After ordering conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to pay more than $4 million in compensatory damages to the parents of a boy killed in the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, jurors will return Friday to consider whether to award punitive damages
The jury, which announced the partial verdict Thursday after several dramatic days in court, plans to hear additional testimony about Mr. Jones and his disinformation outlet Infowars that will likely include a discussion of his and his company’s net worth.
Compensatory damages are based on proven damage, loss or injury, and are often calculated based on the fair market value of the damaged property, lost wages and expenses, according to Cornell Law School. Punitive damages are designed to punish particularly harmful behavior and are usually awarded at the court’s discretion, and are sometimes multiples of a compensatory award.
Mr. Jones is accused of defaming the families of children killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook mass shooting, falsely portraying them as actors participating in a hoax (he acknowledged this week that the shooting was “100 percent real”). The award announced Thursday for Scarlett Lewis and Neil Heslin, whose 6-year-old son Jesse Lewis was killed in the attack, was the first to emerge from several lawsuits filed by the victims’ parents in 2018.
A damages trial in another of the lawsuits was scheduled to begin next month in Connecticut, but could be delayed due to a bankruptcy filing last week by Free Speech Systems, Infowars’ parent company. Lawyers for the families criticized the move as another attempt by Mr. Jones to protect his wealth and evade judgment.
As of Friday, lawyers for Ms. Lewis and Mr. Heslin deepen the financial situation of Mr. Jones, calling an economist as an expert witness. This week, they released records showing that at one point in 2018, Infowars was making more than $800,000 a day.
The parents had sought $150 million in compensatory damages.