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

NEWTOWN — A federal chapter judge has released extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 protection and despatched his defamation instances again to state courtroom in Texas, the place the dad and mom 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 stunned that Mr. Jones’ latest stunt has failed like all of the others,” stated Mark Bankston, an legal professional representing 4 dad and mom who gained two defamation circumstances against 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 court the place three Jones-controlled entities filed for Chapter 11 safety one week earlier than a jury trial was to begin to determine what damages Jones owed two parents he defamed when he called the worst crime in Connecticut history “staged,” “synthetic,” “manufactured,” “a large hoax,” and “fully pretend with actors.”

The chapter judge’s ruling means the first postponed defamation awards trial in Texas could begin as soon as June, Bankston instructed.

Among the many 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 a minimum of $10 million on authorized fees and has misplaced not less than $20 million, his representatives mentioned in courtroom. Jones didn't file for bankruptcy safety himself, his representative stated in courtroom, as a result of he feared it could injury his model in the conspiracy principle market.

In the meantime in Connecticut, where an FBI agent and eight households who misplaced family members in the massacre of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School additionally received a defamation case against Jones in 2021, a listening to was deliberate in Connecticut bankruptcy court on Tuesday that's expected to lead to the same end result because the Texas circumstances.

The rationale has to do with a maneuver the Sandy Hook families took here and in Texas to outflank Jones in bankruptcy courtroom.

Jones’ Chapter 11 submitting put on hold the two trials in Texas and the third planned in Connecticut, since federal court trumps state proceedings. Legal professionals for families right here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “bad faith” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech methods did not file for bankruptcy. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 protection have a mixed month-to-month revenue of $38,000 whereas Jones himself made no less than $76 million in 2019, his representatives stated in court docket.

In response, the families dropped Jones’ three enterprise entities in chapter from their lawsuits. Because the households now not had a stake in the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits against Jones and Free Speech systems could possibly be launched again to the state courts for trial. The families argued that their goal was Jones himself and Free Speech Systems, who weren't get together to the bankruptcies.

In rulings on Thursday and Friday, the federal bankruptcy court docket in Texas agreed.

It remains to be seen whether Connecticut bankruptcy courtroom 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