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You are probably aware that Jesse Ventura won a $1.8 million award in his defamation lawsuit against the estate of former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle. Kyle described a fight in a Coronado bar, without naming names, but subsequently in interviews named Ventura as the person he’d punched in the face. Ventura disputed this, and sued Kyle. Before the suit went to trial, Kyle was murdered in Texas.

Lots of people got up in arms that Ventura continued his suit. All over the web there are posts about how Ventura was suing the widow. No. Ventura was suing the estate of Chris Kyle. That Tara Kyle happened to be the executor of the estate doesn’t mean Ventura was suing her personally. It certainly wasn’t Ventura’s fault that Kyle was murdered before the lawsuit came to a conclusion.

Ventura’s argument was that the publicity generated by Kyle specifically (and allegedly falsely) naming Ventura after the publication both cost Ventura opportunities, and boosted the sale of Kyle’s book, American Sniper. That’s considered a form of unjust enrichment.

I hate to say it, loathing Ventura as I do, but his case at court was quite solid, convincing not only the jury, but also the appeals court.

Now Ventura is suing the book’s publisher, presumably for unjust enrichment. One suspects Ventura’s case there will be every bit as strong as it was in the original suit. Whether the publisher settles or goes to trial remains to be seen.

So here’s my question. Will Ventura also go after the movie American Sniper? I suppose a case could be made that some portion of the success of the movie is due to the publicity surrounding Kyle and Ventura, though apparently the incident in question is not a part of the movie.