Alex Jones back on the hook for damages after bankruptcy decide sends Sandy Hook instances to Texas court docket

NEWTOWN — A federal bankruptcy choose has released extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 safety and sent his defamation circumstances again to state court in Texas, where the dad and mom of two boys slain in the Sandy Hook bloodbath await jury trials to see how much Jones must pay them.

“(We) are relieved however not surprised that Mr. Jones’ newest stunt has failed like all the others,” stated Mark Bankston, an attorney representing 4 parents who won two defamation cases against Jones in Texas last 12 months. “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 determine what damages Jones owed two dad and mom he defamed when he called the worst crime in Connecticut historical past “staged,” “synthetic,” “manufactured,” “a giant hoax,” and “fully faux with actors.”

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

Among the many disclosures that got here out of the chapter court docket hearings is that Jones has suffered financially because the Sandy Hook defamation circumstances have progressed. Jones has spent not less than $10 million on authorized fees and has misplaced at the very least $20 million, his representatives said in court docket. Jones did not file for bankruptcy safety himself, his consultant stated in court, as a result of he feared it could harm his model within the conspiracy idea market.

Meanwhile in Connecticut, the place an FBI agent and eight families who misplaced family members in the bloodbath of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary Faculty additionally gained a defamation case in opposition to Jones in 2021, a hearing was deliberate in Connecticut bankruptcy court on Tuesday that's expected to lead to an identical outcome as the Texas cases.

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

Jones’ Chapter 11 filing put on maintain the 2 trials in Texas and the third planned in Connecticut, since federal courtroom trumps state proceedings. Legal professionals for households right here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “bad faith” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech programs did not file for bankruptcy. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 protection have a mixed monthly income of $38,000 whereas Jones himself made at the very least $76 million in 2019, his representatives said in courtroom.

In response, the households dropped Jones’ three enterprise entities in bankruptcy from their lawsuits. Because the families no longer had a stake within the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits in opposition to Jones and Free Speech systems may very well be released back to the state courts for trial. The families argued that their goal was Jones himself and Free Speech Techniques, who weren't occasion 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