Texas Court Reduces Alex Jones Award to $6 Million

The Third Court of Appeals in Austin reduced a defamation judgment against Alex Jones from approximately $50 million to $6 million. The court slashed punitive damages to $1.5 million to comply with Texas state caps, while leaving $4.1 million in compensatory damages for parents Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis intact.

The court ruled that the trial court abused its discretion by allowing lawyers to amend their petition after the verdict to justify a judgment that exceeded statutory limits. Jones, the founder of Infowars, described the ruling as a victory for the First Amendment and indicated he intends to appeal the decision to the Texas Supreme Court.

Lawyers for the families dismissed the ruling as irrelevant, noting that it affects only a small portion of the overall claims. Jones still faces more than $1 billion in liabilities from separate judgments in Connecticut. Both Jones and his company, Free Speech Systems, remain in bankruptcy proceedings as Infowars assets face liquidation.