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

NEWTOWN — A federal bankruptcy judge has launched extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 protection and despatched his defamation cases back to state court in Texas, the place the dad and mom of two boys slain within the Sandy Hook massacre await jury trials to see how much Jones will have to pay them.

“(We) are relieved but not shocked that Mr. Jones’ newest stunt has failed like all the others,” mentioned Mark Bankston, an lawyer representing 4 parents who received two defamation circumstances towards Jones in Texas last year. “Mr. Jones will now be held to account in a Travis County courtroom within the coming weeks, and these households 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 earlier than a jury trial was to begin to determine what damages Jones owed two parents he defamed when he referred to as the worst crime in Connecticut history “staged,” “artificial,” “manufactured,” “a giant hoax,” and “utterly faux with actors.”

The chapter decide’s ruling means the primary postponed defamation awards trial in Texas could start as soon as June, Bankston urged.

Among the disclosures that came out of the bankruptcy courtroom 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 fees and has lost no less than $20 million, his representatives mentioned in courtroom. Jones did not file for chapter safety himself, his representative stated in court docket, because he feared it could injury his model within the conspiracy idea market.

In the meantime in Connecticut, the place 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 received a defamation case against Jones in 2021, a listening to was planned in Connecticut chapter court docket on Tuesday that is expected to lead to the same end result as the Texas circumstances.

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

Jones’ Chapter 11 submitting placed on maintain the 2 trials in Texas and the third planned in Connecticut, since federal court trumps state proceedings. Legal professionals for households here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “bad religion” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech programs didn't file for bankruptcy. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 protection have a mixed month-to-month income of $38,000 whereas Jones himself made a minimum of $76 million in 2019, his representatives mentioned in court docket.

In response, the households dropped Jones’ three enterprise entities in chapter from their lawsuits. As a result of the families not had a stake in the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits towards Jones and Free Speech methods might be released again to the state courts for trial. The households argued that their goal was Jones himself and Free Speech Programs, who were not party to the bankruptcies.

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

It remains to be seen whether Connecticut chapter courtroom 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