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

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

“(We) are relieved however not surprised that Mr. Jones’ newest stunt has failed like all the others,” said Mark Bankston, an legal professional representing four mother and father who won two defamation cases towards Jones in Texas final 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 chapter court the place three Jones-controlled entities filed for Chapter 11 safety one week earlier than a jury trial was to start to find out what damages Jones owed two mother and father he defamed when he referred to as the worst crime in Connecticut historical past “staged,” “synthetic,” “manufactured,” “an enormous hoax,” and “fully faux with actors.”

The bankruptcy choose’s ruling means the primary postponed defamation awards trial in Texas might start as quickly as June, Bankston prompt.

Among the many disclosures that came out of the chapter court docket hearings is that Jones has suffered financially because the Sandy Hook defamation circumstances have progressed. Jones has spent a minimum of $10 million on legal fees and has lost at least $20 million, his representatives mentioned in courtroom. Jones did not file for chapter protection himself, his consultant stated 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 families who misplaced loved ones in the massacre of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary College additionally gained a defamation case against Jones in 2021, a listening to was deliberate in Connecticut bankruptcy court docket on Tuesday that's expected to lead to a similar consequence because the Texas cases.

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

Jones’ Chapter 11 submitting put on hold the two trials in Texas and the third deliberate in Connecticut, since federal courtroom trumps state proceedings. Lawyers for families right here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “unhealthy faith” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech programs didn't file for chapter. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 protection have a combined monthly earnings of $38,000 while Jones himself made a minimum of $76 million in 2019, his representatives said in courtroom.

In response, the households dropped Jones’ three business entities in chapter from their lawsuits. As a result of the families no longer had a stake in the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits towards Jones and Free Speech methods could possibly be launched again 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 Connecticut bankruptcy court docket will rule similarly. The trial to award defamation damages to the Sandy Hook households in Connecticut had been scheduled for August.

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342