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

NEWTOWN — A federal bankruptcy decide has released extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 protection and despatched his defamation instances back to state court docket in Texas, where the mother and father of two boys slain within the Sandy Hook bloodbath await jury trials to see how much Jones should pay them.

“(We) are relieved but not stunned that Mr. Jones’ latest stunt has failed like all the others,” mentioned Mark Bankston, an legal professional representing four dad and mom who gained two defamation circumstances in opposition to Jones in Texas last year. “Mr. Jones will now be held to account in a Travis County courtroom within 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 safety one week earlier than a jury trial was to start to find out what damages Jones owed two parents he defamed when he called the worst crime in Connecticut historical past “staged,” “artificial,” “manufactured,” “an enormous hoax,” and “fully fake with actors.”

The bankruptcy choose’s ruling means the primary postponed defamation awards trial in Texas may start as soon as June, Bankston steered.

Among the disclosures that came out of the bankruptcy court docket hearings is that Jones has suffered financially as the Sandy Hook defamation cases have progressed. Jones has spent at the least $10 million on authorized fees and has misplaced not less than $20 million, his representatives said in courtroom. Jones didn't file for chapter safety himself, his consultant said in court docket, as a result of he feared it might harm his model within the conspiracy idea market.

Meanwhile in Connecticut, the place an FBI agent and eight families who misplaced family members within the massacre of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary College also gained a defamation case in opposition to Jones in 2021, a listening to was deliberate in Connecticut bankruptcy court on Tuesday that is anticipated to lead to the same final result as 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.

Jones’ Chapter 11 submitting placed on hold the two trials in Texas and the third planned in Connecticut, since federal court trumps state proceedings. Attorneys for families right here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “bad religion” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech techniques did not file for bankruptcy. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 protection have a mixed monthly income of $38,000 while Jones himself made not less than $76 million in 2019, his representatives said in court docket.

In response, the families dropped Jones’ three enterprise entities in bankruptcy from their lawsuits. Because the families now not had a stake within the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits towards Jones and Free Speech techniques may very well be released back to the state courts for trial. The families argued that their target was Jones himself and Free Speech Programs, who weren't social gathering 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 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