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

NEWTOWN — A federal bankruptcy judge has released extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 safety and sent his defamation instances back 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 should pay them.

“(We) are relieved however not surprised that Mr. Jones’ latest stunt has failed like all of the others,” mentioned Mark Bankston, an legal professional representing 4 mother and father who received two defamation cases towards 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 families will lastly have the closure and recompense they deserve.”

Bankston was referring to a month-long saga in Texas chapter courtroom where 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 mother and father he defamed when he referred to as the worst crime in Connecticut historical past “staged,” “artificial,” “manufactured,” “a large hoax,” and “utterly fake with actors.”

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

Among the many disclosures that got here out of the chapter court hearings is that Jones has suffered financially because the Sandy Hook defamation circumstances have progressed. Jones has spent at least $10 million on legal fees and has lost a minimum of $20 million, his representatives stated in courtroom. Jones didn't file for chapter safety himself, his representative mentioned in court docket, as a result of he feared it might injury his model in the conspiracy idea market.

Meanwhile in Connecticut, where an FBI agent and eight families who lost family members within the bloodbath of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School additionally won a defamation case towards Jones in 2021, a hearing was planned in Connecticut chapter courtroom on Tuesday that's expected to end in an identical final result as 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 2 trials in Texas and the third deliberate in Connecticut, since federal courtroom trumps state proceedings. Lawyers for households right here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “bad religion” 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 safety have a mixed monthly earnings of $38,000 whereas Jones himself made a minimum of $76 million in 2019, his representatives said in courtroom.

In response, the families dropped Jones’ three enterprise entities in bankruptcy from their lawsuits. Because the families no longer had a stake in the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits against Jones and Free Speech systems might be released back 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 bankruptcy courtroom in Texas agreed.

It remains to be seen whether Connecticut chapter court 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