Alex Jones again on the hook for damages after chapter choose sends Sandy Hook circumstances to Texas court

NEWTOWN — A federal bankruptcy choose has released extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 protection and despatched his defamation circumstances again 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 a lot Jones should pay them.

“(We) are relieved but not surprised that Mr. Jones’ newest stunt has failed like all the others,” said Mark Bankston, an legal professional representing four dad and mom who won two defamation circumstances against Jones in Texas final 12 months. “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 court the place three Jones-controlled entities filed for Chapter 11 safety one week before a jury trial was to begin to find out what damages Jones owed two parents he defamed when he called the worst crime in Connecticut historical past “staged,” “artificial,” “manufactured,” “a giant hoax,” and “completely pretend with actors.”

The chapter judge’s ruling means the primary postponed defamation awards trial in Texas may begin as soon as June, Bankston suggested.

Among the many disclosures that got here out of the bankruptcy court hearings is that Jones has suffered financially because the Sandy Hook defamation circumstances have progressed. Jones has spent at the least $10 million on authorized fees and has misplaced at the least $20 million, his representatives mentioned in court. Jones didn't file for chapter safety himself, his representative stated in courtroom, because he feared it might injury his brand within the conspiracy principle market.

Meanwhile in Connecticut, where an FBI agent and eight families who lost family members in the bloodbath of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary Faculty additionally received a defamation case towards Jones in 2021, a listening to was deliberate in Connecticut bankruptcy court docket on Tuesday that's anticipated to end in an identical final result as the Texas cases.

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

Jones’ Chapter 11 submitting put on hold the 2 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 “unhealthy religion” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech techniques did not file for chapter. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 safety have a mixed monthly income of $38,000 while Jones himself made a minimum of $76 million in 2019, his representatives said in court.

In response, the households dropped Jones’ three enterprise entities in chapter from their lawsuits. Because the families now not had a stake in the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits in opposition to Jones and Free Speech systems might be released again to the state courts for trial. The households argued that their goal was Jones himself and Free Speech Systems, who were not celebration 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