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

NEWTOWN — A federal chapter decide has launched extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 protection and sent his defamation instances back to state court docket in Texas, the place the dad and mom of two boys slain within the Sandy Hook massacre await jury trials to see how a lot Jones should pay them.

“(We) are relieved however not surprised that Mr. Jones’ latest stunt has failed like all of the others,” stated Mark Bankston, an attorney representing 4 dad and mom who won two defamation circumstances in opposition to Jones in Texas final year. “Mr. Jones will now be held to account in a Travis County courtroom in the coming weeks, and these families will lastly have the closure and recompense they deserve.”

Bankston was referring to a month-long saga in Texas chapter court where three Jones-controlled entities filed for Chapter 11 protection one week before a jury trial was to start to determine what damages Jones owed two parents he defamed when he called the worst crime in Connecticut history “staged,” “artificial,” “manufactured,” “a giant hoax,” and “utterly pretend with actors.”

The bankruptcy choose’s ruling means the first postponed defamation awards trial in Texas could begin as quickly as June, Bankston suggested.

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 authorized charges and has lost at the very least $20 million, his representatives said in court. Jones didn't file for bankruptcy protection himself, his consultant stated in courtroom, as a result of he feared it will damage his model in the conspiracy theory market.

In the meantime in Connecticut, where an FBI agent and eight families who lost loved ones in the massacre of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary Faculty additionally won a defamation case towards Jones in 2021, a hearing was deliberate in Connecticut bankruptcy courtroom on Tuesday that's expected to end in an identical outcome as the Texas circumstances.

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

Jones’ Chapter 11 filing placed on maintain the two 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 methods did not file for chapter. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 safety have a combined month-to-month earnings of $38,000 whereas Jones himself made a minimum of $76 million in 2019, his representatives said in court.

In response, the families dropped Jones’ three business entities in bankruptcy from their lawsuits. As a result of the families no longer had a stake in the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits against Jones and Free Speech techniques may very well be released back to the state courts for trial. The families argued that their goal was Jones himself and Free Speech Methods, who were not celebration 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