Alex Jones back on the hook for damages after chapter judge sends Sandy Hook circumstances to Texas courtroom

NEWTOWN — A federal bankruptcy choose has released extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 safety and sent his defamation circumstances back to state court docket in Texas, the place the mother and father of two boys slain within the Sandy Hook massacre await jury trials to see how much Jones must pay them.

“(We) are relieved however not shocked that Mr. Jones’ newest stunt has failed like all the others,” said Mark Bankston, an lawyer representing four parents who received two defamation circumstances in opposition to Jones in Texas last year. “Mr. Jones will now be held to account in a Travis County courtroom within the coming weeks, and these families will lastly have the closure and recompense they deserve.”

Bankston was referring to a month-long saga in Texas chapter courtroom where three Jones-controlled entities filed for Chapter 11 safety one week earlier than a jury trial was to start to find out what damages Jones owed two mother and father he defamed when he called the worst crime in Connecticut historical past “staged,” “artificial,” “manufactured,” “a giant hoax,” and “completely fake with actors.”

The chapter choose’s ruling means the first postponed defamation awards trial in Texas may start as quickly as June, Bankston advised.

Among the disclosures that came out of the bankruptcy court hearings is that Jones has suffered financially as the Sandy Hook defamation cases have progressed. Jones has spent no less than $10 million on legal charges and has misplaced at the very least $20 million, his representatives said in court docket. Jones didn't file for bankruptcy protection himself, his consultant mentioned in courtroom, as a result of he feared it could damage his brand within the conspiracy principle market.

Meanwhile in Connecticut, where an FBI agent and eight households who lost loved ones in the massacre of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary Faculty additionally received a defamation case against Jones in 2021, a listening to was planned in Connecticut chapter courtroom on Tuesday that is anticipated to result in an analogous end result as the Texas circumstances.

The rationale has to do with a maneuver the Sandy Hook families took here and in Texas to outflank Jones in chapter court docket.

Jones’ Chapter 11 filing placed on maintain the 2 trials in Texas and the third deliberate in Connecticut, since federal court docket trumps state proceedings. Lawyers for families right here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “dangerous faith” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech techniques didn't file for bankruptcy. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 safety have a combined monthly revenue of $38,000 whereas Jones himself made no less than $76 million in 2019, his representatives mentioned in court.

In response, the families dropped Jones’ three business entities in bankruptcy from their lawsuits. As a result of the families now not had a stake in the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits towards Jones and Free Speech systems could possibly be launched back to the state courts for trial. The households argued that their target was Jones himself and Free Speech Methods, who weren't party to the bankruptcies.

In rulings on Thursday and Friday, the federal chapter court docket in Texas agreed.

It remains to be seen whether Connecticut chapter courtroom will rule similarly. The trial to award defamation damages to the Sandy Hook households in Connecticut had been scheduled for August.

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342