Bangstad settles defamation suit for $580,000

The owner of the Minocqua Brewing Company, Kirk Bangstad, has settled his defamation suit with Lakeland Times and River News publisher Gregg Walker, agreeing to pay Walker $580,000 of a $759,428 judgment against Bangstad.

According to the settlement terms, Bangstad also had to remove several social media posts and agree not to re-use them. The settlement came after a state court of appeals denied Bangtsad’s bid to delay payment of the money judgment against him and the state Supreme Court refused to hear Bangstad’s appeal to that court. 

Bangstad and Minocqua Brewing Company (MBC) owed the money judgments after an Oneida County jury awarded Walker what is believed to be the largest defamation judgment in state history — $750,000, including $430,000 in punitive damages. On October 27, a jury of nine women and four men rendered the verdict.

In a long and winding Facebook post on the Minocqua Brewing Company’s page after the settlement announced, Bangstad acknowledged that Walker ended up “ultimately winning this lawsuit.”

Under the terms of the settlement, Society Insurance Company Society paid $80,000, West Bend Mutual Insurance Company paid $450,000, and Bangstad himself paid $50,000 of the settlement.

The settlement also removes liens held by Walker on Bangstad property as a result of the judgment. Bangstad had acquired his Front Street property in 2021. Initially free of any encumbrances, last April two mortgages were recorded with the Bank of New Glarus, one for $475,000 and one for $50,000. A construction mortgage with the Bank of New Glarus of $95,000 was recorded on February 12, 2024.

Bangstad also had to remove Facebook posts of August 8, 2022 and October 27, 2022, and he agreed not to re-post those posts on any social media platform, blog, e-mail blasts, websites, or other methods of communications by Kirk Bangstad and MBC.

Specifically, the jury found Bangstad guilty of committing defamation with express malice warranting punitive damages in an August 8, 2022, post in which Bangstad falsely alleged that Walker contributed to his brother’s death in a hunting accident 36 years ago. 

Also part of that post was Bangstad’s false accusation that Walker abused his elderly father for his own financial benefit and kept his father’s second wife away from him. Again, the jury found the statement false and defamatory, awarding Walker $200,000 in compensation and $430,000 in punitive damages because they considered them to be with express malice.

End of the line

The agreement releases all parties from any further liability relating to the claims. The insurance companies disputed their liability and asserted that the settlement was a compromise and should not be construed as an admission of liability. 

Leading up to the settlement, Bangstad’s insurance companies had at one point moved to drop him as a client, saying malicious defamation and noncooperation violated the terms of the policies. Attorneys for the companies said Bangstad violated the terms of his policy by refusing to cooperate in his own defense and that in any event the policies did not cover the malicious defamation of which the jury found him guilty. As such, the companies contended, they would not be liable for any eventual judgment entered as a result of knowing defamation.

Specifically, the insurance companies maintained that, during the trial, Bangstad refused to cooperate in the defense of the lawsuit, conduct which they described as prejudicial to the companies. They maintain Bangstad continued to refuse to cooperate even after being told that his conduct would jeopardize his liability coverage.

The two insurance companies had paid for Bangstad’s defense — Society Insurance under a liability policy in effect from May 1, 2020, to May 1, 2021, and from May 1, 2021, to May 1, 2022; and West Bend under a liability policy in effect from Sept. 21, 2021 to Sept. 21, 2022.