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

NEWTOWN — A federal chapter judge has launched extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 safety and despatched his defamation circumstances back to state court in Texas, where the parents of two boys slain within the Sandy Hook massacre await jury trials to see how much Jones must pay them.

“(We) are relieved but not surprised that Mr. Jones’ latest stunt has failed like all of the others,” stated Mark Bankston, an lawyer representing 4 parents who gained two defamation cases in opposition to Jones in Texas last year. “Mr. Jones will now be held to account in a Travis County courtroom in 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 bankruptcy court where three Jones-controlled entities filed for Chapter 11 safety 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 historical past “staged,” “artificial,” “manufactured,” “an enormous hoax,” and “fully pretend with actors.”

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

Among the disclosures that got here out of the bankruptcy court hearings is that Jones has suffered financially as the Sandy Hook defamation cases have progressed. Jones has spent no less than $10 million on authorized charges and has misplaced at the least $20 million, his representatives mentioned in court. Jones didn't file for chapter safety himself, his consultant said in court, because he feared it might injury his model in the conspiracy concept market.

Meanwhile in Connecticut, the place an FBI agent and eight households who lost family members within the bloodbath of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary Faculty also received a defamation case in opposition to Jones in 2021, a hearing was deliberate in Connecticut bankruptcy court on Tuesday that's anticipated to end in a similar consequence because the Texas cases.

The reason 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 hold the 2 trials in Texas and the third deliberate in Connecticut, since federal courtroom trumps state proceedings. Legal professionals for households here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “bad 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 protection have a combined month-to-month earnings of $38,000 whereas Jones himself made a minimum of $76 million in 2019, his representatives stated in courtroom.

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

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

It stays to be seen whether Connecticut bankruptcy court docket will rule equally. The trial to award defamation damages to the Sandy Hook families in Connecticut had been scheduled for August.

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342