A jury last month ordered Jones and his company, Free Speech Systems, to pay nearly $1 billion in compensation to the Sandy Hook families for the harm they suffered when he persuaded his audience that the 2012 shooting that killed 26 people was a hoax perpetrated by “crisis actors.”
The jury also said punitive damages should be awarded. That amount, to be determined by Judge Barbara Bellis following the court hearing Friday and another one Monday, would be added to the compensatory damages already ordered.
The plaintiffs’ lawyers, in court filings, suggested punitive damages under the act could total $2.75 trillion based on one hypothetical calculation, but they have not asked for a specific amount. “Few defendants alive could pay damages of this sum,” Pattis wrote in a brief. “Indeed, most defendants would be driven into bankruptcy, their livelihood destroyed, and their future transformed into the bleak prospect of a judgment debtor saddled for decades with a debt that cannot be satisfied. To regard this as anything other than punishment would be unjust.”
Strangers showed up at some of their homes and confronted some of them in public. People hurled abusive comments at them on social media and in emails. And some said they received death and rape threats. They also said punitive damages for violations of the unfair trade practices law typically are multiple times more than compensatory damages.
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