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Texas appeals court slashes Alex Jones’s Sandy Hook punitive award

The Third Court of Appeals cut punitive damages to $1.5 million from about $45 million, leaving $4.1 million in compensatory damages. A separate Connecticut judgment of more than $1 billion is untouched.

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A Texas appeals court on Friday reduced punitive damages Alex Jones was ordered to pay Sandy Hook parents Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis from about $45 million to $1.5 million — $750,000 each — under the state’s cap. Compensatory damages of about $4.1 million stand. The court said the trial judge improperly allowed a post-verdict amendment used to exceed the cap. Jones called it a victory; the parents’ lawyer Mark Bankston said it changes nothing because Jones still faces more than $1 billion from a Connecticut verdict. Outlets disagree on whether that Connecticut figure is about $1.25 billion or $1.4 billion.