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

NEWTOWN — A federal chapter decide has launched extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 safety and despatched his defamation instances back to state court in Texas, the place the mother and father of two boys slain in the Sandy Hook bloodbath await jury trials to see how much Jones must pay them.

“(We) are relieved but not surprised that Mr. Jones’ newest stunt has failed like all of the others,” said Mark Bankston, an lawyer representing four mother and father who won two defamation circumstances in opposition to Jones in Texas last yr. “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 docket where 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 mother and father he defamed when he known as the worst crime in Connecticut historical past “staged,” “artificial,” “manufactured,” “a giant hoax,” and “completely faux with actors.”

The bankruptcy judge’s ruling means the first postponed defamation awards trial in Texas might start as quickly as June, Bankston prompt.

Among the many disclosures that got here out of the chapter court docket hearings is that Jones has suffered financially as the Sandy Hook defamation circumstances have progressed. Jones has spent a minimum of $10 million on legal charges and has lost not less than $20 million, his representatives said in court. Jones didn't file for chapter protection himself, his consultant stated in court docket, because he feared it might injury his brand within the conspiracy concept market.

Meanwhile in Connecticut, where an FBI agent and eight households who misplaced family members within the massacre of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary Faculty additionally gained a defamation case towards Jones in 2021, a hearing was planned in Connecticut bankruptcy courtroom on Tuesday that's expected to result in a similar consequence because the Texas instances.

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

Jones’ Chapter 11 filing placed on hold the two trials in Texas and the third planned in Connecticut, since federal court docket trumps state proceedings. Legal professionals 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 techniques didn't file for chapter. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 protection have a combined monthly revenue of $38,000 while Jones himself made at least $76 million in 2019, his representatives said in court docket.

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

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

It stays to be seen whether or not Connecticut chapter court docket 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