I have taught torts, including defamation for over 30 years, but I have never seen the like of the Hunter Biden defamation case. The defendant made defamatory statements and then just refused to appear. That led to an equally bizarre $1.7 million award by U.S. District Judge Stephen Wilson of the Central District of California to Biden, consisting of just $1 in nominal damages and the rest in punitive damages.
Here is the most interesting line of the opinion: “the damage to Plaintiff’s reputation is difficult to calculate.” It may be the single greatest understatement in the history of judicial opinions.
However, the court also noted “Plaintiff does not seek actual damages above a nominal amount.”
That means that Hunter Biden’s counsel, in a default case, elected not to argue for compensatory damages due to loss of reputation. Why would he do that?
It might be that he has little reputation to lose and that opening up that part of the case was fraught with perils. However, it also created a potential major appellate issue. His counsel was making it clear that they were litigating purely for punitives.
For Hunter Biden, this is a much-needed windfall. His art sales notably collapsed with the value of currying favor to the Bidens. He is reportedly being pursued by creditors, including former counsel.
The question is whether the award will stand.
For many critics, Hunter Biden is virtually ‘libel proof” as an individual who has no reputation to lose. However, as we have previously discussed, that status is reserved for the most reviled personalities who cannot be defamed due to the lack of any positive reputation.
Judge Wilson, a Reagan appointee, admits in his opinion that determining reputational harm to someone like Biden is difficult to do and further recognizes the argument that “prior tarnishing of Plaintiff’s reputation may reduce the reprehensibility of Defendant’s conduct.”
The case involves a claim by former Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne that Biden took part in an $800 million bribery scheme involving Iran and failed to defend his claims in court.
Hunter Biden has long been accused of influence peddling that generated millions for him and his family. I have been one of his longest critics as part of a corrupt family enterprise.
However, this claim was not one of those that his critics, and Congress, focused on during the Biden years. There is no evidence that he took a bribe or payment in a quid pro quo for releasing the money to Iran.
The lawsuit was part of a flurry of such actions brought against Biden’s critics. Most were later dismissed, but played a part in the scorched-earth campaign of Biden. I was even threatened with such an action after criticizing his counsel and financial backer, Kevin Morris.
As Biden dropped the other lawsuits, this one continued to be litigated. It was an easy kill. Byrne simply did not defend himself and defaulted. That left the matter to Judge Wilson, who was clearly irate.
The opinion recounts an extraordinary pile-up as Byrne sought to replace lawyers:
“Defendant initially attempted to replace Mr. Murphy with three new lawyers: Eric Neff, Tom Yu, and Stefanie Lynn Lambert Junttila. ECF Nos. 290, 291, 292. Ms. Lambert was not a member of the California Bar, and her application to appear pro hac vice was denied2 due to her recent history of unethical conduct, which gave the Court reason to doubt she would abide by the Court’s rules and practices. ECF No. 295. When Defendant learned that Ms. Lambert was not qualified to represent him in this case, Defendant also instructed Mr. Neff and Mr. Yu to remove themselves.
Moreover, Defendant himself, now unrepresented, still failed to appear at trial. Accordingly, the Court issued an order to show cause why it should not enter default judgment against Defendant and ordered the parties to return the following day. At that hearing, on July 30, 2025, Defendant again failed to appear. Mr. Yu, who was not authorized to represent Defendant at trial, argued on Defendant’s behalf for a continuance, in lieu of default judgment.”
The defendant would miss a series of filing and appearance dates, including orders that he appear in person.
Wilson, 85, ruled in his opinion that Byrne acted with “intentional misrepresentation” and “conscious disregard” for Hunter’s rights. Making things worse, Byrne was found to have continued making the false claims after the lawsuit, and said Byrne continued to amplify the false allegations even after Hunter filed the lawsuit against him.
Accordingly, the court found that the “defamation went far beyond mere negligence,” and that Byrne actively sought to spread the false claim on social media and to make the story go viral.
The problem is that the actual harm from Byrne’s comments was likely minimal given the widespread influence peddling detailed by Congress and Biden’s federal convictions on other offenses.
In these well-documented dealings, there were gifts such as diamonds, lavish expense accounts, and a sports car, in addition to massive payments that Hunter claimed were “loans.” There are messages like the one to a Chinese businessman, openly threatening Joe Biden’s displeasure if money is not sent to them immediately. In the WhatsApp message, Hunter stated:
“I am sitting here with my father, and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled. Tell the director that I would like to resolve this now before it gets out of hand, and now means tonight. And, Z, if I get a call or text from anyone involved in this other than you, Zhang, or the Chairman, I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction. I am sitting here waiting for the call with my father.”
So, accusing Hunter Biden of influence peddling would hardly seem a material blow to his reputation.
Wilson awarded just $1 in nominal damages to Biden but then ordered $1.7 million in punitive damages. Byrne was also ordered to pay nearly $35,000 in previously imposed court sanctions within two weeks or face an additional $1,000 penalty for each day payment is delayed after the deadline.
That 1:1,700,000 ratio is a bit startling. The general rule is that a ratio of greater than 1:10 in compensatory to punitive damages can raise serious constitutional concerns. What makes this case different is the contempt and default elements.
In 1996, the U.S. Supreme Court decided a case, BMW of North America v. Gore, striking down a punitive damage award. The case involved the practice of the company to repair and repaint cars damaged in transit without telling the customers. The jury in the original trial awarded $4,000 in compensatory damages for the lost value to the car in not having a factory paint job and other damage; it then imposed $4 million in punitive damages for the company’s dishonesty.
The Court stated three factors in crafting punitive awards: (1) the degree of reprehensibility of the nondisclosure; (2) the disparity between the harm or potential harm suffered by plaintiff and the punitive damages award; (3) and the difference between this remedy and the civil penalties authorized or imposed in comparable cases.
Even though the Alabama Supreme Court previously reduced the punitive award by half, the U.S. Supreme Court still found that the award violated the Due Process Clause as “grossly excessive.”
The fact that this case involves nominal damages may allowed for greater leeway in the ratio. See Arizona v. ASARCO LLC, 773 F.3d 1050, 1058 (9th Cir. 2014). That is clearly a critical part of the decision of counsel to ask for only nominal damages while litigating for punitive damages. However, this ratio is astronomical.
Judge Wilson addresses BMW v. Gore but effectively untethers the ratio analysis from this case, precisely what Biden’s counsel had hoped in seeking only nominal damages. It is an approach that would effectively gut BMW v Gore. Any litigants with a bad reputation or insufficient reputational harm could simply ask for nominal damages and then ask for the moon in punitive damages. Moreover, it relieves the obligation to determine how many people actually read or were likely influenced by Byrne, particularly given the focus of the influence peddling scheme on Biden’s dealings in Ukraine, China, and other countries.
However, it gets weirder. I was curious how, without any record on harm, the Court could come up with $1.7 million. It turns out that the Court used the damages awarded by a Canadian court against Byrne in a similar defamation case. That case in a foreign jurisdiction awarded $1.134 million. Wilson simply blithely declares that, since Byrne continues such conduct, “a $1.134 million award would be inadequate to deter this particular Defendant. The Court therefore calculates a punitive damages award of $1.7 million, approximately 50% greater than the total judgment in the prior case.”
That is it. The court simply used the damage award in a foreign torts case and elected to increase it by 50%. However, that earlier judgment only included $250,000 in punitive damages.
I think that the court is dead wrong on the punitive damages analysis. The only question is whether the extent of Byrne’s contempt and default will work to quiet the concerns of appellate judges.
It is a case worthy of appeal.
It is a fascinating car wreck of a case with a scandal-plagued plaintiff, a defaulting plaintiff, the use of a foreign judgment as the basis for a damages award, and a 1:1,700,000 ratio in damages. We will be watching if an appeal is filed by Byrne.
Jonathan Turley is a law professor and the New York Times best-selling author of “Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution.”
OT
Surprise! President Barack Obama nominated Kathleen Williams.
_______________________________________________________________________
“U.S. judge finds Trump misused court in IRS case, refers lawyers for discipline”
Miami-based U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams excoriated Trump’s personal lawyers and attorneys in his administration, concluding their interests were not opposed to each other as is legally required for civil lawsuits. Williams referred a Trump lawyer in the case, Alejandro Brito, and senior Justice Department officials who signed off on the settlement to state bar authorities to determine if their actions violated legal ethics rules.
– Reuters
So what Trump has had liberal and establishment judges ruling against him since day one. The greater number get overturned at the apellate or Supreme level. Otherwise Trump is losing no more cases than any other president. Your glee is stupid and useless but you just want to bother people and harp on Trump. It also makes you useless in the comment section. You are a clown that brings up Trump no matter the subject of Mr. Turley’s post. How can anyone take you seriously? They cannot.
While I do not like the way Trump talks, I do support most of his vision. I didn’t vote for him but now, I feel differently. Why? We had an administration under Biden that was corrupted by those around him not telling the country that he was in dementia. Draw the line and that means others were manipulating him. I know dementia first hand and this is what I saw prior to the Biden election — the signs were there from his basement podium. Once you live it, you know! It was a disgrace that Biden wasn’t taken out of office — unless they knew the alternative (Harris) was worse. Now the Left is still trying to take Trump down — why? Hateful people eat themselves up and nothing will dispel this — even the future destruction of our country. Now, we see the Dems not supporting going after Iran because of their hate for Trump. How little they fear the future when they live by today’s hate. Pick your battles Dems — today, fight against Iran or tomorrow, see our children and grandkids, living under the constant threat of a nuclear bomb heading West. You don’t have to be a global strategist to see that this is the time to fight for tomorrow’s freedom.
“that status is reserved for the most reviled personalities who cannot be defamed due to the lack of any positive reputation.”
Is Turley trying to make a joke here? Does he consider Biden being largely incompetent and ineffectual in the application of his evil intentions to be a redeeming quality? That is the only way I see Hunter Biden failing to qualify for that “elite” status.
Gas was about $2.00 per gallon when Biden left office. Prices started to spike around February of 2026, when Trump was in office.
https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/gasoline
Try reading that report again. It says nothing about the price of gas under biden. What was high.
According to BTS the price of Gas on Jan 20, 2025 – when Biden left office was $3.08, yesterday when I filled up I paid 3.11
Clearly you don’t live in “Goofy” Gavin’s once-great-now-communist-one-party-state, California, where the lowest price is $5.29, down only recently from all-time highs.
Yes, the guy is trouble, with a capital T.
It would be irrational to get behind a guy like that, but some do it, anyway.
Trump has been involved in four thousand lawsuits:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_and_business_legal_affairs_of_Donald_Trump
So What ?
Trump has been accused of worse by more. Yet you support him. That makes no sense.
Pot, kettle. Kettle, pot.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump_sexual_misconduct_allegations
You have been accused of worse.
Anyone can make an accusation.
The accuasations against biden have been established as fact.
Those against Trump have failed.
Even though you don’t exist–you have it exactly backwards. Republicans tried and tried to prove Hunter Biden was peddling influence. They failed. There were no payments going to Joe Biden from any foreign source, and no quid pro quo. Trump, OTOH, was found by a jury to have sexually assaulted E. Jean Carroll and to have defamed her. He was ordered to pay millions, and the SCOTUS refused to help him out of this mess. He still refuses to pay after being ordered to do so by a federal judge and is trying a Hail Mary petition for rehearing. He was found by a jury to have falsified business records to hide a payment to a porn actress, resulting in 34 felony convictions. They are state convictions–he can’t pardon himself out of these.
Turley speaks of a “corrupt family enterprise”– that perfectly describes Trump and his worthless kids. Here are just a few of his scandals:
1. Trump sued the IRS for release of tax returns AFTER the statute of limitations ran, and instead of seeking dismissal, which any minimally-competent defense attorney would do, Blanche “settled” the case for $1.76 B of our money–that can be used to pay “reparations” to J 6 insurrectionists. AND, the real kicker–Trump is immune from IRS audits and lawsuits. A federal judge noted that Trump was suing himself—he was the plaintiff and was the defendant.
2. Pardons for 1,600 insurrectionists who battered and beat up Capitol Police and did millions of dollars of damage to our Capitol.
3. In the first quarter of this year, Trump made 3,700 stock trades — buying stocks in companies with major federal deals. Trump refused to put his assets into a blind trust or only purchase mutual funds which purchase stocks from many sources. Among his recent “investments” — the Paramount–Warner merger that his minions had to approve, and which multiple states are challenging.
4. Eric Trump is on the Board of ALT 5 Sigma, a crypto company with ties to China, which poses a security risk. Eric also got a $24 M government contract for his company to make robots. Eric has no business experience in either area.
5. World Claw –AI services platform, tied to Trump. It only takes payment via the Trump -affiliated WLFI coin. It requires members to invest in these worthless assets to pay for services. Oh, and it is raffling off a dinner with Trump–but no Americans are allowed to bid. Trump sold sensitive, advanced AI chips to UAE–a quid pro quo for a $500 M investment in Trump’s worthless WLFI crypto coin. This alone would, if done by a Democrat President, would guarantee impeachment.
6. Speakng of worthless crypto coin–Trump’s coin has dropped 97% in value. The Melania coin is down 99% in value. Investors, other than insiders who got out early, lost $4.3 B. Trump and his insiders made hundreds of billions. Regular folks who don’t listen to those of us warning them about Trump, lost.
7. Epstein files cover up. The files document significant ties between Bannon and Epstein. Despite campaign promises and a bipartisan law, Trump will not allow release of the Epstein files. There are reports of a credible accusation that Trump sexually assaulted an underage girl.
8. Trump Gold Card–only one applicant so far. Trump gold phone–purchasers plunked down $100 each and have yet to receive any phone.
9. Trump Tower Tbilisi–in Russia, part of a $650 Billion licensing scheme–all since 2024.
10. Qatari plane “gifted” to Trump that he just HAD to show off by using it to fly to the NATO summit at which he made an utter fool of himself. He said we were at war with the ‘Islamic Republic of Japan”. He referred to Volodymyr Zelenskyy as “President Putin”. If Biden had publicly made these gaffes, Republicans would demand his immediate resignation.
Taxpayers forked over $1 B for “renovations”, but the plane is still not secure, and becaue it had to fly close to countries Trump has pissed off, the return trip had to be made via Air Force One–waste of fuel and time to correct this error. Oh, and Trump’s DOJ has subpoenaed reporters who broke the story about the Qatari plane not being secure.
11. No-bid contracts for “renovations” in Washington–including the botched paint job on Lincoln Reflecting Pool. Then, there’s all of the lies about private donations allegedly funding things like the worthless ballroom no one wants. Meanwhile, the national debt grows.
Cry harder Gigi!
‘Even though you don’t exist”
ROFL
Hunter Biden is not – or should not be a republican thing.
Pretty much all politicians profit off of office.
There is a great expose on Bernie Sanders corruption – including funneling millions to his family.
The Big deal about the Biden is that they were REALLY BAT AT IT.
SCOTUS correctly fiound in McDonald that you must have a clear quid pro quo – you can NOT prosecute politicians for actions that do NOT invlolve the explicit use of public power and that are merely claims that two things happened concurrently.
The Clintons ran a beautiful scam using a charity to launder money.
Most politicians manage to find some way to stay inside of the barriers that SCOTUS legitimately provided to reqwtrict prosecutions to proveable quid pro quo corruption.
The Bidens were among the stupidest of corrupt politicians – given myriads of ways to legally profit from office they CHOSE to do so in the way that SCOTUS left as clearly criminal.
The Bidens took specific amounts of moeny for specific uses of public power to benefit those who paid them.
If you do not beleive that was proven – I have a pile of moon dust to sell you.
Conservatively 2.5% of those sitting in prison convicted by a jury are actually innocent.
That is NOT actually bad performance for our criminal justice system. But claiming it is perfect is absurd.
Several Courts in NYC reached conclusions that in November 2024 US voters REJECTED.
While the legal battle goes on – those cases are TRULY OVER.
YOU LOST.
The largest jury in history Aquitted Trump on ALL those charges.
In fact your clawed lawfare was likely a significant factor in getting Trump elected.
The majority of people DO NOT BELEIVE YOU
People do not beleive Carroll – they do not beleive Ford, But they do beleive the accusers of Swallwell and Platner. Why ? Because of the actual evidence.
Because these people should be facing criminal prosecutions. Though they wont.
You smeared Trump and Kavanaugh on really bad he said/she saids, while defending Platner and Swallwell over far more credibly allegations of more serious crimes with more supporting evidence.
YOU damned yourself. YOU burned your own credibility.
With respect to Biden – all that is necessary to prove for a criminal conviction is the intentional exchange of exercise of government power for benefit to family members. VP Joe admitted the act – there is ZERO doubt that Hunter was specifically for that act.
As to the Merchan/Brag nonsense – there is no such crime as falsifying business records.
Business records are actually PRIVATE records – if you lie in them – you are lying to yourself which is stupid.
The Trump businesses are private – not public. allegedly falsified business records only become a crime when you use them to gain something you are not otherwise entitled to – such as reduced taxes. None other than Ruth Bader Ginsberg wrote the opinion that FRAUD is a Property crime – you MUST prove that the allegedly false assertions resulted in a GAIN of REAL PROPERTY that would not have occured otherwise.
No one is Ever obligated in their business records to report embarrassing information. In fact the ONLY level of precision required by law in business records is that needed to properly pay your taxes – NOTHING MORE.
The merchan/bragg case should have been tossed at the start. It should have been laughed out of court.
It does not matter if Trump stupped Daniels – that is not the business of the cgovernment. It does not matter if he paid her to avoid Melania’s wrath or that of voters.
It does not matter how he recorded those payments in his business records. It does not even matter if he had business records at all. The law requires you to properly pay your taxes. It does not specify how or whether you keep records to do so.
All you have done is once again prove that YOU are corrupt.
As Noted before – the largest jury in history In november 2024 reported the verdict that YOU ARE FULL OF SCHIFF.
Republicans put their support behind a crazy orange guy.
There should be pictures of Trump on gas pumps and jugs of milk.
These price increases happened under him.
Yesterday when I was out the price of Gas was 3.11/gal
“… The case involves a claim by former Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne that Biden took part in an $800 million bribery scheme involving Iran and failed to defend his claims in court. …” – JT
Has anyone bothered to ask the Iranians (is the claim true)? At least Sec. of State Marco Rubio could make an inquiry (since he’s actively engaged in deliberations with Iran these days).
What happens when this case closes in favor of Biden, time passes, and the Iranians do provide evidence of the bribe? There are many in D.C. the use Matryoshka (Nesting Dolls | Shell Accounts) to cover the trail, I wouldn’t be surprised if the $800 M is found to be floating around somewhere.
“Has anyone bothered to ask the Iranians (is the claim true)?… What happens when this case closes in favor of Biden, time passes, and the Iranians do provide evidence of the bribe?”
It was civil litigation That puts the burden of refuting the claims, and the damage judgement solely on the defendant Byrne. No one else has a (legal) dog in that hunt.
Why is it a dumb question? Why would Upchuck rather make an unproductive ad hominem attack instead of answering a question? Is he unable to do so?
If Nixon the crook had to resign, then should Trump the bigger crook have to resign?
Do you have actual evidence that Trump is a crook ?
Unsubstantiated allegations, and allegations claiming that honest conduct is crooked becvause you do not like it are not evidence.
Would John Say look at the evidence, or would he so predictably turn a blind eye to it?
Does Upchuck understand that the asking of certain questions is intended to make a point?
Are “dumb” because he and others are unable to answer them?
Is this a dumb definition of what a dumb question is?
If God was a just God, would he have not made annony’s father infertile so we would not have to suffer the likes of annony?
Would that not be a just God?
Or, perhaps, God allowed annony to be born to give us all a glimpse into what hell would look like, suffering annony’s existence?
Do I have a right to question God’s rational thinking? To know the mind of God?
Do I really have to add the /sarc for everyone to get it?
God created the one who shall remain
namegonad-less so as to provide us a moving target.Hunter Biden is like the scourge living in the house at the corner who, upon hearing one neighbor say, “He’s made life hell for everyone on the block,” sues for defamation confident that the old recluse at the other end of the block doesn’t even know who he is.
If Hunter can be defamed the question becomes, who can’t?
Is Old School just projecting a part of his own personality traits onto Hunter?
I have no doubt justices do not like to be ignored. Seems that it set set off this particular judge. That could be the case or Mr. Byrne (defendant) just ran over the judge’s dog.
Bizarre.
Without Lyin’ Joe’s pardon, Hunter the convicted felon would be in prison right now. Luckily, Hunter’s daddy stole the election and then issued a pardon for all of Hunter’s many crimes going back to 2014. “My son’s done nothing wrong,” Malarkey Joe said. What a disgrace to the justice system.
Where’s the proof, and why couldn’t Republicans find any? You speak of a “disgrace to the justice system”? That’s almost verbatim what a federal judge said about Todd Blanche and an assistant US Attorney involved with the Trump v. Trump IRS case. Excerpted from “Reuters”:
“Miami-based U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams excoriated Trump’s personal lawyers and attorneys in his administration, concluding their interests were not opposed to each other as is legally required for civil lawsuits. Williams referred a Trump lawyer in the case, Alejandro Brito, and senior Justice Department officials who signed off on the settlement to state bar authorities to determine if their actions violated legal ethics rules.
In a 56-page ruling, Williams concluded that attorneys on both sides of the case – Trump’s personal lawyers and lawyers for the DOJ and IRS – misused the legal system to provide cover for actions aimed at benefiting Trump and his allies.
“This action was never about a party seeking judicial resolution of a legal issue or a factual dispute,” Williams wrote. The judge said it was instead an attempt to “provide some legitimacy to an agreement to confer immunity to people and entities affiliated with the president and to earmark billions of dollars from American taxpayers to redress grievances not defined in the law.”
The settlement brokered in May between Trump’s personal lawyers and senior officials at the Justice Department, led Trump to drop the suit in exchange for sweeping tax protections and the creation of a nearly $1.8 billion fund for victims of so-called government weaponization that critics said would benefit Trump’s political allies.
Williams’ order bars any of the parties in the case, including Trump, his adult sons and his namesake company, from referring to the settlement or citing any of its terms in future legal proceedings, a move that could nullify the portion of the agreement barring the IRS from pursuing audits into past tax claims involving Trump or his businesses.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche already told Congress that the plan for the weaponization fund would not move forward. The fund was initially aimed at compensating victims of “lawfare” and “weaponization,” terms that Trump has long used to describe legal cases against him and his allies. A federal judge in Virginia last month blocked the Trump administration from setting up the fund.
Trump sued the IRS in January, accusing the agency of not doing enough to prevent the leak of his tax records during his first term in office and initially seeking $10 billion.
The settlement came under withering scrutiny from critics, including some Republican lawmakers, who accused the Trump administration of self-dealing and seeking to funnel taxpayer money to political allies. Blanche, under pressure from Republican senators, agreed to scuttle the weaponization fund, but allowed the tax provision to remain in effect.
A spokesperson for Trump’s legal team did not directly address the court’s ruling, but repeated claims that Trump’s tax records were improperly leaked and said the president “continues to hold those who wrong America and Americans accountable.”
A Justice Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Williams’ order comes two days before Blanche, a former personal lawyer to Trump, is set to appear before a Senate panel on his nomination to serve as the permanent attorney general. The IRS settlement agreement was already expected to be a central topic of conversation.
Williams opened an inquiry into the settlement after a group of former judges filed a court brief accusing Trump and his administration of perpetuating a “fraud on the court.” Trump’s lawyers argued that the judge no longer had authority over the case after Trump voluntarily dismissed it.
Williams’ order does not reopen the case, but finds that Trump’s attorneys and government officials should face sanctions. She allowed outside groups that filed court briefs raising concerns about the lawsuit to seek payment for their work.
The judge also directed that a copy of her order be sent to legal disciplinary authorities in New York, where Blanche has his law license, and Washington, D.C., where Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward, the third-highest-ranking official at the Justice Department, is barred.
(Reporting by Andrew Goudsward and Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff; writing by Susan Heavey; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Aurora Ellis)