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

NEWTOWN — A federal chapter judge has launched extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 protection and despatched his defamation instances again to state court docket in Texas, the place the parents of two boys slain in the Sandy Hook massacre await jury trials to see how a lot Jones will have to pay them.

“(We) are relieved however not surprised that Mr. Jones’ latest stunt has failed like all the others,” mentioned Mark Bankston, an legal professional representing four mother and father who received two defamation circumstances in opposition to 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 lastly 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 protection one week before a jury trial was to begin to find out what damages Jones owed two dad and mom 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 choose’s ruling means the first 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 docket hearings is that Jones has suffered financially because the Sandy Hook defamation instances have progressed. Jones has spent at the least $10 million on authorized charges and has misplaced not less than $20 million, his representatives stated in court. Jones didn't file for chapter protection himself, his consultant mentioned in court, because he feared it would harm his model within the conspiracy idea market.

In the meantime in Connecticut, where an FBI agent and eight households who lost family members in the massacre of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary Faculty additionally won a defamation case in opposition to Jones in 2021, a listening to was deliberate in Connecticut chapter courtroom on Tuesday that's anticipated to lead to an identical final result because the Texas instances.

The rationale 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 submitting put on hold the 2 trials in Texas and the third planned in Connecticut, since federal court docket trumps state proceedings. Lawyers for households right here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “dangerous religion” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech programs didn't file for bankruptcy. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 protection have a combined month-to-month income of $38,000 whereas Jones himself made at the least $76 million in 2019, his representatives said in court docket.

In response, the households dropped Jones’ three business entities in chapter from their lawsuits. Because the families no longer had a stake within the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits against Jones and Free Speech methods may very well be launched back to the state courts for trial. The households 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 bankruptcy courtroom in Texas agreed.

It remains to be seen whether or not Connecticut chapter court will rule similarly. The trial to award defamation damages to the Sandy Hook households in Connecticut had been scheduled for August.

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342