$1.8 million judgment against ‘American Sniper’ Chris Kyle’s estate

An appeals court on Monday threw out a $1.8 million judgment against the estate of former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle that had been awarded in a lawsuit alleging Kyle had defamed former Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura in his best-selling book “American Sniper.”

Ventura, a fellow Navy veteran, said that Kyle defamed him in his 2012 book and subsequent interviews by saying the two got into a bar fight in 2006 after Ventura said the SEALs deserved to “lose a few” for their involvement in the Iraq War at a gathering following a SEAL’s funeral. Ventura denied the incident occurred.

A Minnesota jury decided in 2014 that Ventura deserved $500,000 in damages and about $1.3 million in “unjust enrichment,” which is typically awarded in cases in which the court finds someone unfairly or by chance made money at the expense of another, requiring restitution. The decision came after Kyle was murdered on a Texas gun range in 2013, and as Warner Brothers was putting the finishing touches on a film based on Kyle’s book that went on to become a blockbuster.

But in a 26-page ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit overruled the lower district court. At least seven witnesses testifying on behalf of Kyle’s estate said they heard some of the inflammatory remarks attributed to Ventura and “offered generally similar accounts of what Ventura said,” according to the ruling. All of those witnesses were current or former Navy SEALs, or friends or family of SEALs. Three people testified on Ventura’s behalf and said they saw no altercation, while acknowledging they were not with him the whole evening.

The court vacated the judgment in part by citing a line of questioning and statements made by Ventura’s counsel about the insurance policy covering Kyle’s book, published by HarperCollins. In particular, statements that any money awarded to Ventura would be paid for by the insurance policy, rather than Kyle’s family, were “improper and prejudicial,” according to the new ruling.