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

NEWTOWN — A federal bankruptcy choose has released extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 safety and despatched his defamation cases again to state court in Texas, the place the parents of two boys slain in the Sandy Hook bloodbath 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 of the others,” said Mark Bankston, an lawyer representing 4 parents who gained two defamation cases in opposition to Jones in Texas final year. “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 chapter court the place 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 parents he defamed when he known as the worst crime in Connecticut history “staged,” “artificial,” “manufactured,” “a giant hoax,” and “utterly faux with actors.”

The bankruptcy choose’s ruling means the primary postponed defamation awards trial in Texas might begin as soon as June, Bankston prompt.

Among the many disclosures that came out of the chapter courtroom hearings is that Jones has suffered financially because the Sandy Hook defamation circumstances have progressed. Jones has spent a minimum of $10 million on authorized charges and has lost at the least $20 million, his representatives stated in court. Jones did not file for bankruptcy safety himself, his representative stated in court docket, because he feared it might harm his model in the conspiracy theory market.

Meanwhile in Connecticut, the place an FBI agent and eight households who lost loved ones in the massacre of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary College also received a defamation case against Jones in 2021, a listening to was planned in Connecticut bankruptcy court docket on Tuesday that's expected to result in an identical consequence because the Texas instances.

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

Jones’ Chapter 11 submitting placed on hold the 2 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 programs did not file for bankruptcy. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 protection have a combined monthly earnings of $38,000 whereas Jones himself made not less than $76 million in 2019, his representatives mentioned in court.

In response, the families dropped Jones’ three business entities in chapter from their lawsuits. As a result of the families now not had a stake in the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits in opposition to Jones and Free Speech programs may very well be launched again to the state courts for trial. The households argued that their target was Jones himself and Free Speech Techniques, who weren't party to the bankruptcies.

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

It remains to be seen whether Connecticut bankruptcy 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