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

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, the place the mother and father of two boys slain within the Sandy Hook massacre await jury trials to see how much Jones will have to pay them.

“(We) are relieved however not shocked that Mr. Jones’ newest stunt has failed like all of the others,” stated Mark Bankston, an attorney representing 4 mother and father who gained 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 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 safety one week earlier than a jury trial was to begin to find out what damages Jones owed two parents he defamed when he called the worst crime in Connecticut historical past “staged,” “synthetic,” “manufactured,” “an enormous hoax,” and “completely fake with actors.”

The chapter judge’s ruling means the primary postponed defamation awards trial in Texas might begin as soon as June, Bankston urged.

Among the disclosures that came out of the chapter court hearings is that Jones has suffered financially because the Sandy Hook defamation instances have progressed. Jones has spent not less than $10 million on authorized fees and has misplaced at the very least $20 million, his representatives said in court docket. Jones didn't file for chapter protection himself, his representative mentioned in court, as a result of he feared it might injury his model in the conspiracy theory market.

Meanwhile in Connecticut, where an FBI agent and eight households who misplaced family members in the massacre of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary Faculty additionally received a defamation case against Jones in 2021, a listening to was deliberate in Connecticut bankruptcy court docket on Tuesday that is anticipated to end in the same consequence as the Texas cases.

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 families here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “bad religion” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech techniques did not file for chapter. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 protection have a combined monthly income of $38,000 while Jones himself made no less than $76 million in 2019, his representatives mentioned in courtroom.

In response, the households dropped Jones’ three enterprise entities in chapter from their lawsuits. Because the families now not had a stake in the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits against Jones and Free Speech techniques may very well be launched again to the state courts for trial. The households argued that their target was Jones himself and Free Speech Programs, who weren't 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 bankruptcy courtroom 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