Alex Jones back on the hook for damages after chapter judge sends Sandy Hook cases to Texas court docket

NEWTOWN — A federal chapter decide has released extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 protection and sent his defamation circumstances again to state court in Texas, where the parents of two boys slain within the Sandy Hook massacre await jury trials to see how a lot Jones will have to pay them.

“(We) are relieved but not stunned that Mr. Jones’ latest stunt has failed like all the others,” stated Mark Bankston, an legal professional representing 4 mother and father who received two defamation cases against Jones in Texas final year. “Mr. Jones will now be held to account in a Travis County courtroom in 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 court where three Jones-controlled entities filed for Chapter 11 safety one week earlier than a jury trial was to begin to determine what damages Jones owed two parents he defamed when he called the worst crime in Connecticut historical past “staged,” “synthetic,” “manufactured,” “an enormous hoax,” and “fully pretend with actors.”

The chapter decide’s ruling means the primary postponed defamation awards trial in Texas could start as soon as June, Bankston prompt.

Among the many disclosures that came out of the bankruptcy courtroom hearings is that Jones has suffered financially because the Sandy Hook defamation instances have progressed. Jones has spent a minimum of $10 million on authorized fees and has misplaced a minimum of $20 million, his representatives stated in court docket. Jones didn't file for bankruptcy safety himself, his consultant stated in court, as a result of he feared it will damage his brand within the conspiracy theory market.

In the meantime in Connecticut, the place an FBI agent and eight families who misplaced loved ones within the massacre of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary College also won a defamation case in opposition to Jones in 2021, a listening to was planned in Connecticut chapter courtroom on Tuesday that's expected to result in a similar end result as the Texas circumstances.

The explanation has to do with a maneuver the Sandy Hook families took right here and in Texas to outflank Jones in bankruptcy courtroom.

Jones’ Chapter 11 filing put on maintain the 2 trials in Texas and the third deliberate in Connecticut, since federal court docket trumps state proceedings. Attorneys for households right here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “unhealthy faith” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech systems did not file for chapter. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 protection have a combined month-to-month income of $38,000 while Jones himself made at least $76 million in 2019, his representatives mentioned in courtroom.

In response, the families dropped Jones’ three enterprise entities in bankruptcy from their lawsuits. Because the households now not had a stake within the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits in opposition to Jones and Free Speech techniques might be launched back to the state courts for trial. The families argued that their target was Jones himself and Free Speech Methods, who weren't social gathering to the bankruptcies.

In rulings on Thursday and Friday, the federal bankruptcy courtroom in Texas agreed.

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

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342