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

NEWTOWN — A federal chapter decide has launched extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 protection and sent his defamation cases back to state courtroom in Texas, the place 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 however not surprised that Mr. Jones’ latest stunt has failed like all of the others,” stated Mark Bankston, an lawyer representing four parents who gained two defamation instances towards 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 docket the place three Jones-controlled entities filed for Chapter 11 safety one week before a jury trial was to start to determine what damages Jones owed two parents he defamed when he referred to as the worst crime in Connecticut history “staged,” “artificial,” “manufactured,” “an enormous hoax,” and “utterly fake with actors.”

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

Among the disclosures that came out of the bankruptcy court hearings is that Jones has suffered financially because the Sandy Hook defamation cases have progressed. Jones has spent at the least $10 million on authorized charges and has misplaced at the very least $20 million, his representatives said in courtroom. Jones did not file for chapter protection himself, his consultant stated in courtroom, because he feared it would harm his model in the conspiracy theory market.

Meanwhile in Connecticut, where an FBI agent and eight families who lost loved ones in the massacre of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary Faculty additionally gained a defamation case against Jones in 2021, a hearing was deliberate in Connecticut chapter court on Tuesday that's expected to end in an identical outcome because the Texas cases.

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

Jones’ Chapter 11 filing placed on hold the two trials in Texas and the third planned in Connecticut, since federal courtroom trumps state proceedings. Legal professionals for households here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “dangerous 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 safety have a mixed monthly earnings of $38,000 while Jones himself made at the least $76 million in 2019, his representatives mentioned in court docket.

In response, the households dropped Jones’ three business entities in bankruptcy from their lawsuits. Because the households now not had a stake in the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits against Jones and Free Speech techniques may very well be released again to the state courts for trial. The families argued that their target was Jones himself and Free Speech Methods, who were not social gathering to the bankruptcies.

In rulings on Thursday and Friday, the federal chapter courtroom in Texas agreed.

It stays to be seen whether Connecticut bankruptcy court will rule equally. The trial to award defamation damages to the Sandy Hook households in Connecticut had been scheduled for August.

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342