roanoker Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2014/07/30/jesse-ventura-vs-chris-kyle-a-case-where-no-one-won/ Jesse Ventura just walked away from a defamation lawsuit against late Navy SEAL Chris Kyle with $1.845 million. But the former Minnesota governor and WWE Hall of Famer is clearly walking away with some damage to his reputation as well. A Minnesota jury decided Tuesday that Ventura had been defamed when Kyle alleged he had punched Ventura in a bar in 2006 over comments he made. The sniper claimed Ventura disparaged Navy SEALs and said that they “deserved to lose some” for their actions in the war. Ventura, in turn, insisted the whole event never happened, and the majority of the jury — it was an unusual split 8-2 decision — appeared to agree with him. But in taking money from the Kyle estate, Ventura is taking a pounding from many military supporters and veterans. The common refrain: Even if Kyle lied about Ventura, they say, the defamation case should have been dropped after Kyle was shot to death on a gun range in Texas in 2013, allegedly by a Marine veteran he was helping through post-traumatic stress. For more click link... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s0crates Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 I like Jesse Ventura, and I get he wanted to correct the slander against him, but he has a PR problem now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popeman38 Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 Ventura should be in a room with padded walls. He fell off the rocker a LONG time ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TradeTheBeal! Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 The legal expenses of the Kyle estate and the judgement against it will be paid by the publisher's insurance or so I've heard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riggo-toni Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 If he were smart he would give the money back (or at least wjatever he has left after lawyers' fees) and state he only did it to clear his name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s0crates Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 I guess that's probably the end of Ventura 2016 (admittedly it wasn't much of a beginning). I was looking forward to seeing him in the debates too. If the GOP weren't such a nightmare, I'd just write in "no confidence" every time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeesburgSkinFan Posted August 1, 2014 Share Posted August 1, 2014 I saw a former SEAL on the news the other night who said "They used to call us quiet professionals. If either of these men had acted like that, this trial would never have happened." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stugein Posted August 1, 2014 Share Posted August 1, 2014 I saw a former SEAL on the news the other night who said "They used to call us quiet professionals. If either of these men had acted like that, this trial would never have happened." Says the SEAL..on television. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Special K Posted August 2, 2014 Share Posted August 2, 2014 Ventura is a complete ass clown and always has been ever since I can remember. I'm happy to see so much public backlash against him; it's exactly what he deserves for continuing a lawsuit against Chris Kyle's widow after his murder. Seriously, what a P.O.S. That said, I'd love to see him run for anything in 2016 just to watch him get ripped over this lawsuit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dont Taze Me Bro Posted August 2, 2014 Share Posted August 2, 2014 Ventura is a complete ass clown and always has been ever since I can remember. I'm happy to see so much public backlash against him; it's exactly what he deserves for continuing a lawsuit against Chris Kyle's widow after his murder. Seriously, what a P.O.S. That said, I'd love to see him run for anything in 2016 just to watch him get ripped over this lawsuit. This is a sensitive topic. Like the thread title, nobody wins. You can't fault a man for trying to clear his name if he was truly slandered, taking into consideration he is now a politician. On the other hand, it appears ****ty to carry on a lawsuit after the man passes. Just a ****ty situation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Special K Posted August 2, 2014 Share Posted August 2, 2014 This is a sensitive topic. Like the thread title, nobody wins. You can't fault a man for trying to clear his name if he was truly slandered, taking into consideration he is now a politician. On the other hand, it appears ****ty to carry on a lawsuit after the man passes. Just a ****ty situation. You're correct, and I can't really fault a man for suing the person who he believes slandered him. However, I definitely will call him a jerk for continuing the lawsuit after the person he alleged slandered him was murdered. I think Ventura actually did more damage to his reputation by winning a $1.8 million judgement against the widow of the slain sniper than anything in the book could have done. About the only thing Ventura can do to "redeem" himself (thereby elevating himself back up to "quasi ass clown" status instead of "full blown ass clown" status in my eyes) is if, as he has stated, this wasn't about the money and he doesn't take a penny from Chris Kyle's widow. I don't have high hopes for that happening, however. Regardless, congrats Mr. Ventura, you've restored your reputation by suing the widow of a war hero. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s0crates Posted August 2, 2014 Share Posted August 2, 2014 I think the publisher's insurance pays the settlement, not the widow. A lot of people are making that mistake. If somebody was lying about me for publicity I'd be peeved too, and the verdict proves Ventura was in the right on that, but he should have had the political savvy to know how people would spin this. Too bad. I like "Off the Grid." I like political independents who defend the Bill of Rights. I like guys who criticize the corruption in our government. Now everybody will dismiss all that with, "Isn't he the guy who sued some poor widow?" I think it is a shame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s0crates Posted August 2, 2014 Share Posted August 2, 2014 http://m.nationalreview.com/article/384176/justice-jesse-ventura-was-right-his-lawsuit-j-delgado Justice for Jesse: Ventura Was Right in His Lawsuit People beating up on The Body are ignoring facts and basic fairness. By A. J. Delgado Jesse Ventura, former NAVY Seal (yes, he really was), pro-wrestler, Minnesota governor, and TV host, prevailed Tuesday in his defamation suit against the late Navy SEAL Chris Kyle. A jury awarded Ventura $1.845 million stemming from a passage in Kyle’s 2012 book American Sniper, in which Kyle recounts a 2006 fight inside a bar after a fallen serviceman’s wake. Kyle wrote that he and his group encountered a character named “Scruff Face,” who insulted George W. Bush, slammed the Iraq War, and even added the horrific sneer that SEALS “deserved to lose a few.” A fight ensued and, according to Kyle, “being level-headed and calm can last only so long. I laid him out. Tables flew. Stuff happened. Scruff Face ended up on the floor.” He added that Scruff Face reportedly had a black eye the next day. Kyle should have perhaps left it at that. But during his book tour stop on the Opie and Anthony show, he identified “Scruff Face” as none other than Jesse Ventura. He repeated the claim again in another interview with Fox News. The news transformed Ventura into the most hated man in America, and persona non grata in the military and veteran communities. TV-show deals for Ventura, who had developed a career as a television host with a penchant for exploring conspiracy theories, reportedly dried up as a result. But then a curious thing happened: Ventura immediately came forth, not issuing the standard press release with a banal denial but rather resolutely and categorically denying he ever made such statements, and affirming that he was never knocked in that California bar or was ever in any altercation with Kyle. Someone here was clearly lying — but who? For those of us paying attention, Kyle’s story seemed fishy from the get-go. Why would Ventura make such remarks in the company of friends and fellow SEALS, especially those who were at a bar as part of a wake for a fallen warrior? Only a hair-raisingly evil person would say they “deserve to lose a few,” much less to men who have just buried a fellow soldier. While Ventura has been quite publicly critical of both Bush and much U.S. policy (and, for the record, I am not excusing his views), hatred of individual servicemen is a whole other ballgame. Legal experts claimed Ventura had no shot. A widow crying on the stand? Too sympathetic. A decorated war hero who was tragically killed (in an unrelated accident after Ventura filed suit)? Too sympathetic. Ventura was facing an almost insurmountable uphill battle in an already tricky area of the law. Once the trial actually began, however, the truth began to emerge. For instance, Kyle, who sat for a lengthy video deposition prior to his death, was inconsistent in his story, described by one local reporter with the following headline: “In video deposition, author trips up on fight details in Ventura libel suit.” The Minneaopolis Star-Tribune describes the testimony . . . After a thorough trial, in which the jury listened to multiple witnesses from both sides, the jury found in favor of Ventura, finding Kyle had indeed defamed the former wrestler. The court awarded Ventura more than $1.8 million (far lower than the amount Ventura sought), consisting of $500,000 for defamation damages and an additional $1.3 million for “unjust enrichment” (meaning that Kyle and his estate wrongly profited from said defamation). The book publisher’s libel insurance will cover the $500,000. Social media, even journalists, became downright hysterical, insulting Ventura and making knee-jerk defenses of Kyle — so hysterical, in fact, that facts and logic were outright nonexistent. Consider a few of the frantic claims, along with the facts: MYTH: He sued a widow! What a monster! . . . More at link. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Special K Posted August 2, 2014 Share Posted August 2, 2014 I think the publisher's insurance pays the settlement, not the widow. A lot of people are making that mistake. Regardless of who actually pays Ventura, I think the outrage it has more to do with Ventura continuing the lawsuit against the widow (or the Kyle estate now run by the widow) after the person who actually slandered him was killed. For a politician, Ventura was pretty stupid not to anticipate the media spin and ensuing public backlash he'd receive for continuing on with his lawsuit against the widow. How he did not anticipate being seen as a big bully, forcing upon Kyle's widow the continuation of this additional burdensome trial she would have to deal with on top of dealing with her husband's death and having to go through the murder trial of the man accused of shooting her husband. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kosher Ham Posted August 2, 2014 Share Posted August 2, 2014 As crazy as he may be...some others may be just as crazy. Some are indeed crazier. I have no problem with him trying to protect his name. What does his widow have to do with anything ? The suit already started. I get it the guy died...that does not change anything else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeesburgSkinFan Posted August 2, 2014 Share Posted August 2, 2014 Ventura's reputation was already **** outside of the 9/11 truthers-Alex Jones-FEMA death camp crowd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MEANDWARF Posted August 2, 2014 Share Posted August 2, 2014 IMO, the only way that Ventura can reclaim any honor from this debacle is by giving the money back to the widow or donating it to an organization that help veterans such as the Wounded Warrior Project. His career in the public mainstream is over as far as I'm concern. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hersh Posted August 2, 2014 Share Posted August 2, 2014 IMO, the only way that Ventura can reclaim any honor from this debacle is by giving the money back to the widow or donating it to an organization that help veterans such as the Wounded Warrior Project. His career in the public mainstream is over as far as I'm concern. The widow is financially very well off even after this lawsuit. A lot of money will go toward the attorneys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sherrardsd Posted August 2, 2014 Share Posted August 2, 2014 I don't see anything wrong with what Ventura is doing. It would be nice for him to donate the money to a veterans organization but I don't see why he would give the money back to the widow. Kyle made up a bunch of lies in his book and made a lot of money from it. Just because he was later killed doesn't erase or change anything from the book fiasco. Obviously I feel terrible that the wife lost her husband. But that has nothing to do with this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Special K Posted August 2, 2014 Share Posted August 2, 2014 I have no problem with him trying to protect his name. What does his widow have to do with anything ? The suit already started. I get it the guy died...that does not change anything else. Well, it certainly changed a lot of things in the court of public opinion about him and his character. Ultimately, it's pretty ironic this lawsuit was supposedly not about the money, but rather about clearing his name and repairing the damage the stories in this book did to his upstanding public reputation. Yet, by continuing the lawsuit against Chris Kyle's widow following Mr. Kyle's death, he pissed off more people at him than the bar fight stories ever could have. Not too smart on his part for failing to anticipate the public backlash he'd receive for this...duuuurrrr, lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TradeTheBeal! Posted August 2, 2014 Share Posted August 2, 2014 Well, it certainly changed a lot of things in the court of public opinion about him and his character. Ultimately, it's pretty ironic this lawsuit was supposedly not about the money, but rather about clearing his name and repairing the damage the stories in this book did to his upstanding public reputation. Yet, by continuing the lawsuit against Chris Kyle's widow following Mr. Kyle's death, he pissed off more people at him than the bar fight stories ever could have. Not too smart on his part for failing to anticipate the public backlash he'd receive for this...duuuurrrr, lol. I think it's safe to say that the people that he pissed off by clearing his name in a court of law were highly unlikely to ever hold him in high regard….durrrrrrr, lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Special K Posted August 3, 2014 Share Posted August 3, 2014 I think it's safe to say that the people that he pissed off by clearing his name in a court of law were highly unlikely to ever hold him in high regard….durrrrrrr, lol. Yes, you make a valid point, mboyd: Ventura is pretty well disliked by quite a number of people out there for being an ass clown, particularly in his later years. No trial verdict would change that well established opinion of him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s0crates Posted August 3, 2014 Share Posted August 3, 2014 What is it exactly that makes somebody an "ass clown"? Or are we just resorting to name calling? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Special K Posted August 3, 2014 Share Posted August 3, 2014 What is it exactly that makes somebody an "ass clown"? Or are we just resorting to name calling? I would think that if you've followed his later life and career in politics and television (particularly his "Conspiracy Theory" show), you wouldn't really need to ask that question. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TradeTheBeal! Posted August 3, 2014 Share Posted August 3, 2014 I would think that if you've followed his later life and career in politics and television (particularly his "Conspiracy Theory" show), you wouldn't really need to ask that question. The "Jesse Ventura is a Clown" thread will be fun. But this thread is about the civil case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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