Alex Jones back on the hook for damages after chapter choose sends Sandy Hook instances to Texas courtroom

NEWTOWN — A federal bankruptcy decide has released extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 protection and sent his defamation instances back to state court in Texas, where the mother and father of two boys slain within the Sandy Hook massacre await jury trials to see how a lot Jones should pay them.

“(We) are relieved but not surprised that Mr. Jones’ newest stunt has failed like all the others,” stated Mark Bankston, an attorney representing four dad and mom who received two defamation circumstances in opposition to Jones in Texas final yr. “Mr. Jones will now be held to account in a Travis County courtroom in the coming weeks, and these families will lastly have the closure and recompense they deserve.”

Bankston was referring to a month-long saga in Texas bankruptcy court docket where three Jones-controlled entities filed for Chapter 11 protection one week earlier than a jury trial was to begin to determine what damages Jones owed two dad and mom he defamed when he referred to as the worst crime in Connecticut historical past “staged,” “synthetic,” “manufactured,” “a giant hoax,” and “utterly fake with actors.”

The chapter decide’s ruling means the first postponed defamation awards trial in Texas could start as soon as June, Bankston advised.

Among the disclosures that got here out of the bankruptcy court hearings is that Jones has suffered financially as the Sandy Hook defamation cases have progressed. Jones has spent at least $10 million on legal charges and has lost at least $20 million, his representatives mentioned in court. Jones didn't file for chapter safety himself, his consultant stated in courtroom, because he feared it might damage his brand within the conspiracy idea market.

In the meantime in Connecticut, where an FBI agent and eight households who misplaced loved ones within the bloodbath of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School additionally gained a defamation case towards Jones in 2021, a listening to was deliberate in Connecticut chapter court docket on Tuesday that is anticipated to lead to an identical consequence because the Texas circumstances.

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

Jones’ Chapter 11 filing placed on maintain the two trials in Texas and the third planned in Connecticut, since federal courtroom trumps state proceedings. Legal professionals for families here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “dangerous religion” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech programs did not file for chapter. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 protection have a combined month-to-month income of $38,000 whereas Jones himself made not less than $76 million in 2019, his representatives stated in court docket.

In response, the households dropped Jones’ three enterprise entities in chapter from their lawsuits. As a result of the households no longer had a stake within the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits in opposition to Jones and Free Speech programs may very well be launched back to the state courts for trial. The households argued that their goal was Jones himself and Free Speech Systems, who were not social gathering to the bankruptcies.

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

It remains to be seen whether Connecticut chapter court will rule similarly. The trial to award defamation damages to the Sandy Hook families in Connecticut had been scheduled for August.

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342