Jesse Ventura's $1.8-million defamation award denied in his 'American Sniper' book case
Jesse Ventura at a WWF press conference in 1999. Now a $1.8 million jury award in his favor has been rejected. (Dawn Villella/Associated Press)
Michael Schaub
June 14 2016
Ex-professional wrestler Jesse Ventura won't be awarded the $1.8-million judgment a jury decided to give him in 2014 as the result of a defamation case against the estate of Chris Kyle, who had written disparagingly about a person resembling Ventura in his memoir "American Sniper."
[...]
In Monday's decision, the federal appeals court held that the part of the judgment Ventura was awarded for "unjust enrichment" was "not allowed by Minnesota law," because Ventura did not have a "pre-existing contractual or quasi-contractual relationship with Kyle."
In addition, the court ruled that the jury had been prejudiced by Ventura's lawyer's suggestions during the trial that any judgment against Kyle's estate would be covered by an insurance policy held by Kyle's publisher, HarperCollins.
Ventura declined to comment on the appeals court's decision, as did HarperCollins, which Ventura also sued in 2014. That lawsuit is still pending.
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