for a public figure to prove defamation. To meet the higher standard and prove actual malice in such cases, lawyers need to show, for instance, that an author knew that what he was writing was false, legal experts said.
All along, Mr. Ventura has said that his lawsuit is not about money. He said he never would have gone to court had Mr. Kyle admitted in public that he made up the story of the bar fight. Mr. Ventura said he really just wanted an apology and to clear his name. When that did not happen, he told jurors, he felt he was left with no other choice but to sue. “I was handcuffed,” he testified.
By MONICA DAVEYJULY 29, 2014
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/30/us...suit.html?_r=0
ST. PAUL — Jesse Ventura, the former wrestler and Minnesota governor, was defamed when a former member of the Navy SEALs wrote a book about an encounter he said he had with Mr. Ventura in a bar eight years ago, a federal jury here found on Tuesday.
Although verdicts in such cases are customarily unanimous, both sides agreed to a split verdict. The verdict of 8 to 2 was reached after more than a week of deliberations. Jurors awarded Mr. Ventura $500,000 for defamation and $1.3 million for what was termed the author’s unjust enrichment.
Continue reading the main story
Related Coverage
Mr. Ventura, 63, had sued the estate of Chris Kyle, the former member of the SEALs, saying that his book, “American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History,” included passages about Mr. Ventura that were false and defamatory. Mr. Ventura, an outspoken and colorful figure, stunned the nation by winning election as governor of Minnesota against two well-known candidates from the traditional parties. He was governor from 1999 to 2003.
During two weeks of testimony in a federal courtroom in St. Paul, jurors heard a videotaped deposition from Mr. Kyle, who defended his writings as accurate. The jurors were presented an array of statements Mr. Ventura made on topics like religion and war over many years, and defense lawyers suggested that his reputation was already deeply complicated. Most of all, the jurors heard from witnesses with varying memories of one evening in a California bar in 2006 – the scene from the book that Mr. Ventura contended was false.
Mr. Ventura, who served years ago on a Navy underwater demolition team, acknowledged that he was inside the bar – a place frequented by special Navy units like the SEALs - on the night Mr. Kyle described in his book. But Mr. Ventura vehemently denied claims in the book that he had made derogatory statements about fellow members of the military while in the bar, or had said at one point during the evening that the SEALs deserved “to lose a few.”
In his deposition, Mr. Kyle said Mr. Ventura had indeed made such comments, and that Mr. Kyle had ended the conversation by punching Mr. Ventura as he described in the book. Several witnesses for Mr. Kyle said that they had overheard the former governor’s negative comments or had seen him on the ground following an altercation, while witnesses for Mr. Ventura said they saw no such confrontation that night.
Mr. Ventura was not named in the book, which came out in 2012. The chapter on the bar scene referred to a celebrity named “Scruff Face.” But Mr. Kyle said during media interviews after the book’s release that he was referring to Mr. Ventura.
Mr. Ventura said his reputation among military members had been harmed and that his income had been affected as entertainment offers dropped off after the release of the book. Jurors were shown a graph of Mr. Ventura and his wife’s gross income, which ranged from more than $3 million some years to less than $200,000 in 2012.
Mr. Kyle died in a shooting in Texas last year after the book had been published and after Mr. Ventura filed suit. Mr. Ventura continued the lawsuit at that point, pursuing the executor of Mr. Kyle’s estate, his widow, Taya. That irked some members of the military, Ms. Kyle’s lawyers said, who thought Mr. Ventura was pushing the case too far.
Mr. Ventura’s role as a public figure – he has been a wrestler, governor and author, and is now the host of a digital video show, “Off the Grid” – complicated matters at trial. A higher legal standard is required for a public figure to prove defamation. To meet the higher standard and prove actual malice in such cases, lawyers need to show, for instance, that an author knew that what he was writing was false, legal experts said.
All along, Mr. Ventura has said that his lawsuit is not about money. He said he never would have gone to court had Mr. Kyle admitted in public that he made up the story of the bar fight. Mr. Ventura said he really just wanted an apology and to clear his name. When that did not happen, he told jurors, he felt he was left with no other choice but to sue. “I was handcuffed,” he testified.
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