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

NEWTOWN — A federal chapter decide has released extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 protection and despatched his defamation cases again to state court docket in Texas, the place the mother and father of two boys slain within the Sandy Hook massacre await jury trials to see how a lot Jones must pay them.

“(We) are relieved but not stunned that Mr. Jones’ newest stunt has failed like all the others,” stated Mark Bankston, an legal professional representing 4 parents who gained two defamation instances towards Jones in Texas final year. “Mr. Jones will now be held to account in a Travis County courtroom within the coming weeks, and these households will finally have the closure and recompense they deserve.”

Bankston was referring to a month-long saga in Texas chapter court docket where three Jones-controlled entities filed for Chapter 11 protection one week earlier than a jury trial was to begin to find out what damages Jones owed two mother and father he defamed when he known as the worst crime in Connecticut history “staged,” “synthetic,” “manufactured,” “a large hoax,” and “fully fake with actors.”

The chapter choose’s ruling means the first postponed defamation awards trial in Texas may begin as quickly as June, Bankston instructed.

Among the many disclosures that got here out of the chapter court hearings is that Jones has suffered financially because the Sandy Hook defamation instances have progressed. Jones has spent at least $10 million on legal charges and has misplaced at least $20 million, his representatives mentioned in court docket. Jones did not file for chapter protection himself, his consultant mentioned in court, as a result of he feared it might harm his model in the conspiracy theory market.

Meanwhile in Connecticut, the place an FBI agent and eight families who lost family members within the bloodbath of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary Faculty additionally won a defamation case against Jones in 2021, a listening to was deliberate in Connecticut bankruptcy court docket on Tuesday that's anticipated to result in an identical outcome because the Texas circumstances.

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

Jones’ Chapter 11 filing placed on hold the 2 trials in Texas and the third planned in Connecticut, since federal court trumps state proceedings. Legal professionals for households right here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “dangerous faith” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech methods did not file for bankruptcy. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 safety have a mixed month-to-month earnings of $38,000 while Jones himself made a minimum of $76 million in 2019, his representatives mentioned in court.

In response, the families dropped Jones’ three enterprise entities in chapter from their lawsuits. Because the families no longer had a stake in the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits in opposition to Jones and Free Speech systems might be launched back to the state courts for trial. The families argued that their target was Jones himself and Free Speech Systems, who were not social gathering to the bankruptcies.

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

It remains to be seen whether or not Connecticut bankruptcy court 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