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

NEWTOWN — A federal chapter decide has released extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 safety and sent his defamation instances back to state courtroom in Texas, where 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 shocked that Mr. Jones’ latest stunt has failed like all the others,” mentioned Mark Bankston, an attorney representing four parents who received two defamation instances towards Jones in Texas final year. “Mr. Jones will now be held to account in a Travis County courtroom within the coming weeks, and these families 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 start to determine what damages Jones owed two dad and mom he defamed when he called the worst crime in Connecticut history “staged,” “synthetic,” “manufactured,” “an enormous hoax,” and “completely pretend with actors.”

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

Among the disclosures that came out of the bankruptcy court docket hearings is that Jones has suffered financially as the Sandy Hook defamation instances have progressed. Jones has spent not less than $10 million on authorized fees and has lost at the very least $20 million, his representatives mentioned in court docket. Jones did not file for chapter safety himself, his consultant mentioned in courtroom, as a result of he feared it would injury his model within the conspiracy idea market.

In the meantime 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 School additionally won a defamation case towards Jones in 2021, a hearing was planned in Connecticut bankruptcy courtroom on Tuesday that is expected to result in the same final result as the Texas circumstances.

The explanation has to do with a maneuver the Sandy Hook households took here and in Texas to outflank Jones in chapter court docket.

Jones’ Chapter 11 filing put on hold the 2 trials in Texas and the third deliberate in Connecticut, since federal courtroom trumps state proceedings. Legal professionals for households right here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “dangerous faith” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech methods didn't file for chapter. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 safety have a combined monthly earnings of $38,000 whereas Jones himself made no less than $76 million in 2019, his representatives stated in courtroom.

In response, the households dropped Jones’ three enterprise entities in chapter from their lawsuits. Because the households now not had a stake within the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits towards Jones and Free Speech programs could be launched again to the state courts for trial. The households argued that their goal 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 stays to be seen whether or not Connecticut chapter 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