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

NEWTOWN — A federal chapter choose has released extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 safety and despatched his defamation cases again to state courtroom in Texas, where the mother and father of two boys slain in the Sandy Hook bloodbath await jury trials to see how a lot Jones must pay them.

“(We) are relieved but not shocked that Mr. Jones’ newest stunt has failed like all the others,” stated Mark Bankston, an lawyer representing four parents who received two defamation circumstances towards 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 the place three Jones-controlled entities filed for Chapter 11 protection one week before a jury trial was to start 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,” “an enormous hoax,” and “fully fake with actors.”

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

Among the many disclosures that got here out of the bankruptcy court docket hearings is that Jones has suffered financially because the Sandy Hook defamation circumstances have progressed. Jones has spent at the least $10 million on legal fees and has lost at the least $20 million, his representatives said in court. Jones didn't file for bankruptcy protection himself, his consultant said in court, as a result of he feared it would damage his brand in the conspiracy concept market.

In the meantime in Connecticut, the place an FBI agent and eight families who misplaced loved ones within the massacre of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary Faculty also won a defamation case in opposition to Jones in 2021, a listening to was planned in Connecticut chapter court on Tuesday that is anticipated to lead to a similar outcome as the Texas circumstances.

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

Jones’ Chapter 11 filing placed on maintain the 2 trials in Texas and the third planned in Connecticut, since federal courtroom trumps state proceedings. Lawyers for families here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “bad faith” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech programs didn't file for chapter. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 protection have a mixed month-to-month income of $38,000 while Jones himself made a minimum of $76 million in 2019, his representatives said in courtroom.

In response, the households dropped Jones’ three business entities in bankruptcy from their lawsuits. Because the families no longer had a stake within the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits towards Jones and Free Speech programs might be launched back to the state courts for trial. The households argued that their target was Jones himself and Free Speech Programs, who were not social gathering to the bankruptcies.

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

It stays to be seen whether Connecticut chapter court docket 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