Alex Jones again on the hook for damages after bankruptcy decide sends Sandy Hook instances to Texas court docket

NEWTOWN — A federal bankruptcy judge has released extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 safety and despatched his defamation cases back to state courtroom in Texas, where the mother and father of two boys slain within the Sandy Hook bloodbath await jury trials to see how much Jones will have to pay them.

“(We) are relieved but not stunned that Mr. Jones’ latest stunt has failed like all the others,” said Mark Bankston, an legal professional representing four parents who received two defamation circumstances towards Jones in Texas final year. “Mr. Jones will now be held to account in a Travis County courtroom in the coming weeks, and these households will lastly have the closure and recompense they deserve.”

Bankston was referring to a month-long saga in Texas chapter courtroom 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 parents he defamed when he referred to as the worst crime in Connecticut historical past “staged,” “artificial,” “manufactured,” “a large hoax,” and “completely faux with actors.”

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

Among the disclosures that came out of the bankruptcy court 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 misplaced at least $20 million, his representatives said in court docket. Jones didn't file for bankruptcy protection himself, his consultant mentioned in court docket, as a result of he feared it will damage his brand in the conspiracy concept 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 Faculty also received a defamation case in opposition to Jones in 2021, a listening to was planned in Connecticut bankruptcy court docket on Tuesday that's expected to end in an analogous outcome because the Texas cases.

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

Jones’ Chapter 11 filing placed on maintain the 2 trials in Texas and the third planned in Connecticut, since federal court trumps state proceedings. Lawyers 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 didn't file for bankruptcy. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 protection have a combined monthly revenue of $38,000 while Jones himself made at the very least $76 million in 2019, his representatives said in court docket.

In response, the families dropped Jones’ three business entities in chapter from their lawsuits. Because the families no longer had a stake within the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits towards Jones and Free Speech methods could be launched back to the state courts for trial. The households argued that their goal was Jones himself and Free Speech Systems, who weren't get together to the bankruptcies.

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

It stays to be seen whether Connecticut chapter 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