Key facts
- A Texas appeals court reduced a $50 million judgment against Alex Jones to $1.5 million.
- The court ruled the original award improperly exceeded a statutory cap on damages.
- Alex Jones falsely claimed the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a hoax.
- The ruling stated the original judgment improperly exceeded a statutory cap on exemplary damages.
- Alex Jones faces a separate $1.4 billion verdict in Connecticut related to the Sandy Hook case.
A Texas appeals court has reduced a $50 million judgment against conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to $1.5 million. The court ruled that the original award, which stemmed from Jones falsely claiming the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a hoax, improperly exceeded a statutory cap on damages.
The Court of Appeals, Third District, stated that the trial court erred by allowing the punitive damages, which made up $45.2 million of the verdict, to be reduced to $1.5 million. The appeals court ruled that the parents should not have been allowed to amend their claims to include a disability argument that would exempt them from the punitive damages cap, because that argument required factual findings that the jury did not make.
This reduced verdict marks a partial victory for Jones, who was sued for publicly claiming the shooting did not happen and subjecting the victims' families to harassment. Along with the Texas judgment, Jones faces a $1.4 billion verdict in Connecticut, which led to his bankruptcy. He has appealed the Connecticut judgment to the U.S. Supreme Court.