On 13 August 2026, after a trial in Honolulu that began on 3 August before Judge Jill A. Otake, a federal jury returned its verdicts in the defamation case Liane Wilson and her company, Life Mastery Network LLC, brought against three defendants (No. 1:25-cv-00297-JAO-RT, D. Haw.). Liane Wilson (Liana Shanti) brought the case. She lost it, and lost on the counterclaims brought against her.
Wilson’s claims
On every claim Wilson and her company had brought — defamation, false light, intentional infliction of emotional distress and civil conspiracy — the jury found in favour of each defendant and awarded no damages (ECF 245, ECF 247, ECF 249).
The counterclaims
The jury found for all three defendants on their counterclaims against Wilson and Life Mastery Network, found that statements Wilson and her company made about each of them were defamation per se, and found in each case that punitive damages were warranted (ECF 251, ECF 253, ECF 255). The awards on the verdict forms total $40.1 million:
- First defendant — $3.7 million compensatory and $10 million punitive
- Second defendant — $3.2 million compensatory and $10 million punitive
- Third defendant — $3.2 million compensatory and $10 million punitive
What happens next
These are the jury’s answers on the verdict forms, not an entered judgment. At the time of publication (September 2026), final judgment has not been entered. On 11 September 2026 the defendants asked the court to certify the 22 May 2026 summary-judgment ruling and the jury’s verdicts as a final judgment under Rule 54(b) (ECF 274). Wilson opposed the request (ECF 276). The figures remain subject to post-trial motions and any appeal.
The full filing history, the pre-trial rulings and the court’s holding that Wilson is a general-purpose public figure are set out on our Liana Shanti Court Cases page. Court documents linked here are hosted by CourtListener, the Free Law Project’s public court-records archive.