Libel Case Study: Ventura v Kyle On December 20, 2012 plaintiff Jesse Ventura filed a lawsuit against defendant Chris Kyle for defamation, invasion of privacy/appropriation and unjust enrichment. The issue arose over a passage from Chris Kyle’s autobiography American Sniper, the Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History, where a physical altercation is described between the plaintiff and the defendant. Kyle wrote that Ventura made offensive remarks about the Navy SEALS and their service in the Iraq War, as a result Kyle punched Ventura. The plaintiff claims that this was completely fabricated by the defendant in order to sell his book. The defendant on the other hand stands by his words and claims that “the essence of what was said was accurate” The question here is whether Mr. Ventura had a strong libel case, was he caused a measurable damage and was there a reckless disregard for the truth? The courts found in favor of Ventura for 2 of the 3 claims, awarding him with 1,345,477.25 dollars in damages. However on the misappropriation claim the courts sided with the defendant. …show more content…
In situations like this is it considered libel to tell your account of events as you believed they happened or is it protected by the first amendment if no solid evidence proves one side over the other? Judging by the 5 elements of libel cases I do think Mr. Ventura had a libel case but I don't think it was a strong one. I disagree with the courts on the defamation claim. I don't think Ventura had a strong enough case to prove that Kyle intended actual malice, especially since Ventura would be considered a public figure. Also there was no way to prove falsity since both sides had witnesses that backed up their