The U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday overturned a jury's decision to award $1.8 million to former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura in a 2014 defamation case. 
 
 A three-judge panel unanimously threw out the $1.35 million award to Ventura for "unjust enrichment," saying Minnesota law did not permit it. And in a 2-1 decision, it reversed the $500,000 award for defamation, remanding the case to the district court for a new trial on that question. 
 
 The decision was a victory for Taya Kyle, the widow of Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, who wrote the bestselling memoir "American Sniper" that Ventura said defamed him. It was also a win for national news organizations that had urged that the verdict be thrown out. 
 
 "If a person bringing a libel suit could collect not just for damages, but for unjust enrichment … the whole nature of libel law would have been changed in a very threatening way," said Floyd Abrams, a prominent First Amendment attorney in New York, who had filed an amicus brief on behalf of 33 news organizations. 
 
 The ruling was a serious blow to Ventura, the former professional wrestler who served as governor from 1999 to 2003. 
 
 A Ventura spokeswoman said Monday he was waiting to consult with his attorneys and would not comment at this time. His attorneys did not return phone calls. Taya Kyle could not be reached, and neither her attorneys nor "American Sniper" publisher HarperCollins would comment. 
 
 Ventura 
 
 Ventura's suit claimed that Kyle's memoir contained a false account of a fight in a California bar in 2006 in which Kyle claimed he punched a man named "Scruff Face" for disparaging the war in Iraq and saying the SEALs "deserve to lose a few." Kyle later identified the man as Ventura. 
 
 Ventura contended that the incident never happened and the passage ruined his reputation among Navy SEALs, whose reunions he routinely attended after serving with the SEALs during the Vietnam War. 
 
 Taya Kyle appealed the jury's verdict, which came after a three-week federal trial in St. Paul in July 2014. After six days of deliberations, the 10-member jury deadlocked. Not knowing which side the jury favored, U.S. District Judge Richard Kyle, no relation to Chris Kyle, won agreement from the attorneys on both sides to allow for the split decision. The verdict favored Ventura 8 to 2. 
 
 The appeals court found that the unjust enrichment claim was not applicable in Ventura's case. 
 
 To prevail, Ventura would have had to establish that he had at least a "preexisting contractual or quasi-contractual relationship with Kyle," the ruling said. 
 
 No such contract existed, said the court. "Ventura's unjust-enrichment claim is not allowed by Minnesota law." 
 
 In addition, the appellate court said, the "adequate remedy" for compensation in defamation cases was a defamation award for unjust enrichment. However, the appeals court majority also overturned the $500,000 defamation award. It hinged its reversal on a more technical argument, but one that was a centerpiece of the appeal filed by the attorneys for Taya Kyle and her late husband's estate. 
 
 The appellate court said that Ventura's attorney, David B. Olsen, was wrong to suggest at trial that any payouts by Taya Kyle — should the jury conclude Ventura was defamed — would be covered by insurance purchased by HarperCollins, the publisher of "American Sniper." 
 
 Olsen raised the insurance issue in questioning two employees of HarperCollins and during closing arguments. 
 
 The mention of insurance prejudiced the jury, the Eighth Circuit said. Jurors would be less hesitant to make a substantial defamation award if they were aware that Taya Kyle was covered by an insurance policy, the court said. 
 
 Olsen had argued in court and in his appeal that the publishing contract mentions the insurance policy and Taya Kyle's attorneys introduced the contract into evidence. 
 
 The Eighth Circuit stated, "We must conclude Ventura's counsel's closing remarks, in combination with the improper cross-examination of two witnesses about Kyle's insurance coverage, prevented Kyle from receiving a fair trial. The district court clearly abused its discretion in denying a new trial. … We remand the defamation claim for a new trial." 
 
 The decision was written by William J. Riley, chief judge of the Eighth Circuit, joined by Judge Bobby E. Shepherd. 
 
 In a partial dissent, Judge Lavenski Smith concurred with the majority's decision to reverse the unjust enrichment award but said the defamation award should be upheld. 
 
 Smith wrote that Olsen's statement and questions to witnesses about insurance were "harmless and nonprejudicial." 
 
 In addition, he wrote, there was only a passing reference to insurance during Olsen's hourlong closing argument. 
 
 Kyle 
 
 Wrote Smith, "The $500,000 in damages on the defamation claim is not an excessive verdict; as even the majority concedes, the verdict 'is probably not beyond the bounds of rationality.' " 
 
 Mark Anfinson, a local media attorney, called the appeals decision "a huge victory, not just for the media but for free speech generally." 
 
 "There had never been, so far as anyone knew, an award in a defamation case for unjust enrichment as well." 
 
 It is unclear what Ventura will do. 
 
 "It is going to be back to the drawing board as to whether Ventura wants to go through this again," said Jane Kirtley, professor of media ethics and law at the University of Minnesota School of Journalism and Mass Communications. 
 
 Leonard Niehoff, a University of Michigan law professor who wrote an amicus brief signed by First Amendment scholars, said, "As a practical matter, when cases go back for retrial, retrials do not happen for one reason or another, but it is still a reversal and a very important victory for the defendants." 

 (Reuters) - A divided federal appeals court on Monday overturned a $1.85 million award that former Minnesota Governor and professional wrestler Jesse Ventura won after claiming he was defamed by the late author of the best-selling memoir “American Sniper.” 
 
 Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura speaks to the media a at the governor's office in the state capitol in St. Paul, Minnesota, November 4, 2002. REUTERS/Eric Miller 
 
 The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals voided a St. Paul, Minnesota jury’s July 2014 award of $500,000 for defamation and about $1.35 million for unjust enrichment against the estate of former U.S. Navy Seal Chris Kyle. It ordered a new trial on the defamation claim. 
 
 Kyle had been the deadliest sniper in U.S. military history, responsible for 160 kills during his career. He was shot to death at age 38 at a Texas shooting range in February 2013. His memoir became a blockbuster movie. 
 
 Ventura’s lawyer did not immediately respond to requests for comment. 
 
 Lawyers for Kyle’s widow Taya referred requests for comment to News Corp’s HarperCollins, the memoir’s publisher. A spokeswoman, Erin Crum, said HarperCollins was reviewing the decision. 
 
 In his 2012 memoir, Chris Kyle wrote that he had in October 2006 punched out a man identified as “Scruff Face” in a southern California bar, following the funeral of a fellow SEAL. 
 
 He said the incident occurred after Scruff Face criticized the Iraq war and former U.S. President George W. Bush, said the SEALs deserved “to lose a few,” and took a swing at Kyle. 
 
 While promoting the memoir, Kyle identified Ventura as Scruff Face. 
 
 Ventura, a former SEAL, has said he was at the bar, but that the altercation was made up, and the memoir hurt his reputation. 
 
 By a 2-1 vote, the appeals court said the defamation award must be voided because of improper questioning of two witnesses, and improper remarks by Ventura’s lawyer during closing arguments, suggesting that insurance might cover any judgment against Kyle’s estate. 
 
 “It is difficult to see how Ventura’s counsel’s comments were anything other than a deliberate strategic choice to try to influence and enhance damages by referencing an impersonal deep-pocket insurer,” Chief Judge William Riley wrote. 
 
 The appeals court unanimously voided the $1.35 million award for unjust enrichment, representing some profits from Kyle’s memoir, saying Minnesota law did not support Ventura’s claim. Jurors had recommended the award, which the trial judge adopted. 
 
 Ventura was Minnesota’s governor from 1999 to 2003. 
 
 “American Sniper” became a 2014 movie starring Bradley Cooper and directed by Clint Eastwood, and grossed more than $500 million worldwide. 
 
 The case is Ventura v Kyle et al, 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 14-3876. 

 Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura said Wednesday his successful lawsuit against the estate of late Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle was about "the truth" and that he has no plans to reach out to Kyle's widow, who is the executor of the Kyle's estate, now that the trial is over. 
 
 "All I wanted to do was clear my name, and it has nothing to do with a widow or anything like that," Ventura said on "CBS This Morning" during his first post-trial interview. 
 
 The dispute revolves around the description of an alleged incident in Kyle's book, "American Sniper," in which the former SEAL claimed he punched Ventura in 2006 after the former governor said the SEALs "deserved to lose a few" in Iraq. 
 
 "I would have been a big-time loser had I not pursued the lawsuit, because ... the whole story was fabricated," Ventura said. "I was accused of treason, which in the military is the death penalty." 
 
 Before he was killed at a Texas gun range by a fellow veteran last year, Chris Kyle delivered testimony that the story was true. Taya Kyle, Kyle's widow, has also maintained through her legal team that she believes the story was true. 
 
 John Borger, an attorney for Kyle's estate, told The Associated Press that Taya was "surprised and upset" when she learned of the $1.8 million verdict against the estate. The lawsuit was filed before Kyle was killed. 
 
 Ventura has also said he is upset because he is a former Navy SEAL and Kyle's claim hit him personally. 
 
 "I can't go to a SEAL reunion anymore," Ventura said. "That was the one place that I always felt safe. I can't go there anymore. I would be looking over my shoulder now wondering who's going to come after me next. And so, don't think I come out of this unscathed." 
 
 Much of the criticism against Ventura has centered around the size of the verdict against Kyle's estate, which is providing for his widow and two children. Ventura said that criticism doesn't bother him. 
 
 "Taya Kyle had all of her attorney fees paid by insurance. I did not. I incurred two-and-a-half years of lawyer fees that I have to pay to clear my name, and she had insurance paying everything for her," Ventura said on "CBS This Morning." "It was me against an insurance company." 
 
 Ventura said he will use his winnings to pay his lawyers' fees. 
 
 When asked why he thought Kyle might have made up the tale of the punch-out, Ventura called it a "sea story." 
 
 "In the Navy it happens all the time," Ventura said. "One sailor lies to another sailor. That second sailor then tells the story three more times, and all of the sudden, the sea story becomes the truth. They were drunk. They were drinking heavily, and it was just a story that happened in another bar and erupted six years later." 
 
 The dispute over Kyle's book may not be over, either. Ventura said on "CBS This Morning" he plans to "visit" the book's publisher, HarperCollins. 
 
 "They published the book and did no due diligence to find out if the story was true," Ventura said. 
 
 EDITOR'S NOTE: After Ventura appeared on "CBS This Morning," HarperCollins released a statement saying it was removing the passage about the former governor from "American Sniper." 

 MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A federal appeals court has thrown out a $1.8 million judgment awarded to former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura, who says he was defamed in the late author Chris Kyle's bestselling book "American Sniper." 
 
 The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday rejected the jury's 2014 award of $500,000 for defamation and $1.3 million for unjust enrichment against Kyle's estate. 
 
 The court reversed the unjust-enrichment award, saying it fails as a matter of law. It also vacated the defamation award, but ordered a new trial for that portion of the case. 
 
 Kyle, a Navy SEAL and the deadliest sniper in U.S. military history, claimed to have punched Ventura at a California bar in 2006 after Ventura said the SEALs "deserve to lose a few" in Iraq. 
 
 Ventura, a former SEAL, testified he never made the comments and that the altercation never happened.
– Ex-Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura was set to collect $1.8 million from the estate of Chris Kyle, claiming the late Navy SEAL defamed him in his 2012 book American Sniper, but a federal appeals court nixed that 2014 judgment on Monday, the AP reports. In a 2-1 decision, the 8th US Circuit Court of Appeals nullified Ventura's $1.35 million award for "unjust enrichment," though it did call for a new trial for the defamation part of the case, which netted Ventura $500,000, the Star Tribune reports. The court said due to improper cross-examination of witnesses and comments made by Ventura's lawyer during closing arguments, Kyle's estate didn't get a fair trial, per Reuters. The 2006 incident in question that Ventura balked at: Kyle's description in his book of a supposed altercation in which he punched Ventura in a California bar after Ventura goaded him by saying Navy SEALs "deserve to lose a few" in Iraq. Ventura, a former SEAL himself, says he never made that remark and that there was no punch. "I would have been a big-time loser had I not pursued the lawsuit, because … the whole story was fabricated," Ventura told CBS News in 2014. "I was accused of treason, which in the military is the death penalty." (Meanwhile, a report says Kyle exaggerated his war record.)