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

NEWTOWN — A federal bankruptcy choose has launched extremist Alex Jones from Chapter 11 safety and despatched his defamation cases back to state court docket in Texas, the place the parents of two boys slain within the Sandy Hook bloodbath await jury trials to see how a lot Jones should pay them.

“(We) are relieved however not shocked that Mr. Jones’ newest stunt has failed like all the others,” stated Mark Bankston, an legal professional representing 4 dad and mom who received two defamation cases towards Jones in Texas final 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 bankruptcy courtroom where three Jones-controlled entities filed for Chapter 11 protection one week earlier than a jury trial was to start to determine what damages Jones owed two dad and mom he defamed when he referred to as the worst crime in Connecticut history “staged,” “artificial,” “manufactured,” “an enormous hoax,” and “completely faux with actors.”

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

Among the many disclosures that came out of the bankruptcy court docket hearings is that Jones has suffered financially as the Sandy Hook defamation circumstances have progressed. Jones has spent not less than $10 million on legal fees and has lost no less than $20 million, his representatives said in court. Jones did not file for chapter safety himself, his representative stated in courtroom, as a result of he feared it might harm 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 massacre of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary College additionally received a defamation case against Jones in 2021, a hearing was planned in Connecticut bankruptcy court docket on Tuesday that is anticipated to lead to an identical final result as the Texas instances.

The rationale 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 filing put on hold the 2 trials in Texas and the third planned in Connecticut, since federal courtroom trumps state proceedings. Lawyers for families here and in Texas fought Jones’ Chapter 11 petitions as “dangerous faith” filings, since Jones himself and his money-making Free Speech systems did not file for bankruptcy. The three Jones-controlled entities that sought Chapter 11 safety have a combined monthly revenue of $38,000 while Jones himself made at the least $76 million in 2019, his representatives said in court.

In response, the households dropped Jones’ three business entities in chapter from their lawsuits. As a result of the households now not had a stake within the bankruptcies, they argued, their lawsuits against Jones and Free Speech programs could be released back to the state courts for trial. The households argued that their target was Jones himself and Free Speech Methods, who weren't occasion to the bankruptcies.

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

It stays to be seen whether or not Connecticut bankruptcy court will rule equally. The trial to award defamation damages to the Sandy Hook families in Connecticut had been scheduled for August.

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342