Jesse Ventura wants court to substitute Chris Kyle’s widow in defamation lawsuit over ‘American Sniper’ story
An image of former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle with his wife Taya that was part of the February 11 memorial service held at Cowboys Stadium (David Woo/Staff photographer)
Their attorneys were in federal court just yesterday, pleading their respective cases to a judge who will have to decide if Taya is now responsible for a tale told in American Sniper about a bar fight Chris had gotten into with a man identified only as “Scruff Face,” who Kyle later acknowledged was Ventura [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhjHWovwix4 (next below); see also e.g. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VU5MLcWXzfo ].
The story only takes up a couple of pages, but Ventura insists it never happened: He says he never bad-mouthed President George W. Bush and the war in Iraq, never said the SEALs “deserve to lose a few,” and never got “laid … out” by Chris Kyle.
“Governor Ventura sued for defamation because the alleged incident described in Kyle’s book is a complete fabrication and is a vicious, deliberate, and calculated assault on his character, honor, and reputation that is intended to turn the SEAL and military community, and Americans in general, against him,” says a document filed last month. And though “Kyle was tragically killed” on February 2, says the motion, since Taya is now executor of his estate, she should be substituted as the defendant [actually, the motion seeks to substitute the estate, and not Taya personally, as the defendant; doing so requires that Taya, as the estate's executor, be the named defendant (see e.g. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5wMoWyyao8 )].
Taya’s attorneys responded on May 29 by calling Ventura’s motion “a disappointment, but no surprise.”
Says the response, Chris was in the midst of working on a motion to get the entire suit tossed when he and Chad Littlefield were shot and killed at a gun range southwest of Fort Worth.
“Continuing this action will serve no useful purpose, and likely will promote public perception of Jesse Ventura as someone who has little or no regard for the feelings and welfare of surviving family members of deceased war heroes,” says the court document. “… Ventura would better serve his asserted interest in burnishing his public image by taking the high road and declining to continue this lawsuit, rather than by engaging in litigation that seeks money he does not need and that unnecessarily burdens military families. Ventura seems incapable of seeing that, but this Court may view the matter more clearly and exercise its discretion to deny Ventura’s motion to substitute Taya Kyle, Executor of the Estate of Chris Kyle, as the defendant in this case.”
According to court documents, yesterday’s hearing lasted 12 minutes, and U.S. Chief Magistrate Judge has yet to issue an order.
The back-and-forth between Ventura and Taya’s attorneys is below.
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