Jesse Ventura wants to add widow to suit against Navy SEAL Chris Kyle

Jesse Ventura wants to add widow to suit against Navy SEAL Chris Kyle
By Jean Hopfensperger
Star Tribune (Minneapolis)
Published: May 31, 2013

MINNEAPOLIS — Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura is setting his legal sights on the widow of a former Navy SEAL he had sued for defamation.

Lawyers for Ventura have asked a federal court to continue his lawsuit against Chris Kyle — who was killed in February by a young veteran he was mentoring — by substituting Kyle’s wife, Taya, as the defendant. Ventura last year sued Kyle, a decorated former SEAL and author of “American Sniper,” claiming that the book’s description of a California bar fight defamed him.

“Although Kyle is deceased, his ‘American Sniper’ book continues to sell and it is soon to be made into a movie,” said Ventura’s motion, filed last week by Minneapolis attorney David Bradley Olsen.

Ventura’s lawyers said his claims survive Kyle’s death, and “it would be unjust to permit the estate to continue to profit from Kyle’s wrongful conduct and to leave Governor Ventura without redress for ongoing damage to his reputation.”

On Wednesday, Taya Kyle’s attorney filed a response to the motion, writing that Ventura’s move “comes as a disappointment, but no surprise.”
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