Jesse Ventura 'American Sniper' $1.8M Defamation Award Vacated

Jesse Ventura's $1.8 million "American Sniper" judgement was vacated and his defamation case was sent back for retrial by the U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday, reported the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Taya Kyle, the widow of Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, had appealed the judgement after an 8-2 civil jury's verdict in Ventura's favor after a federal trial in St. Paul in July 2014, noted the Star Tribune.

Ventura had charged that the book "American Sniper" contained a false account of a fight in a California bar in 2006 in which Chris Kyle claimed he punched a man for disparaging remarks about Navy SEALs. Kyle later identified Ventura as that man, said the Star Tribune.

Ventura said the fight never happened and the passage ruined his reputation among Navy SEALs.

In a 2-1 decision, the appeals court kicked the defamation case back to district court for a new trial, reported The Associated Press. The judges found that Ventura's attorneys improperly introduced evidence that publisher HarperCollins had an insurance policy to cover a defamation award and attorney fees.

The majority of judges ruled that the comments were prejudicial and prevented the Kyle estate from getting a fair trial, noted The AP.

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