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

NEWTOWN — A federal bankruptcy judge has launched extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 safety and despatched his defamation circumstances back to state courtroom 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 of the others,” mentioned Mark Bankston, an lawyer representing four parents who received two defamation cases in opposition to Jones in Texas final yr. “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 bankruptcy courtroom where three Jones-controlled entities filed for Chapter 11 safety one week before a jury trial was to begin to find out what damages Jones owed two mother and father he defamed when he called the worst crime in Connecticut historical past “staged,” “artificial,” “manufactured,” “a giant hoax,” and “utterly fake with actors.”

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

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

In the meantime in Connecticut, the place an FBI agent and eight households who lost loved ones in the bloodbath of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary Faculty also received a defamation case in opposition to Jones in 2021, a listening to was deliberate in Connecticut bankruptcy court on Tuesday that's anticipated to lead to an identical consequence because the Texas cases.

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 placed on hold the 2 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 “dangerous faith” 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 combined month-to-month revenue of $38,000 while Jones himself made not less than $76 million in 2019, his representatives said in court docket.

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

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

It remains to be seen whether or not Connecticut bankruptcy courtroom 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