Estate of 'American Sniper' Chris Kyle gets help trying to change judgement for Jesse Ventura

The Motion Picture Association of America and dozens of other media companies and organizations filed briefs announcing they were supporting the estate of the late "American Sniper" Chris Kyle as his widow Tara is appealing last year's libel verdict in favor of former Minnesota Governor and WWE Hall of Famer Jesse Ventura.

A federal judge in Minnesota upheld a $1.8 million judgment for Jesse Ventura in his lawsuit against the estate Kyle for statements written in his autobiography, which was later turned into a major hit film starring Bradley Cooper, who received an Academy Award nomination for his turn as Kyle.

Ventura successfully sued the estate last year over statements made in Kyle's 2012 book. In the book, Kyle stated that he beat up a man in a California bar fight for being disrespectful when Kyle attempted to get him to speak with a fellow serviceman following a memorial for another serviceman who had passed away. While Ventura's name is never mentioned in the book, Kyle later stated it was Ventura in media appearances. He also said that Ventura made many anti-government and anti-Navy SEAL statements.

Ventura sued, saying the story defamed him and that Kyle used it to profit off of his name. The case went to trial in July 2014. The defense presented witnesses that said the fight happened, but the judge didn't find them credible. Ventura presented witnesses that said it never happened. The jury eventually ruled in favor of Ventura, who also claimed he now felt afraid of attending Navy SEAL alumni events and that he had been ostracized by his fellow servicemen and women.

Kyle's estate already attempted to have the ruling tossed out, citing that the law and the evidence did not support the jury's ruling. The court threw that claim out in November 2014. The latest filings are attempting to appeal that ruling, claiming the judgment against the Kyle estate have no bearing in "common law."

According to an article in Variety, the latest amount of briefs filed claim that in Minnesota, where Ventura's lawsuit was filed, damages in a lawsuit of this kind would be for punitive damages to the plaintiff, but no such case was submitted to the jury and in that State, punitive damages cannot be pressed upon an Estate of a deceased person.

The MPAA's filing noted it was trying to prevent the "law of defamation" from infringing upon First Amendment rights to free speech.

Among the companies that filed with the court in support of The Kyle estate are A&E Television Networks,Cox Media Group, E.W. Scripps Co., Gannett Media, Hachette, Hearst Corp., the New York Times, and Time, Inc.