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Not a lawyer, but that didn't seem to have happened?
Quote from this article: https://www.reuters.com/legal/appeals-court-upholds-nearly-1...
"A three-judge panel of the Connecticut Appellate Court found that a jury's October 2022 decision to award $965 million in damages plus attorneys fees and costs to families of the shooting's victims was not unreasonable given the mental anguish they suffered due to the lies by Jones about Sandy Hook."
They found fault with a smaller portion of the whole award, and even there not because it was found to be excessive: "the judges found fault only with a portion awarding $150 million in damages under a state unfair trade practices law, finding that should be thrown out because it did not properly apply to the facts of the case."
https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/connecticut-court-uphold...
If it stands, it would also set a pretty bad precedent. Trump could sue MSNBC for $1B for their RussiaGate reporting. Gaetz could sue ABC for $1B their View reporting, etc. They would be effectively shut down.
Or maybe it would be good. It would force news organizations to not be so sloppy.
Almost. He was overtly attempting to stall the proceedings by endlessly failing to co-operate in discovery.
Why?
> Because they are usually paid in excess of the plaintiff's provable injuries, punitive damages are awarded only in special cases, usually under tort law, if the defendant's conduct was egregiously insidious.
Lopez ruled that more than $1.1 billion of those verdicts, awarded for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress, cannot be wiped away in bankruptcy. But he ruled that other parts of the verdicts, including $324 million in attorneys' fees that were awarded as punitive damages in the Connecticut case, could possibly be discharged.
The $1B is a ridiculous number that will never get repaid and it's just to make a big emotional virtuous show. Judges aren't supposed to be emotional, judges aren't supposed to let their personal feelings affect their virdict. If it was say $15, $20, $35 million, the families might get something. It makes a mockery out of the justice system and just goes to show how unserious law is in the US today. Why not $5 trillion? Why not $50 trillion, would that be too obvious where $1 billion somehow is not? Reminds me of the trial in Idiocracy.