Alex Jones again on the hook for damages after bankruptcy choose sends Sandy Hook instances to Texas courtroom

NEWTOWN — A federal chapter choose has launched extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 safety and sent his defamation cases back to state court docket in Texas, where the dad and mom of two boys slain within the Sandy Hook massacre await jury trials to see how much Jones will have to pay them.

“(We) are relieved but not surprised that Mr. Jones’ latest stunt has failed like all of the others,” mentioned Mark Bankston, an attorney representing 4 mother and father who gained two defamation cases towards Jones in Texas last year. “Mr. Jones will now be held to account in a Travis County courtroom within 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 chapter courtroom the place three Jones-controlled entities filed for Chapter 11 safety one week earlier than a jury trial was to start to determine what damages Jones owed two mother and father he defamed when he referred to as the worst crime in Connecticut historical past “staged,” “artificial,” “manufactured,” “a giant hoax,” and “utterly fake with actors.”

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

Among the disclosures that got here out of the bankruptcy court hearings is that Jones has suffered financially because the Sandy Hook defamation instances have progressed. Jones has spent not less than $10 million on authorized fees and has misplaced at least $20 million, his representatives stated in court. Jones did not file for chapter protection himself, his consultant said in court docket, because he feared it would injury his model within the conspiracy principle market.

In the meantime in Connecticut, where an FBI agent and eight families who lost loved ones within the massacre of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary College additionally received a defamation case towards Jones in 2021, a listening to was planned in Connecticut chapter court docket on Tuesday that's anticipated to lead to the same outcome because the Texas cases.

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

Jones’ Chapter 11 submitting placed on hold the 2 trials in Texas and the third deliberate in Connecticut, since federal courtroom trumps state proceedings. Attorneys for families here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “bad faith” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech techniques didn't file for chapter. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 protection have a combined monthly income of $38,000 while Jones himself made at least $76 million in 2019, his representatives mentioned in courtroom.

In response, the households dropped Jones’ three business entities in bankruptcy from their lawsuits. As a result of the households no longer had a stake in the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits against Jones and Free Speech systems could be released back to the state courts for trial. The households argued that their goal was Jones himself and Free Speech Programs, who weren't party to the bankruptcies.

In rulings on Thursday and Friday, the federal bankruptcy court 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 families in Connecticut had been scheduled for August.

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342