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

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

“(We) are relieved however not shocked that Mr. Jones’ latest stunt has failed like all the others,” stated Mark Bankston, an lawyer representing 4 dad and mom who received two defamation circumstances in opposition to Jones in Texas last yr. “Mr. Jones will now be held to account in a Travis County courtroom in the coming weeks, and these households will finally have the closure and recompense they deserve.”

Bankston was referring to a month-long saga in Texas bankruptcy courtroom where three Jones-controlled entities filed for Chapter 11 protection one week earlier than a jury trial was to start to find out what damages Jones owed two dad and mom he defamed when he known as the worst crime in Connecticut historical past “staged,” “synthetic,” “manufactured,” “an enormous hoax,” and “fully pretend with actors.”

The chapter choose’s ruling means the primary postponed defamation awards trial in Texas could begin as quickly as June, Bankston prompt.

Among the disclosures that got here out of the chapter court hearings is that Jones has suffered financially as the Sandy Hook defamation cases have progressed. Jones has spent at the very least $10 million on authorized fees and has lost a minimum of $20 million, his representatives stated in courtroom. Jones didn't file for bankruptcy protection himself, his consultant mentioned in courtroom, because he feared it would injury his brand in the conspiracy concept market.

In the meantime in Connecticut, where an FBI agent and eight households who lost loved ones within the massacre of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary Faculty also received a defamation case in opposition to Jones in 2021, a hearing was planned in Connecticut chapter court docket on Tuesday that's anticipated to result in a similar outcome because the Texas instances.

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

Jones’ Chapter 11 submitting placed on hold the two trials in Texas and the third deliberate in Connecticut, since federal court docket trumps state proceedings. Attorneys for families right here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “dangerous religion” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech methods didn't file for bankruptcy. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 protection have a combined month-to-month earnings of $38,000 while Jones himself made a minimum of $76 million in 2019, his representatives said in court docket.

In response, the households dropped Jones’ three business entities in bankruptcy from their lawsuits. As a result of the families not had a stake in the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits against Jones and Free Speech programs could possibly be launched again to the state courts for trial. The families argued that their target was Jones himself and Free Speech Systems, who were not party to the bankruptcies.

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

It remains to be seen whether Connecticut chapter court docket 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