Litigation partner Doug Mirell spoke to Law360 about the difficulty the 15 Connecticut plaintiffs may face collecting the jury’s $965 million award in the Alex Jones defamation damages trial, as well as the potential fallout from this huge verdict.

Excerpts: 

...Douglas Mirell of Greenberg Glusker said Jones' lack of candor about assets and his company's financial position would make things difficult for the plaintiffs, and perhaps for Jones as well.

In bankruptcy, according to Mirell, there are consequences for failing to make disclosures, just as Jones' refusal to engage in meaningful handover of information in the Connecticut case ultimately resulted in a default judgment of liability against him, leaving the jury to consider only damages.

Even if the full verdict is not paid, Mirell said the case could serve as a warning to other bad actors in defamation cases.

"I hope it gets people thinking and/or second-guessing practices that they've adopted up until now, where they thought, 'I can be as outrageous and as mendacious as I want, without consequence,'" Mirell said. "I'm hoping that people begin to rethink that mindset."

Resources

• Law360 (subscription required)