A Texas appeals court has reduced a $50 million judgment to $1.5 million against Infowars founder Alex Jones. The ruling follows findings that Jones and his company, Free Speech Systems, were liable for damages after falsely claiming the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, was a hoax.
The Texas Third Court of Appeals unanimously ruled that the trial judge improperly allowed Sandy Hook parents Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis to exceed a statutory cap on damage awards. The court found that the parents did not provide evidence that the harassment enflamed by Jones' claims rose to a level that would allow them to exceed the state's $750,000 cap.
The 2022 verdict against Jones marked the first time he was held financially liable for claiming the massacre was faked by the government to tighten gun laws. While this ruling is a significant legal victory for Jones, it does not affect a separate $1.4 billion judgment against him in Connecticut.
Jones and Free Speech Systems have filed for bankruptcy, and those legal proceedings continue.