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

NEWTOWN — A federal chapter judge has released extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 safety and despatched his defamation instances back to state court docket in Texas, where the dad and mom of two boys slain in 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’ latest stunt has failed like all the others,” mentioned Mark Bankston, an legal professional representing four dad and mom who received two defamation cases in opposition to Jones in Texas final yr. “Mr. Jones will now be held to account in a Travis County courtroom within 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 court where three Jones-controlled entities filed for Chapter 11 safety one week before a jury trial was to start to determine what damages Jones owed two dad and mom he defamed when he known as the worst crime in Connecticut history “staged,” “synthetic,” “manufactured,” “a giant hoax,” and “utterly fake with actors.”

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

Among the many disclosures that came out of the chapter court docket hearings is that Jones has suffered financially because the Sandy Hook defamation cases have progressed. Jones has spent no less than $10 million on authorized fees and has lost at least $20 million, his representatives said in court docket. Jones did not file for bankruptcy protection himself, his representative mentioned in court, because he feared it might damage his model in the conspiracy idea market.

In the meantime in Connecticut, the place an FBI agent and eight families who misplaced loved ones 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 chapter court on Tuesday that's anticipated to lead to a similar outcome because the Texas circumstances.

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

Jones’ Chapter 11 filing put on hold the 2 trials in Texas and the third deliberate in Connecticut, since federal court trumps state proceedings. Lawyers for households right 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 safety have a combined month-to-month income of $38,000 while Jones himself made at the least $76 million in 2019, his representatives stated in court.

In response, the families dropped Jones’ three business entities in chapter from their lawsuits. Because the families not had a stake within the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits against Jones and Free Speech methods might be released again to the state courts for trial. The families argued that their goal was Jones himself and Free Speech Methods, who were not occasion to the bankruptcies.

In rulings on Thursday and Friday, the federal chapter courtroom in Texas agreed.

It remains to be seen whether or not 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