Over Sandy Hook families’ objections, federal judge offers Alex Jones time to defend bankruptcy plans

NEWTOWN - A federal decide gave Sandy Hook families awaiting defamation damages trials in Connecticut and Texas part of what they wanted on Friday by agreeing to hear their motions first to dismiss Alex Jones’ bankruptcies as “unhealthy faith” filings.

However the decide additionally gave Jones’ attorneys part of what they needed - enough breathing room to prepare an unhurried protection of their plan to pay the Sandy Hook families defamation damages Jones owes with out putting his conspiracy platform Infowars out of business.

“These are really necessary issues for the families and vital for the debtors,” Decide Christopher Lopez informed a crowd of 60 attorneys and observers during a livestreamed convention in Southern Texas Bankruptcy Court docket. “I get it that nobody likes the debtors, however they've a right to defend themselves identical to anybody who comes before me.”

Though the one action Lopez took was to set hearing dates - the primary on arguments to dismiss the bankruptcies of three former Jones-controlled entities on Might 27 - both sides had been passionate.

One legal professional representing dad and mom of two slain Sandy Hook boys whose trials to award damages from defamation cases they received against Jones in Texas have been delayed known as Jones’ 11-hour bankruptcy filings “unworthy and abusive.”

“I can’t consider a less worthy objective for chapter court docket than the rehabilitation and reorganization of companies that made tens of hundreds of thousands of dollars by mendacity,” mentioned attorney Maxwell Beatty. “One among my shoppers held his son with a bullet gap in his head and Mr. Jones referred to as him a liar.”

The daddy the legal professional was referring to is Neil Heslin, whose son was among the many 26 first-graders and educators slain in 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary Faculty. Heslin and his son’s mother, Scarlett Lewis, had been scheduled to start out their jury trial to find out how a lot Jones owes them in damages final week.

Attorneys for Jones and the father or mother company of his broadcast and merchandising enterprise called Free Speech Methods were equally passionate. An attorney for FSS stated before Jones filed for emergency chapter protection, he was dealing with “monetary deplatforming.”

“Spending millions of dollars on trials in two locations would eat belongings and will not result in financial restoration…(because) the plaintiffs all have legal responsibility loss of life penalties,” mentioned FSS lawyer Ray Battaglia. “The doubtless impact of a (jury trial) judgment can be to close Free Speech Systems down.”

While neither Jones nor Free Speech Systems filed for bankruptcy protection, they have been preserved from defamation award trials in the meanwhile in Texas and Connecticut, in part to make sure there may be enough cash to pay the Sandy Hook families when their claims are settled, Battaglia mentioned.

Jones has suffered financially since he called the worst crime in Connecticut historical past “staged,” “artificial,” “manufactured,” “a large hoax,” and “utterly faux with actors,” paying at least $10 million in legal charges and losing no less than $20 million because of the Sandy Hook lawsuits, his representatives stated in courtroom.

Jones, whose credibility within the conspiracy concept neighborhood was likened by one among his representatives in court docket to the Coca-Cola brand, did not need to file for chapter himself for fear his product gross sales would endure, representatives mentioned in courtroom.

The Sandy Hook households’ attorneys argued unsuccessfully in court on Friday that day by day households await the decide to rule on the validity of Jones’ chapter claims, they're spending money they don’t have.

“The collectors listed here are totally different than common creditors as a result of they're victims, and proper now the victims are spending money,” said Beatty, who requested the choose to schedule the dismissal listening to next week. “This is incurring fees … on individuals who have already suffered sufficient.”

Jones’ lead bankruptcy attorney argued his consumer deserved equal consideration.

“Regardless of how dangerous Mr. Jones’ conduct was, the (chapter) events are entitled to due process,” stated attorney Kyung Lee. “It's important to give us 21 days’ notice.”

The decide gave Jones one month.

“I'm giving everybody a whole lot of time because I need everybody to place up their finest proof,” Lopez mentioned. “I'm going to be deliberate and never rush something, but you will get a solution from me really fast.”

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342