Alex Jones again on the hook for damages after chapter judge sends Sandy Hook circumstances to Texas court

NEWTOWN — A federal chapter judge has launched extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 protection and sent his defamation cases back 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 much Jones should pay them.

“(We) are relieved however not stunned that Mr. Jones’ latest stunt has failed like all the others,” said Mark Bankston, an lawyer representing 4 mother and father who won two defamation instances 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 households 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 safety one week before a jury trial was to start to determine what damages Jones owed two parents he defamed when he known as the worst crime in Connecticut history “staged,” “synthetic,” “manufactured,” “a giant hoax,” and “utterly faux with actors.”

The bankruptcy decide’s ruling means the first postponed defamation awards trial in Texas may start as quickly as June, Bankston urged.

Among the many disclosures that got here out of the bankruptcy courtroom hearings is that Jones has suffered financially as the Sandy Hook defamation instances have progressed. Jones has spent not less than $10 million on authorized charges and has misplaced no less than $20 million, his representatives mentioned in court docket. Jones didn't file for bankruptcy safety himself, his consultant stated in court, because he feared it might harm his brand in the conspiracy theory market.

Meanwhile in Connecticut, where an FBI agent and eight families who misplaced family members within the bloodbath of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary College additionally received a defamation case in opposition to Jones in 2021, a listening to was planned in Connecticut chapter court on Tuesday that is expected to result in the same end result as the Texas instances.

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

Jones’ Chapter 11 filing placed on maintain the two trials in Texas and the third planned in Connecticut, since federal court docket trumps state proceedings. Legal professionals for families here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “unhealthy faith” 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 protection have a mixed month-to-month revenue of $38,000 while Jones himself made a minimum of $76 million in 2019, his representatives stated in courtroom.

In response, the families dropped Jones’ three business entities in chapter from their lawsuits. As a result of the households not had a stake within the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits in opposition to Jones and Free Speech systems may very well be released again to the state courts for trial. The families argued that their goal was Jones himself and Free Speech Programs, who weren't social gathering to the bankruptcies.

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

It stays to be seen whether Connecticut chapter 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