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

NEWTOWN — A federal chapter choose has launched extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 safety and despatched his defamation cases again to state court docket in Texas, where the parents of two boys slain in the Sandy Hook bloodbath await jury trials to see how a lot Jones will have to pay them.

“(We) are relieved but not shocked that Mr. Jones’ newest stunt has failed like all of the others,” mentioned Mark Bankston, an legal professional representing four mother and father who won two defamation cases in opposition to Jones in Texas last yr. “Mr. Jones will now be held to account in a Travis County courtroom within the coming weeks, and these families will finally 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 before a jury trial was to start to find out what damages Jones owed two dad and mom he defamed when he known as the worst crime in Connecticut history “staged,” “artificial,” “manufactured,” “a giant hoax,” and “fully pretend with actors.”

The bankruptcy choose’s ruling means the first postponed defamation awards trial in Texas may begin as soon as June, Bankston recommended.

Among the disclosures that got here out of the bankruptcy courtroom hearings is that Jones has suffered financially as the Sandy Hook defamation circumstances have progressed. Jones has spent no less than $10 million on authorized fees and has lost not less than $20 million, his representatives stated in courtroom. Jones didn't file for bankruptcy protection himself, his consultant stated 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 lost family members in the massacre of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School additionally received a defamation case against Jones in 2021, a hearing was deliberate in Connecticut chapter court on Tuesday that's anticipated to lead to the same consequence because the Texas cases.

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

Jones’ Chapter 11 filing put on hold the 2 trials in Texas and the third planned in Connecticut, since federal court docket trumps state proceedings. Lawyers for families right here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “dangerous faith” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech systems did not file for bankruptcy. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 safety have a combined monthly earnings of $38,000 whereas Jones himself made not less than $76 million in 2019, his representatives stated in courtroom.

In response, the households dropped Jones’ three enterprise entities in chapter from their lawsuits. Because the families now not had a stake within the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits towards Jones and Free Speech systems could be released back to the state courts for trial. The households argued that their target was Jones himself and Free Speech Techniques, who were not party to the bankruptcies.

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

It remains to be seen whether Connecticut chapter court docket 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