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

NEWTOWN — A federal bankruptcy judge has launched extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 safety and sent his defamation instances back to state court in Texas, the place the mother and father of two boys slain in the Sandy Hook bloodbath await jury trials to see how much Jones should pay them.

“(We) are relieved but not surprised that Mr. Jones’ newest stunt has failed like all the others,” said Mark Bankston, an legal professional representing four dad and mom who received two defamation instances against Jones in Texas last 12 months. “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 docket the place three Jones-controlled entities filed for Chapter 11 safety one week earlier than a jury trial was to start to determine what damages Jones owed two dad and mom he defamed when he called the worst crime in Connecticut history “staged,” “synthetic,” “manufactured,” “a giant hoax,” and “fully fake with actors.”

The chapter decide’s ruling means the first postponed defamation awards trial in Texas could begin as soon as June, Bankston prompt.

Among the many disclosures that got here out of the chapter courtroom hearings is that Jones has suffered financially as the Sandy Hook defamation instances have progressed. Jones has spent at the very least $10 million on authorized charges and has misplaced not less than $20 million, his representatives stated in court. Jones didn't file for bankruptcy protection himself, his consultant mentioned in court, because he feared it might injury his model within the conspiracy idea market.

Meanwhile in Connecticut, where an FBI agent and eight families who misplaced loved ones within the massacre of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary College additionally won a defamation case in opposition to Jones in 2021, a listening to was deliberate in Connecticut bankruptcy court on Tuesday that is expected to end in an identical outcome because the Texas instances.

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

Jones’ Chapter 11 submitting placed on maintain the two trials in Texas and the third deliberate 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 methods didn't 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 least $76 million in 2019, his representatives stated in court docket.

In response, the families dropped Jones’ three enterprise entities in bankruptcy from their lawsuits. As a result of the families now not had a stake within the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits against Jones and Free Speech programs could possibly be released back to the state courts for trial. The households argued that their goal was Jones himself and Free Speech Techniques, who weren't social gathering to the bankruptcies.

In rulings on Thursday and Friday, the federal chapter court docket in Texas agreed.

It remains to be seen whether Connecticut chapter court will rule similarly. The trial to award defamation damages to the Sandy Hook families in Connecticut had been scheduled for August.

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342