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

NEWTOWN — A federal bankruptcy decide has launched extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 protection and sent his defamation instances back to state courtroom in Texas, the place the mother and father of two boys slain within the Sandy Hook bloodbath await jury trials to see how a lot Jones will have to pay them.

“(We) are relieved however not stunned that Mr. Jones’ newest stunt has failed like all the others,” stated Mark Bankston, an attorney representing 4 parents who won two defamation cases towards Jones in Texas last yr. “Mr. Jones will now be held to account in a Travis County courtroom in 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 court 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 mother and father he defamed when he called the worst crime in Connecticut history “staged,” “synthetic,” “manufactured,” “a giant hoax,” and “fully faux with actors.”

The bankruptcy judge’s ruling means the first postponed defamation awards trial in Texas could start as soon as June, Bankston prompt.

Among the many disclosures that came out of the bankruptcy courtroom hearings is that Jones has suffered financially because the Sandy Hook defamation cases have progressed. Jones has spent at the least $10 million on legal fees and has lost at least $20 million, his representatives said in court. Jones did not file for bankruptcy protection himself, his consultant said in court docket, because he feared it might injury his brand within the conspiracy theory market.

In the meantime in Connecticut, where an FBI agent and eight households who lost family members within the bloodbath of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary Faculty additionally received a defamation case towards Jones in 2021, a hearing was deliberate in Connecticut bankruptcy court on Tuesday that is anticipated to lead to the same final result because the Texas instances.

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

Jones’ Chapter 11 submitting put on maintain the 2 trials in Texas and the third deliberate in Connecticut, since federal court trumps state proceedings. Legal professionals for families right here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “unhealthy religion” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech systems did not file for chapter. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 protection have a combined month-to-month revenue of $38,000 while Jones himself made at the very least $76 million in 2019, his representatives mentioned in court.

In response, the households dropped Jones’ three business entities in bankruptcy from their lawsuits. Because the households no longer had a stake within the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits towards Jones and Free Speech techniques might be launched back to the state courts for trial. The households argued that their goal was Jones himself and Free Speech Techniques, who weren't party to the bankruptcies.

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

It stays to be seen whether 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