Fact checking the headlines: Alex Jones will not have to pay $45.2 million in punitive damages.
Texas law caps punitive damages in this case to $1.5 million ($750K per plaintiff). The damages - compensatory and punitive - thus total $5.6 million.
See Tex. Civ. P. Rem. Code 41.008(b) ("(b) Exemplary damages awarded against a defendant may not exceed an amount equal to the greater of: (1)(A) two times the amount of economic damages; plus (B) an amount equal to any noneconomic damages found by the jury, not to exceed $750,000; or (2) $200,000.").
https://news.yahoo.com/alex-jones-sandy-hook-defamation-trial-punitive-damages-173243257.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAKxCt2jWIkl4Goloj3a7-nTzruzw714M3VqKY3MVXkK26BGBjpdALOvN4MPqk9PPRtSRwJzcCGzNxJV4YNfHu1sjXbMCSZfirp_Isa5GxXvDbOU-WRz-xAW0-_j_jlG-Fw_EVf_3H6LO1hZey5vKZOlOPKDJ3YZjNmqfRFmAvD1T
Texas law caps punitive damages in this case to $1.5 million ($750K per plaintiff). The damages - compensatory and punitive - thus total $5.6 million.
See Tex. Civ. P. Rem. Code 41.008(b) ("(b) Exemplary damages awarded against a defendant may not exceed an amount equal to the greater of: (1)(A) two times the amount of economic damages; plus (B) an amount equal to any noneconomic damages found by the jury, not to exceed $750,000; or (2) $200,000.").
https://news.yahoo.com/alex-jones-sandy-hook-defamation-trial-punitive-damages-173243257.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAKxCt2jWIkl4Goloj3a7-nTzruzw714M3VqKY3MVXkK26BGBjpdALOvN4MPqk9PPRtSRwJzcCGzNxJV4YNfHu1sjXbMCSZfirp_Isa5GxXvDbOU-WRz-xAW0-_j_jlG-Fw_EVf_3H6LO1hZey5vKZOlOPKDJ3YZjNmqfRFmAvD1T
Yahoo News
Alex Jones ordered to pay $45.2 million in punitive damages in Sandy Hook defamation case
A day after concluding that Jones must pay the parents of a 6-year-old Sandy Hook shooting victim $4.1 million in compensatory damages, a jury in Austin, Texas, on Friday ordered Jones to pay an additional $45.2 million in punitive damages.